Base of lateral thinking arise robert

Bas

e of

LATERAL

THINKING

ARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER

CHANGE YOUR SPACE

It's important to get away from all the typical routines in order to foster creativity.

The idea of changing it up is a common one amongst successful and creative thinkers.

create a specific ritual around creativity


Take a shower. There is something weirdly conducive about showering, as anyone who's had that amazing idea while stuck in the shower

Go for a walk. Like showering, something about walking fosters creativity. Whether it's taking a walk as a prelude to getting started with your creative project, or as part of the project itself, taking a walk will help get those creative juices flowing. Steve Jobs used to hold walking meetings to brainstorm ideas. Tchaikovsky took several walks around his village before working on his latest creation.

Create psychological distance between your normal routine and the time for creativity. Writer Toni Morrison always watched the sun come up in the morning before she would begin writing. She felt that this enabled her to access her creativity.


GREAT IDEAS STRUCK BY

MORNING


BRAINSTORMING

Throwing out tons of different ideas,

especially ideas that might seem

slightly off-the-wall can be a great

idea to pick out a few really good

ideas. Brainstorming helps to open

up your thinking so that you aren't

stuck in the same old thought

patternsARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER

– The brainstorming stage isn't about what is or isn't feasible. Avoid limiting yourself when you're brainstorming. This is the time when all ideas are welcome, no matter how silly or unworkable they sound. If you start limiting yourself during this stage of the thinking game, you aren't going to progress very far.

– Avoid saying things to yourself during this phase that will shut down creativity rather than encourage it. Catch yourself anytime you say: "That won't work," "We haven't done it that way before," "We can't solve this problem," "We don't have enough time.“

– For example: say you get stuck while writing your new story. Instead of obsessing over the next stage of the story, start thinking throwing out ideas for what might happen next, or how the story might progress if there were no boundaries on what you could write (even if you needed to change the ending to make the story possible).


DON’T TAKE NOTES INVARIABLY


RE-

CONCEPTAULI

ZE

PR

OB

LE

M


PROTAGONIST

Turn the problem upside down. This can be done literally or figuratively; turning a picture upside down can actually make it easier to draw, because your brain has to look at it in terms of it's makings rather than what it thinks should be there. This works for more conceptual problems.

For example, if you're

writing a book and you

can't figure out how to get

the protagonist to a certain

spot in the story, ask

yourself "does this

character actually need to

be the protagonist? how

would the story work with

a different character as

protagonist? or more than

one character?").ARISE TRAINING & RESEARCH CENTER

THINK FOR THE SOLUTION

Work backwards. Sometimes what you need is to focus

on the solution first, and build backwards from that

solution. For example: say you work in the

advertising position at a newspaper. The paper is

losing money because it hasn't been getting enough

ads. Start from the final, best outcome (having lots of

the right kind of ads). Work backwards by contacting

the types of businesses and groups that can provide

the best, most cost-effective ads.


DAY DREAMING – GOOD


Daydreaming helps you to make

connections and form patterns and recall information. This is key when you're thinking outside the box, because daydreaming can help you make connections that you might not otherwise have considered. So often your best ideas seem to come out of nowhere while you're daydreaming. – Give yourself time to daydream. Turn off the computer,

t.v., and your phone. If you're constantly plugged into distractions it will be much harder for your brain to rest and make connections.

– You can daydream while on that walk, or in the shower (this is one reason taking time to go for a walk or shower can be so conducive to creative thinking). Daydream in the morning before you have to get up, or at night before you fall asleep.


DON’T SET TOO MUCH

WIDE

PARAMETERS


CONSIDER WORST

SCENARIO

Fear is what holds back creativity. Fear is

what makes you stick the paths that you know

the best. When you consider the worst case

scenario not only can you plan for it, but you

can also convince yourself that the worst case

scenario isn't bad enough that you shouldn't

try.


ELIMINATE

NEGATIVITY

The thing that will hold you back from thinking

outside the box more than anything else is

negativity. Consistently telling yourself that

you can't think creatively or vetoing every idea

as too "out there" is going to severely limit

what you come up with


KEEP CREATIVITY SHARPLike any skill, creativity

needs to be exercised to keep it going. Even when you don't have a particular problem that needs your creative solution, keep working on your creativity. It will help you when you are suddenly confronted with something that needs thinking outside the box


– Alphabetize words. Take a word from a magazine or a billboard and alphabetize its letters. For example: the word NUMBER would be spelled B-E-M-N-R-U. The reason that this exercise boosts your brain functions is that it forces you to use all the information you're given (all the letters) and do something unusual with them. It trains your brain to come up with surprising connections and solutions and look at problems differently.

– Make a game out of coming up with new or different uses for items in your house. This will teach you to look at items and situations with an eye for the unusual approach. For example: using an old boot as a planter, or building a table out of books.


CHANGE ROUTINE WORK


Creativity thrives when you don't stay stuck

in the same old routine. Even the littlest changes can have good consequences for getting you out of a rut and encouraging creative thinking.

– Get outside your comfort zone. Doing new things, especially things you haven't planned for helps you to cope more easily with new situations. It also helps to open your mind and introduce you to new ideas and situations which can help you come up with new or unusual ideas.

– Be spontaneous. Do things that you haven't planned for, occasionally. This will force you to adapt to the moment and overcome problems on the fly. You could even tie this in with an ongoing project.

– Change little things. For example: walk home from work a different way each day. Change up which coffee shop you go to in the mornings.


STUDY ANOTHER INDUSTRY

This will help to show you how people outside your chosen field operate and give you ideas you can incorporate into your field. The industry could be completely different from yours, or have some overlap, but it should be different enough to give you a fresh perspective on your own. – For example: the ad person might take a look at

psychology topics or look into how the businesses they're asking for ads from operate.

– The novelist might read outside their chosen field (YA) looking at nonfiction, mysteries, and the classics for inspiration.


LEARN NEW THINGS


CONNECTING WITH ANOTHER

PEOPLE CREATIVELY


PAY ATTENTION TO OTHERS IDEAS


• Ideas don't exist in a vacuum. Even creative thinkers like Salvador Dali (as an example) started with ideas in his painting that he'd gotten from earlier sources. Paying attention to other people's ideas will help foster your own.

– You’ll see how other people think outside the box. Learning other people's thought patterns and ways of thinking will help you keep from stagnating in your own thinking. You could even say to yourself "How might my creative painter friend view this problem of ads?"

– You can also look at the ideas of famous innovators. Examine what ideas they had that worked and what ideas didn't work. Look at their practices for encouraging creative thinking (like the examples of Steve Jobs, Tchaikovsky, and Toni Morrison in the first part of the article) and try those practices out.

PAY ATTENTION TO OTHERS

IDEAS


LEARN TO LISTEN


• One way to encourage creative thinking is to stay quiet and listen to what other people are saying. Part of why this is such a good idea is that it helps you really hear what other people are saying so you don't present the same ideas that have already been presented. It also helps you to marshal your thoughts before you speak.

– For example: the ad person tried to sell ads to a business that really hated the newspaper. If they hadn't really listened to the concerns of the business (like they felt their ads weren't given priority, and they didn't like some of the content in the newspaper), they wouldn't have gotten the business to place an ad. This business then became part of their scheme to bring other unsatisfied advertisers back into the fold.


SHARING IS KNOWLEDGE


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Base of lateral thinking arise robert