Creative people fascinate me. I enjoy great art, music, and watching artists of all types create something beautiful. I wish I could paint, but I don’t think coloring by numbers counts. I also took piano lessons for ten years, but I sound more like I just took two! When I listen to my youngest daughter play, I realize that she got her mother’s genes in that area.
Realizing that creativity is something I need to “learn”, I have been reading on how to grow in that area. A fascinating book on how to approach challenges creatively is Thinkertoys. A great book listing both Linear and Intuitive tools to use to approach problem solving creatively. It has already been helpful to me and I am not even finished with the book.
One tool is the Cherry Split. The approach is to simply state the essence of your problem in two words. Then you split the challenge into two units using those two words. In other words, your challenge could be “Cherry Picking”. Then one unit would be Cherry and the other Picking. Don’t worry about the correctness of the split, this is simply a way to focus your thinking.
Then you continue “splitting” the attributes until you feel you have enough to work with. Then you begin examining each attribute for ideas. You will often find big ideas hiding in insignificant attributes.
Also, try reassembling the attributes into new combinations which can result in new and powerful concepts.
This process will result in provoking you to search out new ways of doing things and can provide powerful solutions to your challenge.
Check out this book – it contains 17 linear and 12 intuitive problem-solving tools.
Great book to add to your toolbox.
Grace & peace to you,
BG
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