Wily Walnut’s Blog 2.0

Reminiscent of Thomas Edison’s Invention Factory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, Proctor and Gamble have their own creative thinking think tank over at Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati.

It sounds like a Disneyland for the creative mind. Check out this cool news item to learn about what those folks are doing over there:

Clay St Project lets P&G Think Outside of the Pyramid

I love the firestarter question that sparks a lot of creativity over there:

“If you were going to come to Earth and see things for the first time, what would they look like?”

A great question to take with you into 2009 — so you can see with fresh eyes… and thus see what others miss.

Wishing you happy new year and creative days,

Wily

Stacie gets it. Check out her post over at: Doing Your Best or Just Doing?

Too much trying, feel like crying. Just get doing, ‘tivity’s a shoe-in.

Possibly worst rhyme you’ve ever heard.

Don’t care.

Not the point.

Have fun. Be creative. Chillax about the quality.

Let yourself be free… and you throw wide open the doorway to your deepest creative thinking.

Edward de Bono’s article Creative solutions: how creativity can help with decision making and analysis made for uncomfortable reading.

Why?

Because it exposed a few hidden home truths that most self-confessed ‘creative types’ hide even from themselves.

And what is that?

That we enjoy creative thinking while it is fun, but often bail out when it starts to feel like hard work.

But as Edward de Bono points out in this article, “the disciplined use of creative thinking often turns up ideas way beyond those that arise from the habit of creative thinking.”

Becoming a disciplined creative thinker is a whole different ball game.

Are you up to it?

I was just reading this great little post for healthcare professionals: So You Think You’re A Creative Thinker? but of value to us all.

It outlines how we are saddled with “old Greek” thinking styles based on Socrates, Plato, Aristotle… and how an old Maltese (sorry Edward!!)  has been the driving force behind shifting us to new thinking styles.

The old ways are very much backward looking, fighting fires, solving problems, traditional thinking…

The new ways are about forward thinking, generating new ideas, creating the future rather than just reacting to what happens to us with the same old answers.

It’s very much in line with some of the manifestation teachings, such as Abraham-Hicks, where you focus on what you want rather than what you don’t want.

Of course, problem solving has it’s place, but we are in need of fresh answers and new ways of living… and that requires a fundamental shift of emphasis. There are so many examples where the ‘war on drugs’ style of thinking exacerbates and continues the problem.

Sometimes its a better investment to fight for what you want, rather than fight against what you don’t want. This symbolises the difference in these thinking styles…

I picked up on a Twitter thread and found Dean Hunt’s brilliant site and specifically this post: The Power Of Creative Thinking in which he shows how one little idea he came up with generated massive practical value for him.

You should look at Dean’s site just for a masterclass in original quirky thinking, unique presentation, and living creatively in your life, work and business.

Love the whole killer rabbit theme going on… simple little thing and yet it makes the whole experience memorable and fun.

I like this article over at BusinessWeek on How to Produce Big Ideas on Demand by G. Michael Maddock and Raphael Louis Vitón  of Maddock Douglas, a company that invents, brands, and markets products “for companies driven by innovation.”

Here are their tips:

1. Shower your way to creativity.

This is fairly old hat. You relax in the shower and that frees up your mind. But they add a note that there may be some scientific basis to it… that the water may stimulate synapses in the brain. There is also the diving reflex to consider. Splash cold water in your face and it triggers the diving reflex which in turn oxygenates your brain.

See The Brain Bubbles technique to permanently boost your IQ in just 3 weeks!

2. Sleep on it!

See: Sleep to succeed! Sleep and dream your way to brilliant ideas!

3. Engage in Mind-Mapping!

See: Mind Mapping: the visual creative thinking process

4. Schedule Your Day Dreaming

This is a good point. They say that many people are most creative in the morning, just at the point where they start checking and replying emails, wasting that time. I took a tip from internet marketer Michael Campbell about this, he does all his creative work first thing and leaves email till later in the day. It’s still a hard habit to break though.

5. Yuk it Up!

See: Enhance Your Intelligence With Jokes, Wit and Humor!

And: Gay Think - think pink your way to creativity, genius and wit!

Marc McGuiness is a great writer and I am really enjoying his regular posts at Lateral Action.

He knows how to stimulate a debate too.

His latest post is Spark Your Creativity Thinking Inside The Box.

I think he makes a good point that we are most easily creative when given a particular channel (box) to focus within.

In my comment, I make the point that the brain can only think in ‘boxes’. It needs points of reference to think consciously, and the target driven aspects of the brain respond best to specific aims, goals, or purposes.

I also defend those “self-styled creativity guru[s]” who tell us to “think outside the box” from the scathing attitude underlying his post. I think for the purposes of his post it deliberately overlooks the context in which the advise to think outside the box is generally given… which is after you have exhausted your sources of information and ideas within the box.

Check it out. There’s a good exercise to show you the value of thinking inside the box. And I want to see your comments there if not here too.

Impact Learning’s 6 Key Principles For Encouraging Creativity is an extract from the book, ‘101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving’.

I love the quote at the top of the post, by Cynthia Heimel. It defines the risk necessary in true creative thinking.

The 6 Key Principles are:

1. Separate idea generation from evaluation.
2. Test assumptions.
3. Avoid patterned thinking.
4. Create new perspectives.
5. Minimize negative thinking.
6. Take prudent risks.

Just been reading latest article from Mark McGuiness over at Lateral Action.

You’ll want to check it out as he challenges that old creative thinking chestnut, “thinking outside of the box”.

Mark explores where the saying comes from and he has got a great graphic of the old nine dot puzzle (you know the one where you are supposed to go through all the dots with no more than 4 straight lines).

Find out how I can complete the puzzle with just one straight line. I told him that I like to box outside of the thinking

Really though, we do all our thinking outside of the box, if that box is the coffin.

On that morbid thought, I’ll bid you toodlepip and recommend you check out:

Why Thinking “Outside the Box” Doesn’t Work

Finding it tough to be creative? Just don’t see yourself as a creative person?

It’s time to break out of that straight jacket of adulthood and start to play.

On one level we have an overly sophisticated idea of what it means to be creative. But you don’t have to be Picasso, Mozart or J.K. Rowling to deserve being called a creative person.

Fortunately, our deep inner selves are much less sophisticated. To feel creative they just need to do creative things — and there isnothing they like more than having fun.

Check out MareLisa’s great article:

Creative Thinking Techniques: The “Playful” Edition

for some terrific tips and ideas on how to playfully unleash your natural creativity.

Remember, the more experiences you have of being creative, the more you will come to think of yourself as being a creative person.

And identity is destiny….