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| How to think
for great ideas |
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11. Eureka! It pops out
The next step is the easiest of all: it pops out.
You'll be shaving, or taking a shower, or sleeping - and suddenly the answer is there.
In part the process works because it's similar to the
way your brain processes information in the first place. Just as you can use your
subconscious to file information in patterns, so you can use your subconscious to
deliberately break up those patterns and find new combinations. But only if you state your
vision and your goal specifically. It also pays to set a deadline, so your
subconscious can feed that, too, into its data banks.
12. Recheck it
When the new answer has popped out, recheck it.
Does it fully solve your problem? Can you amend it or improve it?
The system we've just highlighted could be called
the problem-solving way to creativity.
An alternative is a vision or mission approach.
That's the same as problem-solving - except you don't start with the problem. You start
with a vision of a future where virtually every dream is now possible.
Australian futurist Dr. Peter Ellyard is one of many
who favor this approach. He feels that starting with a problem often limits the solution.
"The dangers of a problem-centered approach can be best seen," he says, "in
the inappropriately named 'health care' industry. In most first-world countries 'health
care' is virtually out of control. The words 'health care' actually mean 'illness cure.'
The industry consists of the activities of doctors, hospitals and pharmacies. The size of
our health care budget has become an index of the nation's sickness, rather than its
health. This forgets that the basic state of humans is to be healthy, not ill. We have
adopted a problem-centered approach to health, largely defining health as an absence of
illness, and a healthy future as an illness-free one. A mission-directed approach
to promoting and maintaining health would be very different. It would concentrate on
nutrition, exercise, good relationships, stress management and freedom from environmental
contamination. This is a totally different agenda. However, the current problem is that we
now pour so much money and effort into the problem-centered, technology-driven approach
that there are very few resources available for a mission-directed approach."10
Contents Page Preface
Introduction
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