Eureka!!

Let8217;s say you want to find a unique angle in order to win a competition for the most creative poster on say, the environment. Then according to Watson, this is the manner in which yu proceed. First comes Preparation where you consider all the information that you have at your command: What previous posters on environment have looked like, what it is that you want to say, what are the resources you have access to.

Then comes the stage of Incubation: You have racked your brains and gotten nowhere. So in disgust you start plalying with a key-chain and humming a tune. Durign this period you involuntarily ignore the aspects of the problem that were hindering you earlier. And your instinctive response, in this case playing with a key-chain and humming a tune is filtering your thoughts and providing an experience that my actualy add to your answer. At the next stage of Illumination: You8217;ve had if you are lucky, for nothing is fool proof! the 8220;Eureka!8221; experience. The idea suddenly bubbles up into your consciousness and you start working it out in your mind. So to continue the example of the poster 8211; your idea suddenly bubbles up into your consciousness and you start wrking it out in your mind.

So to continue the example of the poster 8211; your idea may be to sketch a hand holding a Maruti key-chain with a globe dangling at the end of it, and words saying 8220;Save Petrol, More than just a ride hangs at the end of ysour key-chain.8221; But before you celebrate, there comes the stage of Evaluation: Checking to see if your answer is really as terrific as it seems. Has the idea been done before? Does it need a little modification or editing? Are you sure its8217; the best one you can come up with or should you try again?

And if you do decide to stick with that final idea 8211; then you8217;ve completed the creative process. And if you don8217;t 8211; then you8217;re back to step one. Most Books on creativity suggest that there is a kind of person to whom these flashes8217; of creativity are more likely to occur. They mark the creative thinker out as having a higher than average intelligence, being independent in his/her judgements and enjoying complex ideas and diversity. In addition, some label this original8217; person as being more self assertive and dominant, and relatively unconventional.

But the truth is that lateral thinkingis open to everyone. And to put it clearly 8211; it isn8217;t the kind of person you are, but the kind of thinking you do that makes you creative. What you need is a level of self-awareness and self-evaluation.

Are your thoughts divergent or convergent for example? Convergent thoughts are less creative, they involve a simple gathering of material to obtain an end result. So a convergent thinker is putting two and two together to obtain four. Divergent thinking on the other hand must have a mix of convergent thinking along with a bit of lateral thinking. So you may drift into free association after having consdiered that normally two and two give you four, to recollect some off beat techniques you had once learned and something that someone may have once said to suggest that two and two can also give you five.

The idea beign that it isn8217;t enough to simply consider the tangible and given. To be creative you have to be willing to get rid of your standard responses to things and consider new and exciting ways to respond to things. Unlike ordinary solutions, creative solutions are the ones that others have not already thought of an dmade conventional.

How do you unblock8217; your creative block? Most people unconsciously follow the stages that Watson had outlined with minor variations. The emphasis being on not getting doged down with conventional responses. Adn eery-time you get stuck for new ideas and begin to despair that there8217;s nothing around you to inspire you, remember this oft quoted quote: Everyone saw the apple fall, only Newton asked why.