Today I almost fell for one of the classic cognitive barriers to creativity.

This rainy morning my daughter and I were stuck inside. (I unfortunately left our rain gear in London and didn't think to bring it to Palestine.)

She started playing with a decorative table cover. Taking it off the table and putting it back again. 

Then she held it up to herself and said, “I want to wear this as a dress.”

Honestly, my first thought was, "This is for the table, it’s not for wearing".  

But then a little alarm went off in my head. Functional fixedness alert!

Functional fixedness is when we get stuck thinking that an object can only be used in one way.

In fact, functional fixedness is at the heart of one of the most common measures of creativity.* The Alternative Uses Task asks participants how many uses they can think of for a common object like a brick or a paper clip. Responding creatively to the task requires letting go of functional fixedness and accessing more cognitive flexibility.

Functional fixedness has been top of mind for me recently because I'm reaching that stage of parenting. Boundaries. We don't come into the world with functional fixedness. We learn it. Or rather we're taught it. And I find myself currently laying the foundations of my daughter's functional fixedness. "Chairs are for sitting, not for standing." "Crayons are for coloring paper, not walls." "Tables are for eating, not for resting our feet on."

When we're little, our brains need simple rules like these where the boundaries are clear. However, I think functional fixedness is among the many things we need to unlearn when we become adults. Once our brains develop to the point that they can hold and process more complexity we need to drop the artificial restrictions and open up to more possibilities.

I'm hoping to keep the functional fixedness to a minimum with my daughter, to limit the unlearning required and encourage her creativity.

So when I caught myself thinking the table cover couldn't also be a dress, I paused and made a conscious shift to cognitive flexibility mode.

How could I turn this table cover into a dress?

I needed a sash of some kind. 

I looked around me and saw a box of tissues.

Could I tie tissues together? Would they be strong enough?

Turns out the answer is yes.

So next time you notice yourself using functional fixedness as an excuse why something can't be done, see if you can flip the switch to practice more cognitive flexibility instead. Your creativity (and any small children in your vicinity) will thank you.

*If you're curious to learn more about how creativity is measured including more about the AUT, check out my video below: