p.10 In order to learn, grow, improve, and solve problems, we need to be able to think differently.
p.12 Creativity is "the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like,
and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc."... Creativity means breaking free of the herd in
order to be less like someone else and more yourself.
p.49 [Orit Gadiesh, head of strategy consulting firm Bain & Company] "You have to be willing
to 'waste time' on things that are not directly relevant to your work because you are curious. But then you are able
to, sometimes unconsciously, integrate them back into your work."
p.57 Preparation: It is in this stage that we do the groundwork to learn all we can about the problem that
we are trying to find a solution for.
p.90 Rather than take all the facts and see what story best ties them all together, we usually just try
to tack on new info to our old stories. As each new piece of information comes in, we try to make sense out of it
by making an assumption about how the pieces are "supposed to fit."
p.92 Fortunately, we always have the choice to perceive the world through the lens of a different
context. The assumptions we make about how to run a meeting, how to design a product, how to handle
a crisis, how to paint, or how to make music can often cause us to get stuck or lead down frustrating roads.
Often we think getting new of better information will solve our dilemmas - better data, new research... On the other hand,
it could very well be that we have all the information we need, but we just don't have the right way to put it all
together.
It could be that we need to alter the assumptions of what the information means to us.
p.106 Choosing to approach the problem differently or choosing to respond to one's environment
differently is often difficult. We are unwilling to put in the effort not only because of complacency, but
also because it means letting go of firmly rooted ways and ideas.
p.107 The creative person walks two steps into the darkness. Everybody can see what's in
the light... But the real heroes delve in darkness of the unknown. It's where you discover 'other things'.
I say other things because when new things are discovered, they have no name
p.115 It's great to have strong ideas, opinions, and beliefs. But in order to grow, learn, improve,
or create something unique, we will have to turn our assumptions on their heads. We must step out of the
stream of our firmly ingrained beliefs, paradigms, and perceptions.
p.135 Many of us grow up believing that being right is of the utmost importance. In order to think
differently, being wrong is absolutely necessary, as it allows us to escape old paradigms and exposes
us to new ones.
p.149-160 The Secrets to Exploring New Ideas
Go with the Flow... Mix & Match - Combinatory Play... Random Stimulation... Expand Representations through
Reframing... Being a Little Nutty... Don't Worry, Be Happy... Establish an Exploratory Environment
p.152 To think creatively, we need to daydream about our ideas, perceptions, and concepts
playfully without any goal in mind.
p.152 The idea with brainstorming is to generate as many ideas as possible. So the focus
is on quantity as opposed to quality. In other words, we want to have access to as diverse an intersection of ideas as possible.
In order to do this, we need to let go of the need to be critical and instead embrace
all ideas, especially uncommon ones... the participants must "play off" of the current ideas.
p.158 In order to find creative approaches to your art, business, or life, you can try replacing the lens
through which you perceive things. You could try to find a new story with which to make sense out of your experience.
By doing so, new connections between ideas can appear that were not obvious through the old lens of perception.
p.158 Deviating from normal thinking processes requires us to be unafraid of being weird, unusual, or a
bit nutty. We need to go beyond our ideas of normalcy in order to expose novel possibilities.
p.165 In order to exercise our creative thinking faculties, a conscious effort must be made to actively
engage [your right hemisphere] in everyday life.
p.166 Any activity or game that exercises our imagination... can give our creative faculties a workout...
Not only do these activities exercise our ability to generate multiple perspectives and ideas, but they also help us to cultivate
a playful, fun attitude towards the creative process... we are most creative when we explore ideas like young children.
p.169 After emptying ourselves of our old ideas and habits, we must walk towards inspiration
by first passing through the stage of Trials and Ordeals. It is in this stage that we explore new connections between ideas...
The right hemisphere is encouraged to roam free
p.169 The first steps of a creative act are like groping in the dark: random and chaotic,
feverish and fearful, a lot of busy-ness with no apparent or definable end in sight.
p.170, 171 We are wanderers in this stage, exploring and identifying new forms, participating
in combinatory play, and delving into new behaviors for their own sake... Our challenge here is not necessarily to
find anything in particular. Rather, our obstacle is the Siren of Censorship... we need to overcome the propensity
to judge ideas as being good or bad... Critical evaluation of ideas is necessary but not at this stage... It's funny to say,
but we must play. We must play around with ideas and be able to explore them freely. The purpose of this
stage isn't to find the right idea, but to find many of them.
p.187 [Mozart quoted] When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone,
and of good cheer... it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and how they come, I know
not: nor can I force them... What has been thus produced I do not easily forget, and this is perhaps the
best gift I have my Divine Maker to thank for.
p.188 being an adult isn't about leaving childish thinking behind. Being a truly mature individual
means knowing how to incorporate childish thinking into our everyday lives.
p.194 The very act of creating is a confrontation between dream and reality, a marriage of dream and reality...
the artist embraces both dream and reality
p.213 If we are privileged enough to fail, our greatest error would be not learning from it.
