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08 July 2015

RVO:Creativity Mental Block #6: That is not my area

This post is a continuation of THIS POST. Please read it before you read this post 

Specialization is the art of knowing more and more about less and less. By restricting our knowledge area, specialization, tend to curtail our creative thinking. Specialization can lead to the attitude, 'that is not my area'

'Cross-Fertilization' of ideas between different specializations areas is a method to generate creative ideas.

The author (Mr.Von Oech) asks us to become explorers of ideas. To actively seek out ideas. The wider one explores the higher is the chance of landing good ideas. The author mentions a number of such examples in this book.

Another approach is to be willing to be led astray. The quote 'Expect the unexpected, or you won't find it' from Heraclitus of Greece is the perfect example of this point.

Yet another approach is to 'see the obvious'. Sometimes the best solutions are right in front of us. The obvious strategy to find them is to step back and ask the question 'what are the most obvious things that I can say about this?', 'What obvious resources are right in front of me?'

Another technique is to explain your problem to someone who knows nothing about it.

And finally, sometimes the most obvious things are the ones that are NOT in front of us. The story of Sherlock Holmes, Watson and the missing tent explains this.

Finally, a limerick (which shows that sometimes best solutions are right in front of us)

The king sent for wise men all,
To find a rhyme for 'W'
When they had thought for a good long time,
But could not think of a single rhyme,
'I am sorry', said he, 'to trouble you'.

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