A Whack on the Side of the Head

8/18/2019 A Whack on the Side of the Head

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What Is Creative Thinking?

The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient

history nineteenth century !athe!atics current !anufacturing techni"ues flower arranging and

hog futures. He never knows when these ideas !ight co!e together to for! a new idea. It !ayhappen si# !inutes later or si# years down the road. $ut the creative person has faith that it will

happen.

The real key to being creative lies in what you do with your knowledge.

Changing conte#t is one way to discover the possibilities of your resources.

%iscovery consists of looking at the sa!e thing as everyone else and thinking so!ething different.

&uch of our educational syste! is an elaborate ga!e of 'guess what the teacher is thinking.(

&any of us have been taught that the best ideas are in so!eone else)s head.

&ental *ock

+. The right answers.

,. That)s not logical.

. ollow the rules.

/. $e practical.

0. 1lay is revolous.

2. That)s not !y area.3. %on)t be foolish.

4. 5void a!biguity.

6. To err is wrong.

+7. I)! not creative.

The danger of habits is that a person can beco!e a prisoner of fa!iliarity. The !ore often you do

so!ething in the sa!e way-whether it)s cooking a !eal or !anaging a pro8ect-the !ore difficult it

is to do it in any other way.


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The 9ight 5nswer

*ife is a!biguous there are !any right answers-all depending on what you are looking for. $ut if you think there is only one right answer the! you will stop looking as soon as you find one.

If you have only one idea you have only one course of action open to you and this is "uite risky

in a world where fle#ibility is a re"uire!ent for survival.

The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas. ;the second answer


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That)s =ot *ogical.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who divide everything into two groups and

those who don)t.

In the i!aginative phase : thinking so!ething different.

In the practical phase: getting so!ething done.

5 !etaphor is a !ental !ap.

The !etaphor is an e#cellent tool to help you thinking so!ething different.

1ay attention to the !etaphors you use in your own thinking.


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ollow The 9ules

Intelligence is our ability to recogni>e patterns.

very act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.

$reaking out of one pattern in order to create a new one.

It)s difficult to be innovative if you)re following blind assu!ptions.

Creative thinking !ay si!ply !eans the reali>ation that there is no particular cirtue in doing

things the way they have always been done.

@ne of life)s great pleasures is falling out of love with a previously cherished idea. When that

happens you)re free to look for new ones.

Why did this concept progra! pro8ect or idea co!e to be? Then follow this "uestion with do

these reasons still e#ist? If the answer is no then eli!inating the idea.

@ne of life)s !ost overvalued pleasures is se#ual intercourse and one of life)s least appreciated

pleasures is defecation.


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$e 1ractical

If you don)t take risks you won)t achieve what you want.

I!agine you)re the idea you are trying to develop.

5n i!practical idea leads to a practical creative one.


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1lay is rivolous

*earn to pauseAor nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.


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That)s =ot &y 5rea

Bpeciali>ation is dangerous because it can lead to the attitude “that)s not !y area.”when this

happens a person !ay not only deli!it her proble!s to too s!all an area she !ay also lookingfor idea in other fields.

Innovation is usually the result of connections of past e#perience. $ut if you have the sa!e

e#periences as everyday else you)re unlikely to look in a different direction.

$e an e#plorer

5nyone can look for fashion in a bouti"ue or history in a !useu!. The creative person looks for

history in an airport and fashion in an airport.

The e#plorer searches for ideas outside your area.

The !ore divergent your sources the !ore original the idea you create is likely to be.

&ake it a point to keep on a lookout for novel and interesting ideas that others have used

successfully. our idea has to be original only in its adaption to the proble! you are currently

working on.

@nly the !ost foolish of !ice would hide in a cat)s ear. $ut only the wisest of cats would think to

look there.


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%on)t $e oolish

5n idea that so!eti!es drives !e ha>y: a! I or are the others cra>y?

9everse your viewpoint

ou can)t see the good ideas behind you by looking twice as hard at what)s in front of you.


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5void 5!biguity

*isten to your drea!s

our drea!s are uni"uely yours. Take advantage of the! to help you resolve conflicts inspiressolutions and suggest new approaches.


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To rr Is Wrong

5n activity that produces a hit !ay also produce a !iss.

How !any people do you see who are afraid to try so!ething new because of this fear of failure?

We re!ove ourselves fro! !any learning e#periences e#cept for those occurring in the!ost

private circu!stances.

If you want the hits be prepared for the !isses.

Think error as a stepping stone to a new idea.

If you hit every ti!e the target is too near or too big.

If we did things correctly every ti!e we would never have to change course and we)d end up

with !ore of the sa!e.


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I)! =ot Creative

Belf-fulfilling prophecies

What concerns !e is not the way things are but rather the way people think things are.

Winners see the!selves as winning and losers generally give the!selves a reason or an e#cuse to

lose.

The creative people thought they were creative and the less creative people didn)t think they

were.


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5 Whack on the @ther Bide of the Head.

our e#plorer is your role for searching for new infor!ation and resources

our artist is your role for turning these resources into new ideas.

our 8udge is your role for evaluating the !erits of an idea and deciding what to do with it and

our warrior is your role for carrying your idea into action.

There are two !ain reasons for low creative perfor!ance: weak roles and bad ti!ing.

Dsing a role at a wrong ti!e-such as e!ploying your 8udge to e#plore for infor!ation or your

artist to i!ple!ent your idea-is counterproductive.

#plorer:

*ook for new ideas in a lot of different places. *ook for the second and third answer. $e !ore

tolerant of a!biguity.

5rtist:

Highly i!aginative. 5sk what if challenge the rules and looking at things in different ways.

Eudge:

&ore discerning critical but also constructive-using even the stupidest idea as stepping stones to

practical creative ideas. 1laying the fool to knock !yself out of group-think situations.

Warrior:

AA.


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ither you let your life slip away by not doing things you want to do or you get up and do the!.

The things you can do to reach your goal.

To fight a bull when you are not sacred is nothing not to fight a bull when you are sacred isnothing to fight a bull when you are sacred-there is so!ething. What put a lion in your heart?

our fa!ily?

Fet 9id of #cuses

What three factors will !ake it difficult for you to reach your ob8ective? How can you get rid of

there e#cuses?

ach of us has a !ental !ap of the world co!plete with dragons. Where does fear hold you back?

What dragon can you slay?

le# our 9isk &uscle

Have Bo!ething 5t Btake

Have so!ething at stake-survival self-estee! !oney reputation-so that you)ll be !otivated to

!ake your idea successful.

What are you dissatisfied about? How can you turn irritation into inspiration?

Dse our Bhield5 thick skin is a gift fro! Fod. What negative reaction do you e#pect? How can you deflect it?

Bell Bell Bell

It)s not creative unless it sells. ou can have the greatest idea in the world but if you can)t sell it

you won)t get very far.

Bet 5 %eadline

Where is your sense of urgency? What tight deadlines can you give yourself?

$e 1ersistent


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5ncient Whacks of Heraclitus

verything lows

What is the flow of your issue? Where will it be in the future? What patterns describe it)s

behavior? %o you need to change your point of view to see the change?5ppreciate the '=ow(. if everything is changing then we need to appreciate the 'now( because

soon it will be gone. If it)s a bad situation then take heart because that too will be gone. What is

the !o!ent?

The &ost $eautiful @rder is a Heap of Bweepings 1iled Dp 5t 9ando!

1ick an ob8ect at rando!. How does it relate to your issue? What connects can you !ake? What

patterns can you find?. What si!ilarities do you see? What light does it shed on your issue?

1lay with it

This attitude allows you play with the issue at hand to push and !ove its various pieces and

ele!ents to look at it in a variety of conte#ts to e#peri!ent and try different things and to find

out what works and what doesn)t. as a result of this play you co!e to know and understand the

different sides of the issue. ro! this !astery arises.

The key to creative insight consists not so !ush in gaining new knowledge but in finding new

ways of thinking about what you know. Creativity re"uires an attitude that allows you to play with

and to !anipulate your knowledge so that it takes on new !eanings. This is an attitude where you

don)t see each fact as separate bit of knowledge but rather as a link in 5 chain of ideas.

What different ways can you think about what you know? In what different conte#t can you putyour issue?

What can you forget? What can you ignore?

Bea water is both pure and polluted: for fish it)s drinkable and life-giving for hu!ans undrinkable

and destructive.

Conte#t deter!ines !eaning.

&uch of the creativity is the ability to take one thing or a concept and out it in different conte#ts

so that it takes on new !eanings.

5 thing idea or issue can be fra!ed in a variety of different ways depending on one)s point of

view. Dsing different words and concepts to refra!e a situation is a vital creative thingking skill.

It gives you fle#ibility in the way you approach the world. Buch as is the beach the end of the

ocean or the beginning of land?

9eversing your point of view

To raise efficiency to 7GTo reduce inefficiency to 37G


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It takes less energy to !ove on to the ne#t phase of process than fighting to stay in the current one.

It)s like rowing a boat on a river: it takes !ore effort to re!ain stationary heading into the current

than it does to go with the flow.

When there is no sun. we can see the evening stars.

%onkeys prefer garbage to gold

%o other value your issue the way you do? How do you need to educate the!?

How willing are you to !ake your idea successful?

A Whack on the Side of the Head

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