Tools and Techniques — Third Thought — Page 3 Third Thought

Technique Tuesday: Incubation

14th of June ~

Incubation is the fine art of letting things simmer.  It is not so much a technique as a vital phase in the creative problem solving process.  The beauty of Incubation is that it is so passive and easy.  You just have to be patient.

Steps:

1. Frame the question.  “In what ways might I……?“
2. Saturate yourself in what you already know.
3. Stimulate yourself with images, possibilities and completely unrelated information (to encourage lateral wandering).
4. Request the sub-conscious mind for answers–actually write down your question.
5. Wait and allow the sub-conscious to do its work.

Be amazed when you awaken or while you are showering as new options come into your mind.

It’s just that easy.

Remember, your brain loves to play with questions!

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Technique Tuesday: Brainwriting

7th of June ~

Last week I mentioned some of the limitations of Brainstorming.  Brainwriting is an idea generating activity that overcomes the limitations of a single channel as all team members work in parallel.

Benefits:

• Good exercise for warming up
• Introverts enjoy it more than brainstorming
• Private and multiple channels

Steps:

1) Each person has a Brainwriting Worksheet (download below).  Place one extra Worksheet in the center.

2) Write two ideas on your sheet of paper and then exchange your sheet for a new sheet from the center.  Review the new sheet and use the ideas on it as stimulus for new ideas.

3) Work quickly and repeat the process until sheets are full.

4) Scan each sheet for ideas that appeal–select 2-3 from each page and post for selection exercises later.

Sample Brainwriting Worksheet

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Technique Tuesday: Change Your Mind

31st of May ~

When you’d like to get a fresh perspective on an idea here’s a way to CHANGE YOUR MIND.

Select at least two characters–they can be real or fictional, historical or current. For example: Genghis Khan, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa and Bugs Bunny.

Clarify the perspective of your selected character.  For example: Genghis Khan is decisive, bold, and ruthless.  Bugs is playful, mischievous, and irreverent.

Take on the perspective of your character and generate the ideas that your character would.

For example, say I want to generate ways to get more consistent about my product development.:

• Bugs Bunny will want to find a way to make it easy and fun.
• Lincoln might think about the right thing to do and leaving a legacy.
• Genghis Khan will want to annihilate the competition and get aggressive.

You can see how each of these perspectives will take you down a path you might not have considered.

Happy idea generating!

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Practical Innovation

26th of April ~

Two weeks ago I was feeding the dog.   Alas, our inferior and aging can opener was not doing its job and I cut myself.  Yeeeouch!!!  I called Jeff, who first asked if I’d cut anything off (ew, no!).  He arrived and bravely took a look.  He thought I might need stitches although he’d just put on some neosporin and close it up with gaffing tape.  I opted for the stitches (five of them):

And then I followed my friend, Michele’s advice: BUY A NEW CAN OPENER!  She recommended the smooth edge can opener.

And, by golly, once you figure it out, it really does make a clean edge.  What an amazing invention!  Cutting oneself on a sharp edge is no longer possible.  Buy one today because, really, life is so much easier with your opposable thumb.

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Creative Planning Activity #4

30th of December ~

By now you’ve created your mindmap or lists or whatever you wanted to do to capture   1) accomplishments of the past year and 2) the aspirations for the new year.  If not, here’s a handy little Planning Booklet I used a few years ago.

Now it’s time to ANALYZE.

The notion of ‘analysis’ sometimes sets off alarm bells in the creative person.  Analysis doesn’t sound creative!  Ah, but it is My Friend.  Evaluating and Choosing are central to the creative process.

Here’s one method to create some focus:

1. Look at everything you’ve written on your Past Year map.  Circle 5 that bring you the most satisfaction.  You can use any criteria you like…the most difficult/breakthrough. the most fun, the ones that connect to your deepest values.  Anything.  Just choose FIVE.
2. Then look at these five.  What do you notice?  How might these top five inform your choices for the coming year?
3. Now look at everything on your New Year map.  Choose TEN.  Again, apply any criteria you like to choose your ten.
4. Write each of these aspirations on a notecard or a slip of paper.  Ten pieces of paper.
5. Array them and take a deep breath.  This is a good time to tap your intuition and follow those ideas that have the most juice for you.  As you read each one, what raises  your energy a little more?
6. Next you’re going to pile them up.  Of these ten, which is at the bottom of the list?  Which is at the top?  Which is second from the bottom?  Second from the top? And so on.

You now have a prioritized list of your top goals for the coming year.

What Next?

Incubate on this list for a couple of nights.  Reread your notecards before you go to sleep tonight and let your unconscious play with the ideas.  In my next post I’ll discuss how to support the process of actually DOING something with your dreams.

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