DON’T DWELL ON IT
Our subconscious is 20 times as powerful as our consciousness. To solve a problem, force your conscious attention elsewhere and let it soak into your subconscious. Rather than dwelling on a difficult problem, go to lunch and the answer will often mysteriously emerge – the so-called Eureka! Moment.
When students hit a difficult problem on a test, professional test takers advise moving to the next problem. The answer to the first will come as they are working on the second. So don’t dwell on it – rather, leverage the power of subconscious processing.
CREATIVE CUES
We thrive on sensory cues – mostly visual. How many scientists made a mental breakthrough in a dark cave? Dropping an apple gave Newton the inspiration to understand gravity. Feeling water on her hand taught Helen Keller sign language. Sensory stimuli is brainfood for our powerful subconscious processes. Without it, we are lost in a theoretical world without grounding.
So when you are hitting a wall, start looking for sensory stimuli – flip through a magazine. Take a walk. Listen to some music. A change of sensory environment will put your brain back into overdrive.
START WITH ANYTHING, END WITH THE POSSIBLE
“Nos” are important checks to our ideas – but they are counterproductive at the beginning of the brainstorming process. We are more creative, and therefore have more fodder for a Eureka! Moment, when we say “yes yes yes” to ourselves at the beginning. IDEO, a leader in innovative design and brainstorming, recommends starting with a completely open mind, creating a vast universe of possibilities, and then seeing what is possible.
If you start only with what is possible, changing the paradigm is difficult.
LEVERAGE DIVERSITY
Diverse groups are more likely to adapt quickly to change. In the same way, bouncing your ideas off of people with different life perspectives will offer you the best fodder for a Eureka! Moment.
Truth is like a dark room – each window’s perspective reveals more of the hidden contents.
INTRIGUED?
Maya Bourdeau is Filene’s new Innovator in Residence and an expert in psychological marketing. Join us for a day long workshop on how people think and tailoring your marketing communications to those deeper motivations. We have conducted Project Labs in Seattle and Madison – our next one will take place December 3rd in Rome, NY. Contact us for details and to reserve a seat.
Interested in collaborating with Filene and Maya? Email us or call (608) 231-8550 for more information.
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