« The power of thought is the magic of the mind.”
Lord Byron
We all want to be creative and original. But how do we get there? The traditional innovation model revolves around conducting research or analysis and using it as the basis for brainstorming to come up with an innovation: You use your analytical left brain, then turn on your intuitive right brain, and creative ideas start popping out.
Is there a better way? William R. Duggan, the author of Creative Strategy, tells us that new brain research shows “there is no right or left side of the brain when it comes to thinking. Creative ideas actually happen in the mind, as the whole brain takes in past elements, then selects and combines them — and that’s how creative strategy works.”
Duggan notes that traditional brainstorming, especially in groups, leads to everyone pooling their expertise and throwing out ideas based on personal experience. “If you have a problem that the total personal expertise of six people can solve, brainstorming is very efficient. But if the solution lies outside their personal expertise, brainstorming is a trap — you get conventional wisdom, not innovation.”
What to do, What to do?
Duggan’s approach to sparking innovative ideas: you break a problem down into its essential parts, search for precedents for solving isolated aspects of the problem, then “let them seep into your mind and some of them connect to give you an idea.” You keep letting the idea evolve and grow. The most important thing in this stage of the process: “Keep an open mind as you work hard on your idea: the idea should change as you proceed, perhaps slightly, perhaps dramatically.”
What habits of mind open us to intuition and creative combinations?
«People should cultivate curiosity about how exactly things succeed and cultivate ‘presence of mind’ where they deal calmly with problems and let their minds wander freely rather than look for quick answers because they feel stress,» says Duggan.
So, let’s keep our whole brain focused, stay curious and calm, be in the moment, and let our minds wander freely without feeling pressured for results as we all write on!
