It’s Not What you Think; It’s How You Think!
A Nuts-and-Bolts Guide to ‘Thinking Out of the Box’
by
Steven C. Levi
P.O. Box 241467
Anchorage, AK 99514
Introduction
The focus of this book and software is to teach the reader how to adjust his/her angle of thinking. Far too often a person views the world as two dimensional in the sense that a problem only has two solutions and all options are varying grades of one extreme or the other. As an example, many people consider the solution to the drug problem in the United States as either legalizing drugs or making the penalties so high that no one would dare sell them. Historically, neither solution has worked. So, in an effort to find a workable solution, states try to find a ‘middle ground’ such as making some drugs legal and others not in the hopes of solving the problem. But the problem is not being solved. These legislative bodies are just re-trying the failure of the past. To resolve the issue, a creative solution is needed, one that is not at ‘one end of a rut or the other or something in between.’
CHAPTER I
The Need for Unique Solutions
Never in the history of human beings has creative thinking be more important to our survival. Technology has been speeding up the cultural, economic, scientific and social clock for a century and with the Internet we have finally broken the ‘communication time barrier.’ In the old days – a decade ago – the cross fertilization of innovation in all fields was at the speed of the postal service. Scientists, inventors and innovators communicated their technical thoughts by mail, primarily because the telephone could not accommodate the written word, charts, graphs or photographs. The Internet changed all that. Today an entire dissertation will all its graphs, charts, photographs, footnotes and even the reams of experimental data can be sent to a fellow researcher at, quite literally, the speed of light.
But there is one thing that new technology and the Internet will not change: human intellect. A bigger, better, faster computer does not make a more intelligent human being. It makes finding mistakes faster and it makes performing complicated tasks quicker but it does not educate anyone faster. The key expression for this era which, unfortunately, has fallen out of usage is GIGO, “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” If you put a lot of meaningless numbers into a computer, you are not going to get a meaningful collection of numbers out. The computer cannot make sense of gibberish; it can just tell you that it is gibberish faster.
The bottom line, to use a business expression, remains the same in the 21st Century as it did in the 10th. There is no substitute for the human mind. It is the greatest tool ever created. But like any tool, some individuals get more utility out of it than others. Why are some people creative and innovative? Why can some people see solution to problems instantly? What makes them special? Actually, these people are not special. They are not born with any more talents that the rest of us. What makes them different from the rest of us is their unique view of the world. They have internalized the single most important aspect of using the human mind: it’s now WHAT you think; it’s HOW you think.
Everyone has the ability to be an innovative thinker. All it takes is a little instruction on how to start. Then, as you travel down the road to innovative thought, your own individuality and intellect will lead you toward horizons you never knew existed.
CHAPTER II
Make a Profit from Your Problems
This chapter will deal with the end result of innovative thought. The key to solving a problem is making a profit off of that problem. Humans will always have problems. The key to being an innovative thinker is figuring out how to make a profit on a problem. That solves the problem and puts money in your pocket. To innovative people, problems are not stumbling blocks; they are a means to making money.
While not every problem will have a positive monetary outcome, a quality resolution will reap some benefit. To the innovative thinker, a problem is not a difficulty. It is a benefit in disguise.
CHAPTER III
Thinking Backwards
The chapter will deal with a starting mechanism for innovative thought: thinking backwards. Far too often people start with the problem and try to work out a solution that fits rather than start with the solution they want and then fine-tune it to fit the problem. Solving any problem the wrong way does not eliminate the problem. It only makes it worse. It also creates a new problem with the solution that did not work. But once you have a solution that is productive, the problem disappears.
CHAPTER IV
Fear Not the Green Monster!
One of the great icons in American sports is the legendary Green Monster, the left field fence at Fenway Park in Boston. Legend has it, and quite a few outfielders would agree, that balls that strike the wall often bounce off at an odd angle. This is supposedly where the expression “off the wall” originated. Whether this is true or not, the phrase “off the wall” has come to mean any idea or concept that is unpredictable. Usually the term is used in the negative. “George’s idea was off the wall,” implies that George’s idea was unrealistic, unworkable, odd or not worthy of any consideration.
One of the keys to being an innovative thinker is understanding that “off the wall” ideas are a great place to start. They are, by definition, unconventional. This does not mean you should accept an unconventional idea as a solution; it means that if you start looking for a solution from an unconventional angle, you will develop an unconventional solution that will work. Don’t fear being unconventional, use George’s ideas as a starting point to develop you own solutions.
CHAPTER V
Remove the Myths from your Mentality
Perhaps the greatest stumbling block to innovative thinking is establishing rules in your mind that do not exist in reality. Many innovative solutions are not tested because they violate some free-floating myth. These myths could be religious, mathematical, ethical or historical. The greatest enemy of innovative though is not what we believe to be true; but what we believe to be true but isn’t. Once we break free of the myths of our neighborhood and era, we will find the spread of options greatly expanded.
CHAPTER VI
Never Lose Sight of the Big Picture
This chapter will stress never losing sight of the Big Picture. Far too often people develop solutions to problems that have no have no relevance in the real world. Being innovative necessarily means coming up with a workable, real world solution to a real world problem. That solution must fit in the ‘big picture’ or it is simply an intellectual exercise with no relevance.
CHAPTER VII
Use Every Tool at Your Disposal
This chapter will emphasize the need to use every single tool at one’s disposal. Far too often we try to resolve a problem using only those tools we use most frequently. We don’t consider what other tools could be used. History is as much as a tool a wrench or screw driver. Chemistry is as much a tool as a pipe wrench and psychology can be as effective as 101st Airborne. Innovative solutions are easier to develop when every tool at your disposal is on the workbench.
CHAPTER VIII
Ride Circumstances
This chapter will discuss the grasping of opportunity. Sometimes the best innovative concepts come because the circumstances made it so. It was a ‘moment in time,’ so to speak, and someone rose to the challenge. Innovative thinkers recognize circumstances as allies, not adversaries.
CHAPTER IX
How to Deal with Creative People
This chapter will offer nuts-and-bolts advice on how to deal with creative people.