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Think Outside The Box
These hacks help you face a situation that “everybody knows” how to solve
Take a Shower
Anecdotal evidence links shower to creativity.
So maybe when the status quo response to some circumstance just isn’t working, try taking a shower.
Study Another Industry
Pick some media from different industries. You may find that other industries have problems similar to yours but maybe they were solved in a different way.
You may also find new linkages between your own industry and another, linkages that may lead to innovative partnerships in the future.
Learn About Other Religions
Religions are a way for us to understand our relationships with the supernatural and with each other. Learning how such relations are structured can teach you a lot about how people relate to each other and the world around them.
Seeing the reason in other religions can also help you develop mental flexibility.
The Better Mind Map
Combining the Mind Map Technique with the Creativity Triggers Technique.
The novelty of The Better Mind Map is in the custom triggers tailored to a specific challenge. It is a template that provides structure for your early thinking and customizable to suit your purposes.
How The Better Mind Map works
- Write your design challenge or problem in the center of a blank piece of paper and circle it.
- Add the following five Topic Areas around the central challenge: User needs, Inspiration, Constraints, Commercial drivers, Service design triggers.
- In the Service design triggers Area, Pick 3 triggers from Entertainment, Simplified/light, Adaptable, Economical, Integrated, Durable.
- Consolidate what you know about each topic area into 3 triggers each.
Sketching ideas
From your mind map:
- Divide a piece of paper into six sections.
- Dedicate each section to a sketched idea, based on a single trigger from your Better Mind Map
There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.
EDWARD DE BONO
Vertical thinking vs lateral thinking
- Vertical thinking is the traditional type of thinking where one moves forward by sequential steps and where each step must be justified.
- Lateral thinking is the process of generating new ideas. It teaches you how to look at a problem from a different angle and challenge your thinking patterns to produce better ways of solving a problem.
- Vertical thinking is very useful for analysing facts, numbers and data. Lateral thinking is useful to solve unique problems that require innovative thinking.
The need for lateral thinking
In the past, there was an exclusive emphasis on vertical thinking (logic or mathematics). Vertical thinking is linear, logical and produce the final solution from a series of accurate statements.
Vertical thinking is useful, but sometimes we need to think outside the box. When vertical thinking is not getting you anywhere, you should switch to lateral thinking. Lateral thinking is important when constructing strategies or challenging old ways of dealing with a problem.
What is the six thinking hats technique?
The Six Thinking hats is a role-playing model developed by Edward de Bono in 1986. each hat represents a different lens or perspective on a particular issue and is an insightful activity that prevents narrow thinking
The six types of “Thinking Hats” are:
- White Hat: Facts
- Red Hat: Feelings
- Black Hat: Cautions
- Yellow Hat: Benefits
- Blue Hat: Creativity
- Green Hat: Process
I will break down the hats further in the stash!
White Hat
Facts
"What are the facts that we know?"
- Our survey last month indicated a 5% preference for green products by women aged 25 – 45.
- Return rates from sales have fallen by over 50% since the introduction of the new delivery packaging.
- There are new delivery routes available via Company Logistics.
These are examples⬆️
Red Hat
Feelings
"What are your gut reactions?"
- The green color inspires a sustainable look and is very appealing. This is even a great shade.
- The impact on the reduced return rates could mean additional resources.
- How do the new delivery routes impact our delivery times? I would certainly be interested in learning more about it.
These are examples⬆️
Divergent Thinking
Is the ability to generate many ideas or solutions from a single idea or piece of information.
It’s thought to be one of, if not the most, important factor in creativity.
Convergent Thinking
Is the ability to take many pieces of information or data and generate one solution.
It is largely taught and encouraged in schools and workplaces.
Exercising Divergent Thinking
- The Many Uses Exercise: Pick an ordinary object, set a timer for 5 minutes and try to come up with as many alternative uses for a paperclip as you can.
- 10 New Ideas: Every day for a week, try to come up with 10 new ideas within a specific topic or category.
- Daily Headlines: Imagine that your day was a news story in the New York Times. What would the headline be?
- Articles on Trial: Challenge the conclusion of articles you read by coming up with one question you’d like to ask the author.
- Start to notice your automatic thoughts and generate alternatives to them.
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