CREATIVITY.....24

Rules of Creative Thinking

By William N. Yeomans

Don't let assumptions stifle your capacity. Throw every one of them.

Discipline yourself to take time to look for alternatives. Stay open and generate as many as you can think of before deciding on one.

To get solutions, you must create an atmosphere where you and others are comfortable expressing new ideas (even if you make mistakes by coming out with bad ideas), an atmosphere where ideas are not immediately evaluated and attacked.

To open up true creativity, you have to shed inhibitions and move from left-brain – dominated by numbers – toward right-brain –- the original thinking.

If you are working on a problem and getting nowhere, leave it for a while and let your subconscious – your depth mind – to take over.

Creative Thinking Tips

If you are thinking along a certain line and nothing happens, stop. Analyze the problem again and see if you can come up with a new approach.

Break out of self-imposed limitations.

Look for wider solutions, 'think beyond the square'.

Think sideways; explore the least likely directions; abandon step-by-step approach and thinking 'to one side' and master the 'lateral thinking' approach.

Sharpen your brain – communicate and exchange ideas with other creative people as often as you can. This is useful not only for stimulating idea generation but also for giving you an opportunity to validate your ideas through professional colleagues.

If you are working on a problem and getting nowhere, leave it for a while and let your subconscious – your depth mind – to take over.

Lateral Thinking – Looking for Wider Solutions

Vertical Thinking
Lateral Thinking

Chooses
Changes

Looks for what is right
Looks for what is different

One thing must follow directly from another
Makes deliberate jumps

Concentrates on relevance
Welcomes chance intrusions

Moves in the most likely directions
Explores the least likely directions