When Do You Have Your Best Ideas?

When do your have your best ideas?

 

So let me ask you a question: where do you have your best ideas? We were asked this specific question on the dynamic problem solving, lateral thinking and strategic thinking courses. Well this question made me think about thinking…

 

What was interesting was the responses were quite varied and included:

 

·         In the bath
·         In the shower
·         At the gym
·         When I get up in the morning
·         When I go to bed
·         When I am day dreaming
·         When walking the dog
·         Whilst doing the cleaning
·         Whilst gardening
·         When doing a headstand

Do you notice anything? Hmmmmm? I think it is obvious… Okay I will let you know. No one said ‘yes well actually my best ideas come from sitting at the desk.’ Now I am not suggesting we bathe or shower at the desk or even take the dog for a walk around the office. The point is that sometimes you have to change environment to enable you to shift perspective in your thinking. Most offices have gathering areas, atriums or ‘special areas.’  If not then sometimes simply getting up and moving generates ideas too.  Please no shimmying by the coffee machine.

 

 

 

So why is it so important to consider where our ideas come from? Well many companies encourage innovative thinking and some companies have Innovation awards. Innovation is so important because it is through innovation that companies and business progress.  What we see within our business environment on a daily basis isn’t always obvious to those who are not involved. There will always be challenges and situations to fix, so surely finding an easy way to generate ideas would be useful.

 

So here are some top tips for generating ideas:

·         Change environment.
·         Get a group together. The more diverse the group the more experience can be used to idea generate problem solving ideas.
·         Set the target of ‘ridiculous’ and work backwards. By going to the outer mental limit of ridiculous you can then expand your mental boundaries.
·         Make mind maps and enable tenuous links.
·         Work on the ideal outcome. Imagine being at the perfect outcome and work backwards to the problem.
·         Take a view of the valley. This means that when we are in the problem we can’t see the wood for the trees. Attempt to shift perspectives and look at the ‘valley’ from a removed  and objective perspective.
·         Find people who have completely fresh eyes and ask them to ask questions.
·         The post it race. Set the problem, give out post its and get the ideas down in a fast and furious way. GO!
·         Finally utilise a writing prompt within a group. This is when a group of people write as fast as they can without thinking or analysing. The prompt could be:
·          The best way to solve _______________ is to _________________________.

Allow two minutes to ‘free write.’

After that try the following prompt:

A less obvious way to solve___________ is to________________________

When you have your answers each person can read out the ideas and an idea inventory can be compiled for evaluation.

 

Ruby Allure's latest release on audio:

 

  

LINK TO AUDIBLE FOR LOVE HUNT http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Audiobook/B015G4ICYA/ref=a_search_c4_1_4_srTtl?qid=1442567974&sr=1-4

Come on admit it - as much as we deny it - we ladies like a good love hunt.
We have tick lists, ideals, and we hunt in high-heeled packs. Of course, we're all hunting for that elusive right man who ticks every box and even has tidy nostril hair. Okay maybe not you, but you know other ladies who love the hunt.
Well, it's time for Eva and Gracie to love hunt, and their "targets" are rich men - the golden sperm. Such exciting escapades would provide the pair with entertaining discussions during their dull office hours - or so they thought. What they did not anticipate was the discovery of the "booby man"; humorous but very hard truths about wealth, themselves, power; and the RichIdiot.com phenomenon.
The question remains: can love really be hunted?

TO LISTEN TO SOME SAMPLE CHAPTERS FOR FREE - YES FREE!

 

TO LISTEN - SOUND CLOUD https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/lovehunt1-sample

 

CHAPTER 1 On SOUND CLOUD http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Audiobook/B015G4ICYA/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1442774344&sr=1-2

 

CHAPTER 2 ON SOUND CLOUD https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/02-lovehunt1-ch02

CHAPTER 3 ON SOUND CLOUD https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/03-lovehunt1-ch03


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