Your greatest obstacle is attachment to old ideas.
Last module you learned that creativity is a skill. But here’s the catch: your biggest barrier to creativity isn’t a lack of new ideas — it’s attachment to old ones.
We cling to beliefs, assumptions, and “the way we’ve always done it” even when they no longer serve us. This module builds the courage to question what we think we know.
The antidote to rigid thinking is to treat your beliefs as hypotheses to test, not truths to defend. Scientists don’t lose when they’re wrong — they learn.
Grant identifies three mindsets that quietly kill creative thinking:
The three mindset traps
The Preacher — defending your beliefs as sacred truth
The Prosecutor — attacking others’ ideas to prove them wrong
The Politician — saying what people want to hear to win approval
The alternative is to think like a scientist: treat your beliefs as hypotheses to test, not positions to defend.
The Kelleys found that the number one creativity killer is fear — specifically, fear of being judged.
“The fear of being judged creates a kind of paralysis. People don’t speak up with ideas because they’re afraid of looking foolish.”
— Tom & David Kelley
That fear keeps us stuck in safe, conventional thinking — exactly where creativity cannot flourish.
Paradoxically, expertise itself can become a barrier to creativity.
“When we become experts, we stop questioning. We operate on autopilot, losing the curiosity that drove us to learn in the first place.”
— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The solution isn’t to abandon expertise — it’s to keep a beginner’s curiosity alongside it.
“I think this is true,” not “I know this is true.”
Ask: what would prove me wrong?
Strong opinions, loosely held.
It means you’re learning something.
Rethinking takes courage on three fronts:
Drop the three traps. Scientist, not preacher, prosecutor, or politician.
Move through the fear. Looking foolish is the price of new ideas.
Hold expertise loosely. Keep a beginner’s curiosity alive.
Be glad to be wrong. Each error is a door to a better idea.
Write as much or as little as you like — a sentence is plenty.
1. What belief about your work have you held the longest? What if it’s no longer true?
2. When do you slip into Preacher, Prosecutor, or Politician mode?
3. What would you do differently if you weren’t afraid of looking foolish?
Pick one long-held belief about your work and put it on trial:
“I believe ___ is true.”
What facts would challenge it?
If I were wrong, what would I do differently?
You don’t have to abandon the belief — just hold it loosely enough to test.
We rarely examine the assumptions running quietly underneath our work. This brings one into the light.
The ‘way it’s always done’ you never question.
Was it ever actually tested, or just inherited?
What would become possible if it weren’t true?
A low-risk way to check it this month.
The assumption you’ll test — and the small experiment to check it:
“The goal is not to be right. The goal is to get it right — and that means being willing to think again.”
— after Adam Grant
Deep engagement isn’t luck — it has specific conditions you can design.