My guests had arrived, but once again, I'd forgotten to put the wine in the fridge. "Don't worry," a friend said, "I can chill it for you right away. " Five minutes later she emerged from the kitchen with the wine perfectly cooled. Asked to reveal her secret, she said, "I poured it in a plastic bag and dipped it in ice water." My guests applauded. "How wonderful if we could all be that clever," one remarked. A decade of enquiry has convinced me we can. What separates the average person from Edison, Picasso or even Shakespeare isn't creative capacity.