Page 132 - (DK) How to be a GENIUS?

BOOST YOUR Many techniques designed to
improve creative thinking encourage
you to break away from strict logic
CREATIVITY and fixed ideas and let your mind
wander more freely around a
problem. This is often called
“thinking outside the box.” It
helps you see things from different
a n g
angles and come up with the fresh
ed to be creative.
approaches you nee d t o b e c r e a t i v e
Brainstorming
This involves thinking up as many ideas
as possible without judging them. You can do
p
y
y
g
this alone, but it is usually a group activity, with
y
someone writing all the ideas down. It can be fun!
When everyone has run out of ideas, you look at
u
h
the list and see what you have. Sometimes the
oddball ideas turn out to bbe the best ones.

s
Visual thinking
a
Instead of making simple lists of ideas, you can turn them
t
t
ia
d
a
wi
u
st
ar
Yo
gr
t
am
i
into a diagram. You start with ath a central problem, such as
b
es
an
r
ch
i
global warming, and add a series of spreading branches
d
depicting all the related facts, figures, and ideas. This can
work like a visual form of brainstorming, with new ideas
leading to more radical, creative ones.
Lateral thinking
Similar to brainstorming, lateral
a
n
thinking is all about approaching
a problem from every possible
angle. The basic idea is to
identify the “normal” way of
looking at a problem and avoid
it. You use a random way of
h
triggering new trains of thought,
n
such as letting a book fall open,
sticking a pin on the page, and
seeing how the word it hits
might relate to the problem.
It sounds crazy, but it can be
surprisingly effective.
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