THINKing

Creativity Boost #1 – Mindtrip

Creativity is one of the key topics we discuss here at THINKing. So, we decided to develop a series of posts that focuses on ways to boost your creativity. Today’s boost: the mindtrip.

A mindtrip is a way to find a novel solution to a problem by looking at it from a different perspective. For instance you take very specific mindtrip, by examining the problem from the perspective of someone from history. Let’s say you want to generate more wealth and you look at the problem through the eyes of Andrew Carnegie.

Or, you can make it more fanciful, just letting your mind wander and grabbing the first image that comes to mind and following it.  Innovation Tools has an example of the more fanciful approach,

Here’s an example: Sally needed a better place to study for her exams. Her roommates distracted her and she did not want to go to the library. She needed a new way to think about it so she went on an excursion. The image of a mushroom popped up in her mind. She pretended she was inside a mushroom. It was cool and damp as though in a cave. The walls were nubbly and moist. There was a faint pulse as though the mushroom was breathing – it was a little like a heartbeat…

Sally thought, “Heartbeat… it would be comforting, as though I am in a womb. It would block out other distracting noise. That is what I will do. I will record my heartbeat and then play it back into earphones. Wherever I am will be a place to study.

So, the next time you need to find a solution, go on a mindtrip.

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Harry Hoover

Harry Hoover is a partner in My Creative Team, the agency that makes Fortune 1000 clients look good. His communications career spans 35 years and runs the gamut from print and broadcast journalism, government and corporate communications to advertising and public relations agencies.

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