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Mental Exercises for Creative Thinking

Posted on Monday, 22 March 2010 11:01AM by John Chambers
MENTAL EXERCISES FOR CREATIVE THINKING
 
Any form of physical exercise should be preceded by warming up to help loosen muscles and get us in the mood.  In the same way, we need to warm up our “creative thinking muscles” before we try to do any serious creative thinking. 
 
Here are some simple, but effective, warming up exercises to get you ready for action.  Pick one or two of these and spend just a few minutes warming up: it will help you get off to a great start.  You can do these either on your own or with your team…..
 
Challenge
Find something in your life/organisation that hasn’t changed for 5 years…10 years…20 years!  Think about changing it. What would you like to happen? Imagine there are no restrictions.   Visualise the change. 
 
 
Re-describe
Think of an object . . . think of its opposite . . . think of its opposite . . . keep going; how far can you go before you get back to the original object?  (eg: square – round – flat – pumped up – cold – hot – unattractive – magnetic . . .)
 
 
Escape
Think of a proverb and give it a surprising perspective. (eg: if a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.  Many hands make computer work.  A rolling stone gathers no friends.)
 
 
Pursue
Think of an object, then come up with 5 . . . 10 . . . 20 different uses for it.
 
 
Unform
Take a piece of Blu-Tak and mould it into a shape. Then squash it and mould it into a different shape.  Or try bending a paperclip into as many different shapes you can before it fall apart.
 
 
Pretend
Pretend you are Superman/Prime Minister/Bill Gates for a day.  What would you do?  Imagine there are no restrictions.  
 
 
Symbolise
Play a simple game of charades with yourself or your team: choose a person/book/play . . . how would you represent them using symbols.  (eg: Bill Gates = large pile of money stuffed into a PC.  Famous footballer = Ferrari with football boots instead of wheels.)
 
 
Feel
Go for a short walk in a different environment.  What can you smell, taste, feel, hear?  Try to be aware of all your different senses.
 
 
By investing just a few minutes in warming up, you will have a much more effective creativity session!
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