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Using Creative Thinking to Get Ahead in Life Our life is full of possibilities, which many of us see as problems. We all have heard that success is a matter of perspective. Perhaps yes. Creativity is all about using innovative solutions to solve problems and achieve goals. The innovative however need not mean new. It could simply refer to something that has been tried elsewhere but not tried in a particular domain. In this page, we have a look at how creative thinking can be used in a practical sense by all of us to solve problems, exploit opportunities, and succeed in life. This page – like all the other pages at BillDoll.com, The Billion Dollar Questions Site - is a work-in-progress and stuff will get added regularly. Billion Dollar Site Highlights Billion Dollar Questions – most important questions answered Billion Dollar People – the world of billionaires Billion Dollar Ideas – billion dollar concepts, products and businesses Billion Dollar News - billion dollar news and newsmakers Billion Dollar FAQ – questions about a billion dollars or more (and answers) .. .. Using Creative Thinking to Get Ahead in Life Writing Up a Spanish Storm – Using Creative Thinking for Creative Writing – from Yale-New Haven Teacher’s Institute Lateral Thinking Section from the de Bono Group Using Creative Problem Solving – from the IT Toolbox Blog Creativity Tools, Creative Solutions & Creative Problem Solving Techniques from Mind Tools. Explains a wide range of techniques you can use to come up with creative and imaginative solutions to the challenges you face. Practical Creativity – How to develop a strong creative muscle and use it to change your life – Angela Zakon Practical Creativity – Thinkers should aim for practical creativity, not ideas that are simply bizarre or uncommon, says Edward de Bono Design Thinking article from Wikipedia Creative thinking challenges, quizzes, tools & techniques – from Building Brands A Practical Approach to Genius – Hot to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Practical Techniques for Producing Profitable Ideas – from Robert W. Bly Three Principles behind All Creative Thinking Tools – Attention, Escape & Movement Teaching for Creativity – Two Dozen Tips Creativity & Innovation Tools & Techniques @ Mycoted Creative Problem-solving Tips – from Solutions Creative Related Web Resources Enchanted Mind – Brain games, mind games, puzzles & more Tools, techniques, methods, quotes & quotations, articles & more @ Creating Minds Thinking Managers – Edward de Bono & Robert Heller (see also their Blog) Invention Help - Invention help resource, topics on developing, licensing, and selling ideas and inventions. Creativity Unleashed - business creativity - About using simple techniques to improve your personal and group creativity time and time again - information, free software, books and much more to help your creativity. Creative Thinking about Product Development – from Real Strategies Blog Creative Thinking Exercises & e-books – from Sly as a Fox Problem Solving Tips – Creative Tips to Difficult Problems A nice picture of mind mapping – from Concept Draw .. ..  Book References Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain – by Betsy Edwards. Contains interesting exercises that teach you how to "see" in a creative way, as artists do The Artist's Way – by Julie Cameron. About the obstacles to creativity and especially ways to surmount them. Darwin on Man – by Howard Gruber. Discusses "the evolving systems" approach to creativity - emphasizes that creativity develops out of long processes of development and activity Creative People at Work, edited by Dorothy Wallace and Gruber The Knowledge-Creating Company - by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi. Presents an interesting way of thinking about creativity and innovation and the management of creativity and innovation. The Soul of a New Machine - by Tracy Kidder. Account of what it's like working in a start-up environment where creativity and creative problem-solving are essential, in demand every day The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Excellent discussion of the process of managing a very unusual, large-scale, demanding project, with very high level creative individuals. The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills: Powerful Problem-solving Techniques to Ignite Your Team's Potential - by Paul Sloane - Pub: Kogan Page Ltd Other questions you might be interested in: (see BillDoll Home Page for the complete list of questions) How do I make my kids good at math? How can I make a million dollars in a year? How can I make money in the stock market? How can I make money on the Internet? How can I remain young & youthful forever? How can I get the best job for my qualifications? How can I become brilliant? How do the minds of geniuses work? What are the best foods to maintain a healthy body? How can I grow my small business into a very large and successful business? How can I achieve great leadership qualities? How can I manage time effectively? Content Derived from Wikipedia article on Lateral Thinking Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono, a Maltese psychologist, physician, and writer, although it may have been an idea whose time was ready; the notion of lateral truth is discussed by Robert M. Pirsig in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance from the same era (1973/1974). De Bono defines Lateral Thinking as methods of thinking concerned with changing concepts and perception. Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. Techniques of lateral thinking Techniques that apply lateral thinking to problems are characterised by the shifting of thinking patterns away from entrenched or predictable thinking to new or unexpected ideas. A new idea that is the result of lateral thinking is not always a helpful one, but when a good idea is discovered in this way it is usually obvious in hindsight, which is a feature lateral thinking shares with a joke. Lateral Thinking and Problem Solving Edward de Bono points out that the term problem solving implies that there is a problem to respond to and that it can be resolved. That eliminates situations where there is no problem or a problem exists that cannot be resolved. It is logical to think about making a good situation, that has no problems, into a better situation. Some times a problem cannot be solved by removing its cause.     We may need to solve problems not by removing the cause but by designing the way forward even if the cause remains in place.     - (Edward de Bono) Lateral thinking can be used to help in solving problems but can also be used for much more. Example 1 of lateral thinking It took two hours for two men to dig a hole five feet deep. How deep would it have been if ten men had dug the hole for two hours?.............. The answer appears to be 25 feet deep. This answer assumes that the thinker has followed a simple mathematical relationship suggested by the description given, but we can generate some lateral thinking ideas about what affects the size of the hole which may lead to different answers: A hole may need to be of a certain size or shape so digging might stop early at a required depth. The deeper a hole is, the more effort is required to dig it, since waste soil needs to be lifted higher to the ground level. There is a limit to how deep a hole can be dug by manpower without use of ladders or hoists for soil removal, and 25 feet is beyond this limit. Deeper soil layers may be harder to dig out, or we may hit bedrock or the water table. Are we digging in soil? Clay? Sand? Each presents its own special considerations. Holes required to be dug beyond a certain depth may require structural reinforcement to prevent collapse of the hole. Digging in a forest becomes much easier once we have cut through the first several feet of roots. Each man digging needs space to use a shovel. It is possible that with more people working on a project, each person may become less efficient due to increased opportunity for distraction, the assumption he can slack off, more people to talk to, etc. More men could work in shifts to dig faster for longer. There are more men but are there more shovels? The two hours dug by ten men may be under different weather conditions than the two hours dug by two men. Rain could flood the hole to prevent digging. Temperature conditions may freeze the men before they finish. Would we rather have 5 holes each 5 feet deep? The two men may be an engineering crew with digging machinery. What if one man in each group is a manager who will not actually dig? The extra eight men might not be strong enough to dig, or much stronger than the first two. The most useful ideas listed above are outside the simple mathematics implied by the question. Lateral Thinking and Critical Thinking Critical thinking is primarily concerned with judging the Truth value of statements and seeking errors. Lateral Thinking is more concerned with the movement value of statements and ideas. A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to creating new ideas. Example 2 of lateral thinking Consider the statement "Cars should have square wheels." When considered with critical thinking, this would be evaluated as a poor suggestion and dismissed as impractical. The Lateral Thinking treatment of the same statement would be to speculate where it leads. Humour is taken intentionally with lateral thinking. A person would imagine "as if" this were the case, and describe the effects or qualities. Someone might observe: square wheels would produce very predictable bumps. If bumps can be predicted, then suspension can be designed to compensate. How could this car predict bumps? It could be a laser or sonar on the front of the car. This leads to the idea of active suspension. A sensor connected to suspension could examine the road surface ahead on cars with round wheels too. A car could have a sensor for determining when it was going to hit a bump that feeds back to suspension that would know to compensate. The initial "provocative" statement has been left behind, but it has also been used to indirectly generate the new and potentially more useful idea. Provocative operations A notation used in lateral thinking, is Po. This stands for provocative operation and is used to propose an idea, which may not necessarily be a solution, or a 'good' idea in itself, but moves thinking forward to a new place where new ideas may be produced. People in conversation could use the word "PO" to notify others that they are intentionally making a provocative comment that should be best applied using lateral thinking techniques. Example of Provocative operation The problem is that Tom won't come to the mountain. Po: The mountain must come to Tom (the classic answer). Po: Use a video conference (an IT idea). Po: Use an intermediary. Po: Ask him what he wants in exchange for coming to the mountain (a deal) Po: See if he'll accept a free timeshare slot in a holiday home (that just happens to be on the mountain). Po: Wait until he changes his mind. Po: Cut your losses and tackle a different problem. Po: Coerce him Po: Force him These are all provocative operations and characterise a stage of lateral thinking where the ideas generated need further work in order to become practical solutions. Lateral thinking puzzles When using lateral thinking puzzles it is important to check your assumptions. You need to be open-minded, flexible and creative in your questioning and able to put lots of different clues and pieces of information together. Once you reach a viable solution you keep going in order to refine it or replace it with a better solution. Related Topics Thinking outside the box Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_thinking End of Wikipedia content General Reference Web Portals The following portals provide resources on research, directory, search engine / search engines, yellow pages, classifieds AOL, Yahoo, Google, eBay, YouTube, Yahoo Groups, Wikipedia, CNN, Time, Forbes, Fortune, BBC

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