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More Creative Thinking Methods

Here are a few more creative thinking methods and ways to generate radical new ideas. These either haven't been covered in other lessons or were only touched on briefly.

Turn Ideas Around

Always look for another perspective by turning ideas around. For example, you may have seen buttons and bumper-stickers which say "WWJD." It stands for "What Would Jesus Do?" It's a question some Christians use to make moral decisions. To turn it around, we might ask, "What would I do if this was Jesus in front of me?" That might radically change the way a person relates to others. It is certainly difficult to imagine people doing to Jesus some of the things they do to others.

A question like "How can my business make more money?" can be turned around to be, "How can my money make more business." That would immediately suggest an investment in some form of marketing and advertising. "How can I bring peace to the world?" becomes "How can the world bring peace to me?" Essentially a playful technique of rearranging words, this can lead to some pretty profound insights.

Cause Problems To Solve Them

A scenario: The city is full of crime, and you are the mayor who has to find a way to lower that crime rate. There may be "big" ideas you can implement, but you recognize that problems are often solved through many small changes as well. One way to get ideas for these is to think of all the ways you can to make the problem worse. Each of these might suggest a partial solution.

You start by writing a list of ways to cause more crime. These include; create more unemployment, get rid of the police, make homes and businesses less secure, generate animosity between various groups, open up the prisons, invite more criminals to move into town, and so on. If making homes and businesses easier to steal from would cause more crime, this suggests that it might be worth exploring how to make them more secure. This could lead to a radical proposal to help residents crime-proof their houses, resulting in a safer city, and paid for by the savings that come from the reduction in the police force which is possible.

"Invite more criminals to town," suggests this may actually be happening. Do criminals perceive the city to be a safe environment for their activities? Is there a way to advertise new criminal-unfriendly policies, and so un-invite thieves and others? Essentially you work through the list like this, to see what new ideas you can implement. You can arrive at all these partial solutions by other means, but this problem-causing exercise can be a powerful way to find them.

The Modifying Word List

We covered "what if" questions in a previous lesson, but there is a way to use them more systematically. It uses a list of words that can modify a concept. With a thing or concept or problem in mind, you ask, "What if it was..." and insert a word from the list. For the purpose of demonstration, I just looked around the room and chose a door as a test subject. To see what new ideas I can come up with, I ask "what if it was... "

Bigger? A wall that opens up on nice days, allowing sun and air to flood the room. Smaller? Part of it opens to allow pets or packages through, but leaves you secure from larger visitors. Easier? Voice-activated doors. Higher? Have doors two meters above street level for security, with lifts that are key-activated. Imaginary? What appears to be a door is just a wall, so you can see visitors and decide whether to direct them to the real door.

Here is a short word-modifying list. You can add to it or make your own using any adjectives or descriptive phrases.

What if it was... larger... smaller... sooner... later... easier... more difficult... softer... harder... poorer... richer... wetter... drier... higher... lower... longer... shorter... white... black... certain... uncertain... newer... older... calmer... more exciting... boring... interesting... more casual... more serious... divided... combined... subtle... more common... less common... faster... slower... better... worse... hotter... colder... ignored... hopeless... stickier... happier... imaginary... cheaper... more expensive... newer... older.

"It" doesn't have to be an object. It can be a problem you're trying to solve, or the situation or solution that exists at the moment. To show how this works, let's assume a man wants to make more money with his nightclub. He pulls out the list and runs through it, asking "What if it was..."

"Larger" doesn't give him any new ideas, so he moves on after a moment. Smaller? He could break the club up into several smaller rooms, each with their own theme and music. Sooner? He could be the only place with daytime dancing. Later? He could stay open all night. Easier? Making it easier for people to get in by dropping the cover charge for early arrivals might generate new customers. More difficult? Making it more exclusive, with membership requirements, might make it THE hotspot.

Even a word like "hopeless" might suggest something useful. It might cause him to recognize that there are demographic forces at work which point to a continuing decline. That could suggest that he needs to sell out and look for another business.

You get the idea, but there is one more way to use a modifying word list, which is more fun and perhaps more likely to produce some radical new ideas. You start with the words first, and apply them to everything you can think of. For example, if you start with the word "shorter," you just look around at things and ask, "What if it was shorter?"

A shorter car could be parked more easily. A shorter book could be made to be carried in the pocket. If life was shorter what would you do differently? If the distances to jobs and stores was shorter we wouldn't need to have a car. Shorter vacations might be more fun if you had more of them. Shorter airport runways would take less valuable space, so maybe planes should be redesigned.

Using Dreams

I often have ideas that come in dreams. I have found lost items after seeing where they are in my dreams. I even dreamt of a new way to solve problems once. I woke up recalling how in the dream I was explaining it to some stranger. It's in my ebook, Problem Solving Power (the add, subtract, change technique).

There is a lot of creative thinking going on in your dreams, but most of it will be forgotten by the time you get out of bed. One way to prevent this is to get in the habit of laying there for a moment after waking up, and consciously review the dream you were having. Then, if there are any interesting thoughts, write them down. By the way, the more you do this, the more you will begin to recall your dreams automatically.

To have better or more directed creative ideas, think about your chosen subject prior to falling asleep. In particular, focus on the unresolved questions you have. Much of what happens in our dreams each night seems to be a resolution of unfinished business from the day.

A Creative Thinking Exercise

We'll keep it simple this week. Use each of the techniques above for a few minutes, to see which one works best for you. Then get in the habit of using it.

Until next time,

Steve

www.RadicalNewThoughts.com