How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 152

There are many books on creativity which offer the reader different
creativity techniques to help in the generation of ideas, and at this point
you can begin applying these techniques to your problem. Basically,
there are creativity techniques that are expansive and "open" our mind,
and there are creativity techniques that force your mind to focus.
Creativity Techniques that Open Your Mind
Some creativity techniques are intended to "open your mind" and
encourage "free thinking", such as idea generation and brainstorming
sessions, guided imagery, and other expansive techniques. For example,
you can begin by releasing all of the preconceived ideas and
assumptions you have about the topic and disregard fixed lines of
thinking and rigid behavior patterns.
Creativity Techniques that Force Your Mind to Focus
Other techniques create constraints and force your mind to focus, such
as setting time deadlines and other methods that force you to converge
on a particular course of action. For example, in problem-solving
contexts, the random word creativity technique has been shown to
produce great results for those who apply it. Basically, a person
confronted with a problem is presented with a randomly generated
word and is told to make associations between the word and the
problem as a creativity goad. By combining expansive and constraining
creativity techniques you can come up with several different
alternatives to choose from for solving the problem at hand.
("Ball of Whacks", courtesy of kevmaguire).
Creativity Tip
Read one page of the dictionary every day and write down any words
that catch your attention in a notebook. When you need inspiration,
look through the words you have written down.
Step Three: Take Time for Incubation
The third stage is letting go. You just drop the subject entirely, go do
something else, and let the unconscious mind deal with the problem.
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