Creative Thinking Hub

Creative thinking expert Jim Connolly, shares tips & resources to help you think more creatively.

Creative Thinking: Why the glass isn’t half full or half empty

Updated November 2025

One of the foundation blocks of creative problem solving, is understanding that in order to find great answers, we need to ask ourselves great questions.

Here’s an example of a very well known, yet extremely poor quality question:

Is the glass half full or half empty?

There are 2 serious flaws in that question, which are common to many of the questions we ask ourselves, when looking for answers.

  1. The question restricts your options. It’s an example of a “this or that” question, which presupposes there are just 2 possible answers. When looking for the best answer, we need to remove such limitations and think freely.
  2. The question suggests what the 2 answers are; either half full or half empty. This allows little room for creative problem solving.

Explore ALL possibilities

If you were presented with a photo of that glass of water and simply asked, ‘what can you see?’, you would have limitless possible answers to choose from.

You may even say that the glass is 100% full: 50% filled with water and 50% filled with air.

When seeking to find a creative solution, we need to focus on all relevant information and then allow ourselves the freedom to play with many different answers. As I mentioned recently, we also need to question common knowledge, to ensure we are not missing out on sources of potential answers.

Photo.

Creativity, rejection and Andy Warhol

Updated December 2025

Creativity, rejection, and Andy Warhol

Here’s something to remember, the next time someone criticises your art or work.

Andy Warhol’s signature work, Campbell’s Soup Cans, hangs on the walls of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. It’s their most prized possession.

They were gifted the art by Warhol’s friend Irving Blum, paying him just $15MILLION for it… that was only 10% of its $150MILLION valuation. It’s worth a great deal more today!

Compare that, with the rejection letter that same museum sent Andy Warhol, when he offered one of is artworks to the museum for free.

Andy Warhol’s rejection letter

Dear Mr. Warhol,
Last week our Committee on the Museum Collections held its first meeting of the fall season and had a chance to study your drawing entitled Shoe which you so generously offered as a gift to the Museum.
I regret that I must report to you that the Committee decided, after careful consideration, that they ought not to accept it for our Collection.
Let me explain that because of our severely limited gallery and storage space we must turn down many gifts offered, since we feel it is not fair to accept as a gift a work which may be shown only infrequently.
Nevertheless, the Committee has asked me to pass on to you their thanks for your generous expression of interest in our Collection.
Sincerely,
Alfred H. Barr, Jr
Director of the Museum Collections
P.S. The drawing may be picked up from the Museum at your convenience.

The letter has been confirmed by MOMA to be authentic.

Why such an about turn?

Andy Warhol’s art was just as amazing when The Museum of Modern Art asked him to take it away, as it was when they were prepared to pay millions for it. What changed was public perception of Warhol’s work. That shift happened because he kept creating amazing work. He carried on, regardless of the rejection and abuse. Eventually, others were able to see what Warhol knew all along.

Had Warhol allowed the rejection to stop him from creating, the world would have been robbed of one of its most influential artists.

Not only is rejection to be expected, it’s almost always what happens when people produce great art.

In other words, the rejection that so many artists fear, is an inevitable part of creating great work. When there’s no rejection and no criticism, it means your art is predictable. It means you’re colouring between the lines.

Embrace rejection and see it for what it is

Never let rejection or criticism stand between you and your art. If you believe in what you’re doing, do it. If YOU see the value of your work, keep on creating.

Never, ever allow the opinion of another, to stop you from creating your art.

The link between a high IQ and high creativity

Updated November 2025

link high iq and creativity, creative high iq, connection

I’ve spent a lot of time studying the link between link between a high IQ and creativity.

It seems that there’s a good reason why so many artists have an average IQ, or measured intelligence level, and why some people with extremely high IQ’s struggle to be creative.

Getzels & Jackson: High IQ and creativity

For instance, a very well known 1962 study by Getzels and Jackson, tested high school students for IQ and creative thinking. The conclusion was interesting. It showed that high IQ and high levels of creativity, tended to be mutually exclusive.

The majority of the highest scoring students were either highly creative people or they were highly intelligent, but not both.

Dr. Donald MacKinnon: Creative thinking is a skill that can be learned

The late creative thinking expert, Psychology Professor Dr. Donald MacKinnon, studied creativity for decades. He observed scientists, writers, engineers and doctors, who were regarded as highly creative by their colleagues and found they were no more intelligent, than their less creative counterparts. He came to the conclusion that so long as a person had a basic, minimal level of intelligence, they could be (at least) as creative as someone with a higher IQ. He saw no link between high IQ and creativity / creative ability.

Dr. MacKinnon discovered that creativity was simply a way of working with your mind, which could be learned and improved. He referred to creative thinkers as people who simply ‘learned how to play with their mind, in a way that allowed them to develop creatively’. In fact, he said that the most creative people, were those who were childlike in their playful approach to creativity.

I can report that Dr. MacKinnon’s work is in complete balance with my own experience. I was regarded as of very low creativity for the first 25-years of my life. For the 35-years since then, people have hired me specifically for my creative problem solving skills. What changed? I decided to study how to use my mind more creatively. Then, I learned to trust my creativity. That second step was the hardest!

Yes, you are creative.

After decades of studying creative thinking, it’s my absolute belief that anyone can learn how to become extremely creative, as long as they are interested and they study creativity. In fact, that was the main reasons I created this site; to help as many people as I can, be as creative as they can.

Spotlight on artist and designer, Tony Eddicott

Updated July 2017

creative thinking, tony eddicott
Monument to the war photographer ©Tony Eddicott

From time to time, I like to share interesting sites with you. Today it’s the turn of Babel in Bits. Babel and Bits is a jumping-on point, for the work of London-based artist and designer, Tony Eddicott.

Tony’s art draws inspiration from many sources and comes at you from a number of vectors, as these two Dada inspired pieces demonstrate.

creative thinking, tony eddicott
Icarus [part 3] ©Tony Eddicott
If you want to see more of Tony’s work, either pop over to Babel in Bits or check out his Instagram account. If you’d like to know more about Tony’s work, contact him here.

Your obligation to those whose work you value

Updated June 2017

creative thinking, creativity

When was the last time you showed your appreciation, to an artist whose work you enjoy?

The reason I ask you this, is that artists rely heavily on the feedback they receive. Whether that feedback is in sales of their work, tickets to their performance or messages of encouragement, feedback is what shows them who values their work.

Why your feedback matters

I remember talking to a guy once, who almost quit writing his blog because he got so little feedback from it. I took a look at his work and was extremely impressed. I asked him if he had any analytics software plugged into his blog, to count how many visitors or readers he attracted. He said that he didn’t. So, I installed an analytics package and told him I would go through the results with him in a week.

When we analysed the activity on his blog, it was clear that hundreds of visitors were connecting with his work every day. Quite an achievement for a pretty niche blog.

Without that feedback, the writer was about to quit. As much as he enjoyed writing, there seemed little point blogging if no one was interested. He now has several thousand daily readers and a professional publishing contract.

Your obligation

All art is based on human connections — between the artist and those who connect with their work. If you want your favourite artists to carry on creating, you have an obligation. Your obligation is to feedback to them, either through financially supporting their work, telling your friends about them or by letting the artist know you value their work.

In short: If you value an artist, give them a hug!

After the initial push

Updated December 2016

Once an idea (or project) is out there, it either spreads or it doesn’t.

  • A great idea has legs. You share it with 10 people and it reaches 100 people. That 100 people then get you 1000 people. Repeat. That’s what happens when we hear a good idea. We pass it on.
  • A bad idea has no legs. So it doesn’t spread. You tell 10 people and it stops right there.

After the initial push, if people aren’t inspired to share your idea, take heed. Create a better idea. Build a better project. It’s a far more effective use of your time, than trying to push something that has no legs.