Weston I.

Intellectual certainty can limit our creativity. Where lies a certain path, many alternative doors leading to innovative ideas are ignored. In contrast, negative capability is the art of embracing intellectual uncertainty.

Negative capability is about uncertainty, mystery, and doubt, as opposed to “fixed” and “enforced” conceptions of the world. Negative capability encourages us to keep an open mind and always consider the possibility that we may be wrong. Negative capability goes hand in hand with continuous learning, discouraging arrogance, and encouraging personal growth. 

People with a Growth Mindset believe they can grow, develop, and master whatever skills and abilities they wish in life.

They enjoy learning and overcoming challenges, working outside the comfort zone and growing.

Most of the people we encounter refuse to change their minds during a discussion or debate, even when provided with hard facts that contradict their stand. As most of us have learnt the hard way in the last few years, it is extremely difficult to persuade anyone with strong beliefs or ideologies.

It is human nature due to ‘motivated reasoning’, which leads to many kinds of biases, as the reasoning process of our mind is akin to a lawyer defending a client.

We all possess the ability to develop self-control. 

Instead of immediately responding to impulses, we can plan and evaluate our actions beforehand.

Many of us are practising all-or-nothing thinking, believing that the world is in absolute terms, and assuming that something that is not completely black or white has negative connotations or is murky and confusing.

The often-resisted gray areas, where the answers are not certain, quick or clear, are paradoxically the very places that one can start to experience peace and contentment, and minimize anxiety.

• Seek good information. Be skeptic and never just assume that what you’re being told is always true.
• Avoid common pitfalls, like making decisions without enough time or information.
• Look at previous mistakes so you learn from them.
• Check in with yourself and ensure that the environment isn’t influencing your decisions unnecessarily. 
• Take care of yourself. You are unlikely to make the best decisions when tired or unwell.
• Make time to think. The multitasking and distraction deluge to which we’re subjected every day can undermine good decision-making.
• Analyze well. Not getting the outcome you wanted doesn’t necessarily mean the decision was bad. 

A Polymath is defined as one who is specialized in at least two unrelated fields or domains while having a passive interest in other domains too. They are individualists that hold a holistic view of the world.

Polymaths have an interest in many different phenomena and are curious and adventurous by nature, looking to experience and uncover new facts.

• Creativity, as a power belonging to an individual, doesn't go back very far. The first recorded usage of the word creativity came from the Oxford English Dictionary in the 17th century: 'In Creation, we have God and his Creativity.'
• In the 17th and 18th centuries, the creative power was thought of as divine. The idea of a secular creative ability in the imaginative arts didn't appear until the Romantic Era when the poet William Wordsworth addressed the painter and critic Benjamin Haydon: 'Creative art...demands the service of a mind and heart.'
• In the 1970s, writers reflected on the newness of the concept of creativity, that it was valuable and in need of encouragement.
• Before WWII, the word 'creativity' was then expressed as genius, originality, productivity, or even intelligence.