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Many of them use physical activity to give themselves a “mind break”. Creative problem solvers all find ways to create space in their lives. It is impossible to be creative if every waking moment of your life is filled with activity and “to do” lists. Aim to get help where you’re not strong, and then be confident to contribute where your strengths lie. For you personally, it’s important to be clear which parts of this process are strengths, and which are not. This is another good reason to have a team around you, where different members of your team are strong in different parts of the process. Not even the most genius of all geniuses could possibly be world class at all of these steps. Repeat (in other words, never be truly satisfied that anything we currently have is as good as it could possibly be).Provide feedback and make adjustments on the fly.Evaluate the success of various options.Understand your best contribution in the problem solving processĬreative problem solving typically goes through the following phases: And, of course, you have to listen to these differing opinions and insights. Diversity of this group is vital – not just check-box diversity, but real diversity of world-views. They know the best results come from groups of open-minded people working together and sparking each other. Great problem solvers surround themselves with people who will help them think better – and broader. Ask great questions, and listen to as many (open minded) people as possible They know the difference between complex and simple thinking, and know when to use systematic and complex thinking and when to go through short cuts and find an easy solution. This doesn’t mean that creative problem solvers are simplistic or ignore reality. It’s not magic, but positive people do in fact tend to be more successful than pessimists. And then they go about proving themselves right. Creative problem solvers therefore also tend to be more positive than average – they believe that the future will be better than the present. Great problem solvers are able to picture a desired future outcome/state and then work backwards to the present to construct a methodology that will achieve the desired future. Instead of saying, “I failed,” innovative thinkers reframe the failure into, “That attempt failed.” And they work hard to find the lessons, and ensure they don’t repeat the mistake. A simple technique is to depersonalise failure.
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Failure is part of the process, and not taken personallyįailure can often bring up negative emotions like shame, fear, and frustration, and so many of us try everything to run from it.
Creative problem solving breaking habits free#
We all need a balance between structure and spontaneity, so build certainty/structure where you need to and free yourself up to be creative/uncertain where you can. They wake up at the same time, eat at the same time, wear the same outfits day after day. Many very creative people have aspects of their lives that have extreme predictably to them.
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It may be over the top, but it is the flip-side of this characteristic. Some found this slightly pretentious, many found it odd. He doesn’t want to spend any brainpower on what he wears each day. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook famously explained his t-shirt and jeans dress code.
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They don’t approach problems in a linear or solely analytical way, and can hold opposing and paradoxical thoughts in tension in their minds. In fact, the very process of finding out excites them. Comfortable with uncertainty – and even seek it outĬreative people don’t need everything to make sense up front, and don’t wait for everything to make sense before they take the next steps. And those people who have learnt those skills typically display the following seven characteristics: 1. It is actually a set of skills that can be learnt. The good news is that creative problem solving is not the exclusive preserve of some genius-level special people.
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