| 1. Be curious and follow your curiosity. | | | | 4!). If not, experiment to determine what type of |
| Ask until you understand why your corporation | | | | music is most effectivefor you. |
| takes certain actions. | | | | 6. Take a break during a high intensity task when |
| Discover why something is a particular shape. Find | | | | you find yourself stuck. |
| out why a process isdesigned as it is. Explore a | | | | Do something completely different, even |
| natural phenomenon until you fully understandit. | | | | monotonous, for 10 minutes, orif necessary |
| 2. Familiarize yourself with the lateral thinking | | | | commit it to your subconscious and sleep on it. |
| techniques of Edward De | | | | 7. Actively seek different stimuli: At least once |
| Bono and practice them. | | | | per month buy and read amagazine completely |
| Edward De Bono developed many techniques to | | | | unrelated to your career or business or usual |
| stimulate creativethought. A random selection is | | | | interests. |
| The Six Thinking Hats, Provocation and The | | | | You will find parallels to problems in the most |
| Random Input and many more. This is an | | | | unexpected places, theareas of interest may be |
| unsolicited endorsement and theauthor of this list | | | | completely different but the challenge |
| has no connection with Edward De Bono. | | | | isnevertheless the same and guess what - it's |
| 3. Spend 20 minutes a day in a comfortable spot | | | | already been solved. |
| where you will beundisturbed and let your mind | | | | 8. Go somewhere you have never been before. |
| wander wherever it will. | | | | It does not have to be exotic, just different. It |
| Using lateral thinking techniques we can generate | | | | does not have to be amillion miles away, it may |
| creative ideas ondemand. There are other | | | | be a facility in your city you've neverpreviously |
| creative ideas which bubble to the surface | | | | visited. If you are a city girl, it may be a spot in |
| giventime and quietness of the mind; they are the | | | | the countryand yes, for a country boy it may be |
| ones which this pointaddresses. | | | | the city heat and the asphalt. Don'tlet these ideas |
| 4. Try a small measure of something which | | | | limit you, take the cruise anyway! |
| doesn't harm you in any way whichyour | | | | 9. Do what your intuition suggests. |
| preconditioning suggests you won't like. | | | | For many of us today our intuition represents a |
| Our innate responses are sometimes adversely | | | | muscle which is rarelytested. Just like any other |
| conditioned by theprejudices of others. Stretch | | | | muscle, if you don't use it you'll lose it! |
| yourself and discover whether your creativityhas | | | | 10. Carry a book or a mini tape recorder |
| been constrained by some of these. | | | | everywhere and capture ALL theideas your |
| 5. Work to music that inspires you. | | | | subconscious feeds you. |
| Classical music is usually recommended as the | | | | Reinforce for your subconscious its own |
| most effective. If thisgoes against your grain, | | | | importance and it will workeven harder for you. |
| stretch yourself and see if it works (see point | | | | |