ThinkerToys+Chapter+Two

Thinkertoys Home = Mind Pumping = = If you act like an idea person, you will become one. = = There is no way of knowing how far intention and actions can take you. =

"Anciently the skillful warriors first made themselves invincible and awaited the enemy's moments of vulnerability." Sun Tzu

Eleven Exercises to encourage you to become an "idea" person. Set an Idea Quota Give your self an quota for ideas each day. You need something to reach for. Thomas Edison had a personal invention quota. He expected a minor invention every 10 days and a major invention every six months. ADD DIAGRAM Write down what you see here? If I told you all of the letters of the alphabet and the numbers 0 through 9 were hidden in the diagram, could you find them? You can similarly stretch your mind to fill your idea quota every day.

Get Tone Getting tone means paying attention to what's happening around you. How many f's are in the following paragraph. The necessity of training farmhands for first class farms in the fatherly handling of farm livestock is foremost in the minds of farm owners. Since the forefathers of the farm owners trained the farmhands for first class farms in the fatherly handling of farm livestock, the farm owners feel they should carry on with the family tradition of training farmhands of first class farms in the fatherly handling of farm livestock because they believe it is the basis of good fundamental farm management. We //look//, but we don't //see.// //ADD DIAGRAM//

Tiny Truths Look at a picture for 10 minutes. Don't allow your mind to wander. Focus on the picture. Notice every detail. When finished reflect on what you noticed; what you saw. This will help you to begin to notice the tiny truths everyday. The things you only //see// by truly paying attention.

Dukes of Habit Dukes of Habit must always do things the same way, must have everything in its place, and are at a loss if something violates their routines. Dukes of Habit are limited problem-solvers. Deliberately program changes into your daily life. Change your path to work. Change your sleeping hours. Listen to a different radio station each day. Make new friends. Change your reading habits. if you normally read fiction, read non-fiction.

Feeding Your Head "The brain that doesn't feed itself, eats itself." Gore Vidal Select reading material carefully. Sample broadly, read selectively.

Take notes as you read.

Outline a book before you read it or stop when you finished with half of the book and outline the remaining chapters.

Read biographies. They are full of ideas. Read how-to books on many different subjects.

Read magazine on varied subjects. Walt Disney said, "Your imagination may be creaking or timid or dwarfed or frozen at points. The Reader's Digest can serve as a gymnastics for its training." Read non-fiction.

Think. Think as you read. Search for new solutions to old problems.

Content Analysis Investigate media and print to notice trends. Read and analyze junk mail and newspapers. Actively observe popular culture: movies, music, celebrities. What makes popular heroes? Analyze how your job has changed. Attend conferences, seminars, and lectures. Listen to a different radio station every week to get a variety of perspectives. Look for connections and relationships between your content analysis and your business challenges.

Brainbanks Collect and store ideas like a pack rat. Keep in a container. When you are in need of ideas, choose two randomly and see what ideas are generated.

Travel Junkie Whenever you are feeling stale and bored, go to a store, trade show, exhibition, library, museum, flea market, etc. Pick up something at random and create connections and relationships in your mind with the object and your problem. Wander around with an open mind and wait for something to catch your attention.

Capturing Idea Birds You have to record your own ideas. There is no store that sells Cliff Notes of your past thoughts. Pyschologist have demonstrated that we are able to keep only about five to nine pieces of information in our mind at a time. After about 12 seconds, recall is port and after about 20 seconds the information will disappear entirely, unless you keep repeating it to yourself or you write it down. Scribble your ideas in a little book.

Think Right Consciously work to make you thinking more fluent and more flexible. Fluency - Number of Ideas  Flexible - Creativity - See beyond the ordinary and conventional roles EXERCISE: Write four-word sentences for the four letters of a given word: IDEA I don't enjoy apricots  Irritated dogs eagerly anger

Idea Log Keep an idea log where you record ideas, facts, thoughts, questions, etc.

Pumping your mind is like making a path through tall grass. Originally there is no path, yet as you walk the same way each time, one appears. In the same way, you may have no ideas at first, yet as you exercise your mind using these techniques, ideas appear.