In Mitch Ditkoff's article, "14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas," he states that there are two approaches people generally take when trying to come up with ideas. The first, the Western approach, involves more "thinking." The second, the Eastern approach, involves more "feeling." Business people are associated with the Western approach, while artists associate themselves more with the Eastern approach. He then goes on to provide 14 ways to help you come up with ideas.
1. Follow your fascination—allow yourself to be called to, enchanted, and delighted by something.
2. Immerse—become completely involved or absorbed in it.
3. Tolerate ambiguity—you may be confused or uncomfortable.
4. Make new connections—step outside your box of confinement.
5. Fantasize—be curious, take part in dreams and impossibilities.
6. Define the right challenge—come up with the question before the answer.
7. Listen to your subconscious—breakthroughs come after intense conscious effort.
8. Take a break—walk away from your project for a while.
9. Notice and challenge existing patterns and trends—change old ideas and reconfigure them in new ways.
10. Hang out with diverse groups of people—go beyond the usual suspects, let go of your need for comfort and agreement.
11. Brainstorm—frame the question, invite the right people, and facilitate the process.
12. Look for happy accidents—notice something new and unexpected.
13. Use creative thinking techniques—use a quote, book, or exercise to get your motor running.
14. Suspend logic—put judgment and practicality out of your mind.
Three of the suggestions caught my eye. Number six says one must “define the right challenge.” I agree with the writer in acknowledging that this is important, but I think he needs to define how to do this in a better manner. He explains that in order to get the right outcome you must first ask the right question, but he fails to discuss how to go about finding the right question to ask. If he gave examples of how to come about this reasoning his explanation would be more fulfilling. The next prompt I want to talk about is number two, which states, “immerse.” I believe this is one of the most important topics he talks about. In his description he says that breakthrough ideas have the likeliest chance of showing up when we are completely involved or absorbed in a task. This is a proven fact. I took a management class fall quarter and in it we learned about things called “flow states.” A flow state is “the sensation of being in a state of full concentration or hyper-concentration [that] is both pleasant and productive” (http://www.uwsp.edu/education/lwilson/creativ/flow1.htm). When you’re doing something and your worries melt away, you have a feeling of great control, and time seems to almost suspend itself or pass rapidly—you have just experienced a flow state. Immersion is the key to flow states and getting great new ideas. The third recommendation that I thought was interesting was number 14, which asks us to “suspend logic.” The author states that as adults we tend to search for rationality in things so we can analyze them. He suggests we return to a child-like state so we can suspend judgment, evaluation, and practicality. Although I believe this technique works, it is a hard task to do. Our minds are always actively looking for things that are out of place or wrong, so as to correct them with logic. In order set aside logic, I think our brains would have to be either thoroughly distracted or completely worn-out.
For the final part of this assignment we were asked to execute one of the 14 prompts. I chose number four which asks us to “make new connections.” In his explanation, the writer suggests: “Make three parallel lists of ten random words. The first list? Nouns. The second list? Verbs. The third list? Adjectives. Then look for intriguing new connections between them.” Below is my execution and discussion of the prompt:
Nouns: Flames, Mirror, Cloud, Bouquet, Knot, Sea, Girl, Desk, Piano, Frame
Verbs: Bloom, Collect, Flee, Polish, Reap, Unbutton, Shiver, Fix, Erase, Wake
Adjectives: Dark, Clear, Natural, Tender, Unruly, Bitter, Mysterious, Sleek, Glistening, Messy
When looking at some of these words side by side, I noticed several things. I originally paired the verbs "fix" and "polish" with the nouns "desk" and "frame" interchangeably. This is a logical connection that my brain instantly made. However, looking at the list of words again, I thought, a desk can be messy or unruly. A frame could be sleek. You could collect frames. Other connections I made were that the words "sea" and "girl" can use the same verbs and adjectives. The sea can be mysterious. So can a girl. A girl shivers. The sea, in a way, can shiver as well. The sea can be tender or unruly. A girl can be either, too. This exercise could definitely help me make new connections or see connections that I didn't originally see. This is something I could see myself using while writing a paper or a song.
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