Cross-Pollination

• Cross-indexing is an ability to see similar designs in otherwise disparate fields or domains. The brain can figure out invisible connections and patterns from completely different disciplines.

• People with varied and diverse backgrounds can learn faster and recognize more...

Biographies and how-to guides from other fields can be wonderful sources of inspiration.

What might you gain from reading about and emulating the morning routine of a favorite athlete?

Philosopher John Locke understood the importance of cross-referencing as early on as 1652, when he began developing an elaborate system for indexing the content of his commonplace book, essentially a scrapbook of interesting thoughts and findings. Such books formed his repository of ideas and...