Here's a few ideas to shake up thought patterns:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190322093856.htm
TED talk: A Powerful Way to Unleash Your Natural Creativity, Tim Harford
- slow motion multitasking (aka Slow MultiTasking) for creativity
- multiple projects, and you move between them as your mood or the situation demands
- top research scientist changed topic 43 times in their first 100 resaarch papers (every 2nd or 3rd paper)
- easier to think outside the box if you spend your time climbing from one box to another
-- like creative strategy where you look for solution elements in different domains
- also 'unsticks' you from a problem through forgetting about the wrong answer (stuck) for a while
- problem: managing it all
- solution: some way to keep materials together, recorded,, so no great idea gets lost
-- (Thorp (ballet): boxes. Sanden (software/MV/VR): Diaries, project folders, tables)
- projects spanning 44 years
- serious hobbies
- make a list of your projects. And get to work!
Diversive Curiosity linked to problem solving
- diversive curiosity: "curiosity associated with the interest in exploring unfamiliar topics and learning something new"
- measured by how much time/effort spent at start of project gathering information and generating ideas
- correlated with creative problem solving
- trainable - just spend more time at start of project gathering info / generating ideas
- versus 'specific curiosity' used for filling gaps in knowledge, not correlated with creative performance
TED talk: Surprrising Habits of Original Thinkers Adam Grant, 2016
1. moderate levels of procrastination help incubate / explore / refine ideas
-- quick to start, slow to finish
-- (first mover advantage is over-rated 47% failure vs 8% failure rate for improvers)
2. fail lots to have a few successes
-- don't take failure personally: its 'IDEA FAILURE' not personal
-- fear not trying / lost opportunity
3. IDEA DOUBT is good, allows you to keep looking for/open to even better ideas, 'doubt the default'
TED talk: The first Secret of Design is Noticing Tony Faddel 2015
Think broader, closer, younger to fight habituation.
TED talk: Where Good Ideas Come From Steven Johnson
Connections -often unplanned- between neurons, ideas and people.
TED talk:Play this Game to Come Up with Original Ideas, Shimpei Takahashi, 2013
Take first letters from things around you to generate words that combine to describe a new thing
TED.com talk:Uri Alon: Why truly innovative science demands a leap into the unknown
- you enter a 'cloud' between the known and unknown, where your predictions/hypotheses fail, you are unhappy, and you come out of the cloud in a different place / with a different conclusion / with truly new knowledge.
- "YES, AND.." additive ideation from improvisational theatre
- this is the subject description of the process of doing scientific discovery, from a professor supervising PhD students
TED.com talk: Tim Brown: Tales of Creativity and Play
IDEO -a creative design firm- recaptures some youthful play as rules:
1. explore: go for quantity
2. hands on - build prototypes
3. role play
especially during the divergent/generative phase increase play, and get more serious in the convergent phase
TED.com talk: Tell me how you make toast
To get the most detailed process description:
1. use sticky notes so you can move them around
2. involve lots of people in the process
TED.com talk: Trial, Error and the God Complex, Tim Harford
Explains evolutionary design: basically trial and error (vs. expert judgement, or 'logical conclusions')
TED.com talk: Increase Luck by Taking Little Risks, Tina Seeling
- 1) take small chances 2) show appreciation 3) look at bad ideas through lens of possibility
IFTF.org keynote speech: How To Think (And Learn) Like A Futurist, Jane McGonigal
- don't predict the future. _Make_ the future. By exploring what's possible.
- the future is already here, its just not evenly distributed
1. collect signals from the future (what's happening now that's emerging and might indicate the future)
2. combine signals into forecasts (try different combinations and permutations and interpret)
3. create personal foresight (what role would I play in this future? Look for contributions YOU are uniquely qualified to make)
4. play with the future (with thousands of others)
Reframing problem:
https://www.fastcompany.com/3050265/three-ways-to-reframe-a-problem-to-find-innovative-solution
1. rethink question > frame-storming
2. brainstorm bad ideas > then how they can become good
3. unpack/articulate your assumptions
Strategic foresight:
https://medium.com/the-overlap/the-alberta-colab-story-2d409ecf747c
- see diagram a few pages in: potential > { possible > plausible > probable (bulls-eye rings); preferable }
- (lots of other ideas in here: reframing, systems thinking vs design thinking)
Theory of Technology Transitions (aka Disruption)
https://systeminnovationforsustainability.com/tag/socio-technical-systems/
- see diagram showing regime sandwiched between landscape/context and niche technologies
- 'regime change' - whole/complex supply chains get swapped
-- film to digital cameras (out: Kodak, local film developers, hassleblad, in: battees, mem sticks, dig cams)
-- ICE (nternal combustion engine) to EV (electric vehicle)
--- (out: gas stations, repair shops (muffler, oil change), in: charging stations, electricians)
Advantages of a Wandering Mind, found on sciencedaily.com
Cross-cranial mind wandering uses more parts of the brain, correlates with creativity, and can improve performance on focused tasks.
Executive vs Learning Brain Functions found on sciencedaily.com
Parts of the brain that plan can suppress or distract from learning
Gender Intelligence (versus gender equality) found via OnTheMoney interview
- see report, with references for gender differences, goal: best utilize any gender differences for diversity in innovation
- see also (less scientific but humorous) Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps
The Power of Why, Amanda Lang, 2012
- not reviewed yet, on our wish list
The Opposable Mind, Roger Martin, 2009
Integrative thinking / synthesis: take 2 seemingly opposite/contradictory ideas and find a way to merge them
A. looks at 4 aspects of decision making: salience, causality, architecture, resolution, p.29:
Salience - what features do I see as important?
Causality - how do I make sense of what I see/what causes what?
Architecture - how do I organize decision making/what tasks do I do in what order?
Resolution - how will I know when I'm done deciding?
For integrative thinking: generally: don't oversimplify
from p.47
Integrative vs. Conventional Thinking
B. innovating our own 'stance' -by adopting different models of reality- is the point of highest leverage in our lives:
Stance ----(guides)---->Tools------(guides)---->Experiences
<---(informs)---- <-----(informs)-----
where Tools means tool acquisition, such as education, know-how, mental habits, and physical tools.
from p.190
Integrative Thinker Knowledge System
Stance
1.Existing models not = reality
2,Leverage opposing models
3.Better models exist4.I can find a better model
5.I wade into complexity
6.I give myself time to create
Tools
1.Generative reasoning
2.Causal modeling
3.Assertive inquiry
Experience
1. Deepening mastery
2. Nurturing originality