MacGyver was the second most-watched show of my childhood.

The protagonist would always escape tricky situations with ingenious solutions. He was creative, finding clever ways to solve problems. One example: MacGyver gets locked in a room. While pondering his escape, he notices a map, a pair of tweezers, and the key outside the door. He slides the map under the door like a tablecloth and uses the tweezers to knock the key onto the map. Pulling the map back toward himself, he retrieves the key and unlocks the door. Genius, right?

Creativity often feels like this—taking unrelated things and combining them to open doors. If you’ve never seen the show or want a refresher, click here.

Can Creativity Be Learned, or Is It Innate?

It’s hard to say. Some people seem naturally gifted with keen observation skills and the ability to connect dots in innovative ways. Without this capacity, how else could we have so many groundbreaking inventions?

For example, consider the discovery of steam power. Steam—produced by heating water—creates pressure that can move objects or cook food. In 1679, French physicist Denis Papin (1647–1712) invented the pressure cooker, a sealed vessel that used steam to cook food faster by increasing the boiling point of water.

Steam + heat + pressure = pressure cooker. 😊

How Can We Foster Creative Thinking?

The answer lies in connecting dots. Creative people excel at linking experiences, knowledge, and observations to solve problems or invent new ideas.

Reflecting on my childhood, I recall being intensely curious and constantly experimenting with how things worked. Once, I found an electronic device on the street and tried to fix it—causing a blackout in my entire apartment building! While I didn’t plan to shock myself alongside my older brother, the experience taught me that life sometimes delivers harsh lessons.

Today’s generation is fortunate—most kids aren’t told “Stop!” or “Don’t!” as often. At least, I try not to do that. If they’re going to fall, I let them fall. If they’re going to get up, I let them rise on their own. I neither push them down nor pull them up. Instead, I allow them to learn through experience. I believe the future depends on creative thinking. If all human resources were focused on fostering creativity, many of today’s problems might disappear.

Embracing Creative Thinking in Everyday Life

I remember meeting people who didn’t know how to turn on a computer, hearing stories about someone pouring tea into a CD drive (a creativity fail, to say the least), and seeing someone attempt to erase Trinitron scan lines with Photoshop. These moments highlight the importance of learning and adapting.

Creativity begins with connecting the dots to create meaningful solutions. Whether life asks us to write an ad, create a report, close a sale, or design a product, the quality of our output depends on how much we’ve read, seen, or experienced.

If you’ve read this far, you’ve earned the right to know my #1 most-watched show. It was Knight Rider. 😊

Thank you!