10%20Mental%20Blocks%20Roger%20von%20Oech

1
10 Mental BlocksRoger von Oech
2
Ten Mental Locks

1. The right answer
2. Thats not logical
3. Follow the rules
4. Be practical
5. Play is frivolous
6. Thats not my area
7. Dont be foolish
8. Avoid ambiguity
9. To err is wrong
10. Im not creative

3
Conceptual/Mental Blocks

• The right answer
• Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is
  the only one we have
• Look for the second right answer, then
• e.g., five figures at start of chapter

4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
Conceptual/Mental Blocks (cont.)

• Thats not logical
• We need a combination of hard and soft
  thinking
• Two main phases in the development of new ideas
  an imaginative phase (thinking something
  different) and a practical one (getting something
  done)

7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
Exercise (p.46/50/62)

• Make a metaphor for a current problem
• Compare your concept to something else, then see
  what similarities you can find
• See how far you can extend the comparison
• e.g., disciplining a ten-year old is like
  performing a magic trick

12
Metaphor Exercise

• Look at metaphor examples p.48/52/66
• Make at least two of your own (re the meaning of
  life)
• Share in groups, discuss briefly
• Report out

13
Conceptual/Mental Blocks (cont.)

• Follow the rules
• Rules, patterns, and the past are both useful and
  constraining
• Creative thinking may simply mean the realization
  that there is no particular virtue in doing
  things the way they have always been done
• Consider the stance every rule here can be
  challenged except this one

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
TRIPLETS

• A triplet is a set of three words that are linked
  by a common fourth word, consider, e.g.
  ELEPHANT - HOUSE - SNOW
• What word could link these three words? (it can
  appear either of before or after each of the
  three words to form well-known compound words or
  phrases)
• An answer for this triplet is WHITE, as in
  WHITE ELEPHANT, WHITE HOUSE, SNOW WHITE

19
Some Triplets to Try

• BOARD - HOLE - JACK
• DOUBLE - ROAD - STITCH
• MAKER - TENNIS STICK

20
Triplet Exercise

• All teams have the same puzzle sheet but each
  team has a different set of clues.
• Find the link word for each triplet and write it
  in the appropriate blank.
• Scoring (time to solve points)
• 3 minutes, 100 points
• 4 minutes, 80 points
• 5 minutes, 60 points
• 6 minutes, 40 points
• 7 minutes, 20 points
• gt8 minutes, 10 points
• Copy the first letters of the link words to see
  an important message about teams.

21

• 1. REIN - HUNTER - SKIN
• 2. RIG - CRUDE - SNAKE
• 3. BAD - BULLETIN - FLASH
• 4. ROBBERY - EXPRESS - WAGON
• 5. CHEESE - ICE - SOUR
• 6. SECOND - POLL - PUBLIC
• 7. BELT - BLOOD - ORDER
• 8. BRUSH - OIL - SPRAY
• 9. DOUBLE - LEVEL - BLANK
• 10. AGREEMENT - FREE - SECRET
• 11. FIRE - ARTIST - NARROW
• 12. DUTY - RADIO - VOICE

22

• 13. WEAR - WATER - TAKER
• 14. GROUP - GUIDE - PACKAGE
• 15. COUPLE - JOB - NUMBER
• 16. MAN - BITTER - CABINET
• 17. INSURANCE - ORANGE - SECRET
• 18. LIFE - LIMIT - PART
• 19. AGE - PUMPING - WAFFLE
• 20. INSTANT - READY - VIDEO
• 21. FARM - CRACKERS - PARTY
• 22. READING - STICK - UPPER
• 23. PAINS - UNION - MANUAL
• 24. SUBMARINE - FEVER - JACKET

23
Conceptual/Mental Blocks (cont.)

• Be practical
• Ask what if?
• The impractical can be a stepping stone
• Every child is an artist. The problem is how to
  remain an artist after growing up

24
Exercise Avoiding Be Practical Lock

• Pick a problem you are trying to solve or idea
  you are trying to develop
• Apply one or more of the techniques in this
  chapter to the problem
• What if someone else were solving your problem?
• What if you were the problem or idea?
• What could be a stepping-stone?

25
Conceptual/Mental Blocks (cont.)

• Play is frivolous
• If necessity is the mother of invention, play is
  the father use it to fertilize your thinking
• Play is what I do for a living. The work comes
  in organizing the results of the play.

26
Play is Frivolous (cont.)

• Consider a Möbius strip
• One-sided surface
• Interesting properties
• Practical applications, e.g.
• Conveyor belts
• Continuous-loop recording tapes
• Superconductors with high transition temperature
• Nano-graphite with new electronic
  characteristics, such as helical magnetism

27
Conceptual/Mental Blocks (cont.)

• Thats not my area
• Specialization can not only overly limit problems
  we consider, but block ideas from other fields
• Make it a point to keep on the lookout for novel
  and interesting ideas that others have used
  successfully. Your idea has to be original only
  in its adaptation to the problem you are
  currently working on. (Edison)

28
Lunch with someone different

• In group of 2-3
• Use one of pairings on p.139 or your choice of
  two lunch partners
• Brainstorm what they might learn from each other
  about the meaning of life
• If you have time, repeat with a different pairing

29
The most reliable source of innovation is the
unexpected.- Peter Drucker
30
Bionics (borrow from nature)

1. Elm tree seeds
2. Hooked spines on burr
3. Snake thermoscopic vision (0.002 C)
4. Bamboo stalk (composite fibers)
5. Bee eyes (facets filter polarized light)
6. Seals hearing apparatus
7. Beehive hexagonal construction

1. Reliable celestial compass
2. Infrared photography
3. Velcro
4. Improved helicopters
5. Stronger, lighter pool tables
6. Improved hydrophone design
7. Fiberglass-reinforced plastics

31
Conceptual/Mental Blocks (cont.)

• Dont be foolish
• Resist excessive group pressures for conformity
• Occasionally, turn your stupid monitor down,
  play the fool, and see what crazy ideas you can
  come up with

32
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

• But watch out for groupthink

33
Alfred Sloan in GM board meeting

• That makes it unanimous, so Im going to table
  it Were looking at this idea in just one way,
  and this is a dangerous way to make decisions.
  When everyone thinks, alike, no one is doing very
  much thinking. (p.155)

34
Exercise Playing the Fool

• In groups, someone puts out briefly a difficult
  situation they are puzzling about
• All help view it from a different/reverse
  viewpoint
• If time permits, repeat with a different situation

35
Participation assignment for next time

• Read and think about Heraclitus epigrams about
  life, nature, and the cosmos (p.200/202)
• Pick a favorite and discuss (write) what you
  think it means, possibly with more than one
  interpretation
• Turn in at beginning of next class

36
Conceptual/Mental Blocks (cont.)

• Avoid ambiguity
• If you tell people where to go, but not how to
  get there, youll be amazed at the results.
  (George S. Patton)
• Take advantage of the ambiguity in the world.
  Look at something and think about what else it
  might be.

37
(No Transcript)
38
Paradoxes

• Real knowledge is knowing the extent of ones
  ignorance. -Confucius
• Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.
  -Picasso
• There is no surer way to misread any document
  than to read it literally.
  (Judge) Learned Hand
• Happiness is the absence of striving for
  happiness. Chang Tzu

39
Exercise Random Cues

• Follow Oech p. 140/148/190
• Pick some project decision, or problem you have
  right now
• Pick a random number and go to that word on next
  page
• Think about how the random thing applies to your
  situation

40
(No Transcript)
41
Heraclitus Epigrams (200/202)

• What was one of your favorites?
• Talk a bit about it
• Other thoughts about the same one?
• Another favorite one

42
Conceptual/Mental Blocks (cont.)

• To err is wrong
• If you hit every time, the target is too near or
  too big
• You miss 100 of the shots you never take (Wayne
  Gretzky)
• Differentiate between errors of commission and
  those of omission - learn how to fail
  intelligently

43
(No Transcript)
44
Conceptual/Mental Blocks (cont.)

• Im not creative
• Visualization and self-fulfilling prophecies
• What concerns me is not the way things are, but
  rather the way people think things are.
  (Epictetus)

45

• There is a natural tendency to compare
  ourselves with others. Unfortunately, when we
  make these comparisons, we tend to compare our
  weakest attributes with someone elses strongest
  It is obvious that these kinds of comparisons are
  destructive and only reinforce the fear that
  somehow we dont measure up. (Marvin Ashton)

46

• To be a champ you have to believe in yourself
  when nobody else will. (Sugar Ray Robinson)
• Visualization and self-fulfilling prophecies

47
Successful Visualization

• Three elements within you that determine how
  successfully creative visualization will work for
  you in any given situation
• Desire
• Belief (that preparation and visualization can
  help you have the result you seek)
• Acceptance (of that which you are seeking)
• Net effect of these three is intention

48
Discover your own creative self

• Look at von Oechs ten p.222
• Identify some things about your creative style,
  for example
• Situations when you are/have been more creative
• Things that help you be creative
• Blocks to overcome
• Take notes for yourself

49
Successful, creative people are able to shift
flexibly among four types of rolesEach involves
a different type of thinking

• Explorer
• Artist
• Judge
• Warrior

50
Explorer

• Search for new information and resources
• Facts, concepts, experiences, knowledge,
  feelings...
• Look off the beaten path, outside the usual

51
Artist

• Turn these resources into new ideas
• Experiment with a variety of approaches, follow
  your intuition
• Rearrange things, look at things backwards
• Ask what if questions, look for hidden
  analogies and connections
• Break rules

52
Judge

• Evaluate the merits of an idea and decide what to
  do with it
• Weigh evidence critically, look for drawbacks in
  the idea, ask if the timing is right, question
  assumptions
• Make a decision

53
Warrior

• Carry your idea into action
• Implement your idea, develop strategy, commit
  yourself
• Overcome excuses, obstacles, setbacks
• Have courage to do whatever it takes

54
Take a whack at it
55
Take a whack at itspringboard off von Oechs
ideas starting on p.237