TED Community » Sara Heltai

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  A comment on Conversation: What motivates you?

  Jun 6 2011: A smile that reflects that i have made a tiny difference in somebody's life that day. A loved one or a complete stranger, it doesn't matter; if my actions or words made somebody light up for even just a moment, it was already worth getting out of bed. That is my goal and motivation every day.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: How one would measure the merit and value of the creativity?

  Jun 6 2011: I would like to propose a simple Cartesian coordinate system to theoretically 'measure' the value of a creative idea. It is quite simple really. First, we have to accept that creative ideas are not always positive, they can have negative effects and they can be forced upon a society or individuals.
  
  Let us allow the x-axis to be (in, say, number of people) the degree of benefit deriving from the idea and the y-axis to be the degree of freedom in adopting the idea. This way for example a dictatorial measure, which benefits a thin margin of elites and is imposed upon the majority of society, would be deep in the IIIrd quadrant. The value of a creative idea would be high, if it scores high on both the x and y axis, meaning it benefits the highest number of people and it is accepted freely and with a sufficient knowledge concerning alternatives.
  
  And for merit? A creative idea deserves the highest merit if it can target areas of most dire need and lacking in our societal, environmental or technological dimensions.
  
  Now all we need is to be able to measure these abstract coefficients :)

• A comment on Conversation: What types of things do you do to help you open your mind, generate new ideas, and see connections you've never seen before?

  Jun 6 2011: I read. A lot.
  But this seems to be somewhat of a one-way street. This is why I like, alas, seek to chat up and engage with random and fascinating people, so we can inspire each other.
  
  Living in London, I always search for unusual things to do, exhibitions to go to, performances to see, which expand my mind and show me the world from a different perspective.
  
  I agree with many of the comments below that having quality 'me-time' is also incredibly helpful (I'm a regular in the city's numerous parks:), but on the top of my list for developing ideas and getting inspiration is to keep a completely open mind and to think outside of the box.