|
|
|
Ready for some creativity practice? Perhaps you have read through some of the creative problem solving pages of the site, and you want to try out your new mind. This is the place. Here are some simple exercises that are designed to get you thinking in new ways.
Part of creativity is being able to imagine things. With that in mind, the following exercise is about imagining what you would do in a given scenario with only a few possible "tools" at your disposal. There is no "correct" answer, except for any that work.
Scenario: Your plane crashed in the wilderness. You and the only other survivor landed on opposite sides of a deep, fast river that is 100 feet wide. You need to get to the man on the other side, who is injured and can only crawl around. There are no rocks or rapids where you are. You could try to swim across, but you are not sure you would make it before being swept over the waterfall that is a hundred yards downstream. Other than the trees, bushes and rocks around you, all you have is some plane wreckage to work with. How can you safely get across?
Here is a new word and its definition: Dogmaholic: one who is addicted to and consistently under the influence of a well-defined philosophy or set of ideas. Now here are several other new phrases just coined. Create a definition for each of these:
Confidunce:
Fearmind:
Automotivator:
The idea here is to exercise that inquisitive mind. These are certainly not one-answer questions. Nor do you even need to arrive at a solution to get the benefit of thinking in new ways. Just give a couple minutes thought to each of the following.
How could we test to see if animals had a sense of humor?
With a pen and one piece of paper, how could you make the most money?
What new uses can you think of for a light nylon jacket?
If you needed to raise $200,000 by tomorrow, how might you do it?
One of the most creative and interesting creative problem solving techniques is combining concepts to get new ideas. It is a great way to invent new products and services. It is also a good exercise for tapping into the power of your subconscious mind.
The process is simple. You just randomly choose two different things, processes, ideas, or words, and see what connections you can find between them that lead to a new idea. For example, combining the concepts of "subliminal affirmations" and "television show" could lead to an idea for a cable channel that flashes helpful subliminal affirmations on the screen while you watch regular programming.
Most connections will not be that direct, so you have to work with the ideas and let them wander. For example, thinking about poker and advertising may not immediately lead to a good idea, so you ask things like, what is poker played with? Cards. Put advertising on playing cards? Now that might be a great idea. Advertisers pay for the ads there, and you give away the playing cards with 52 paid ads on them - one on the face of each. Since they may be used for years, this could be valuable advertising.
Headphones - Cats
Table - Car
Free Trade - Martian Psychology
Road - Water
Coins - Business Cards
Creativity Practice - Radio
Love Poems - Lawn Care