Which Of The Following Is Not A Creative Thinking Exercise Entrepreneurs Use To Generate Ideas?
That the wall and then pretend as though you were never frustrated in the slightest by trying to think of a new idea? You say the Devils couldn ‘t go there…… Idea thinking exercises are a corner stone of any entrepreneurs trade. They laughed at me Said I was lying in the corner trying out every creative thinking exercise at there! Now they’re in a I ‘m familiar with the usual suspects. There are many creative thinking exercises THEY say, most of whichdo nt otherwise fit into these categories.A good exercise whichcan befit both categories and one where from a rare perspective went over on Friday in Chinese. So which of these exercises is creative and which one is a waste of time? Let’s find out right away!
Brainstorming: The Good Old Classic
We’ll go for the most obvious choice and that is brainstorming. This is the entrepreneur ‘s Swiss army knife that can be used for ideation. Whether you are in a room alone or working on something with a team, brainstorming is always a factor. ideation skill testing! The last beauty of brainstorming is that there are no bad ideas . Just throw everything out on the board – no matter how foolish it sounds. Trust me, I’ve gotten some wild ideas from end to end during brainstorming before. shoes like mine can also double as a portable charger Once I proposed selling – it sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But the point is to keep those ideas flowing, no matter how inane they may sound. Eventually, one will stick.
Mind Mapping: Visualizing The Mess
When your thoughts are in a muddle, this is a great interactive thinking tool. In other words, mind mapping is like visualizing the links or relationships between ideas. I like doing this myself if I have to link different business ideas, say, or concepts that need to be cohesively made into a single product. Once I even used mind mapping to help myself decide among starting three websites. It wasn’t easy, but making a visual map of pros and cons for each decision made it easier. If you have never tried this, be sure to give it a shot. You’ll most likely spot a pattern you didn’t ever see before.
Role-Playing: Becoming Someone Else
Strange though it sounds, role-playing is another creative thinking tool many entrepreneurs use. The concept could not be simpler: step into another person’s shoes and see the world as they see it. For example, suppose you were your customer. What are their real desires? What are they annoyed by? I did this once when working on a loan application computer system. Rather than thinking/acting like the programmer, I thought/acted like the loan applicant. Consequently I redesigned the interface to make it much more user-friendly.
Storyboarding: Not Just For Filmmakers
Have a thought for using storyboarding in your new product or business? It’s an excellent way to look at a sequence of actions or problems graphically. Picture it as a movie storyboard for your business idea. I did this when arranging the user experience for a law website. Instead of making a bunch of notes, I drew what each step should like to a visitor at the site–from clicking in at first to final action taken. This told me precisely where problems lay.
SWOT Analysis: Time To Get Real
This one is more analytical, However, SWOT analysis is another tool many entrepreneurs use to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of their ideas.. Not the wildest or most fun exercise, Still it keeps you grounded. There are so many ideas floating around in my head that I like to run SWOT analysis on them. So doing forces me look at the reality of each – not just the creative but also business aspect.
Meditation: Clearing The Mind
Do you find it surprising to see meditation on our list? Don’t. Occasionally ideas come to us when we’re not really trying to think of ideas in the first place. Spending time deliberately quieting and relaxing your mind. allows your brain ample space for creativity to flow. When I began working on software development projects, Meditation was part of what turned into such a lasting habit for me. Until there’s some distance between you and what you’re trying to solve,”I doubt anyone will make much inroads.
Which One Isn’t A Creative Thinking Tool?
So which one isn’t really an exercise in creative thinking that entrepreneurs use? Though they all have their place for figuring things out, SWOT analysis strikes me as more an analytical tool than truly imaginative thinking method. While it’s great for judging ideas, it’s not going to generate them in the same way that brainstorming or mind mapping will. More like a tool to help you look at what you’re already being confronted by.First, when I began doing SWOT analyses I found them helpful for winnowing down ideas but not much use in creating new ones. If you’re stuck, Don’t go to SWOT to get unstuck. Better it sees whether an idea is practicable rather than if it’s innovative what it will bring in return.
The Power Of Letting Ideas Flow
I’ve learned that the harder you force yourself to be creative, the less likely it is that you’ll be able to think of anything new. When you sit thrusting down and say, “creative now”, usually not so easy. That’s why it’s important to use a combination of creative thinking tools that you like in your personality and style. Some people are great at brainstorming, while others need to visualize with mind maps or role-playing. This is like “open the manhole cover” VS “entering through the door”. My advice: if you’re stuck, walk away for a bit. The best ideas sometimes come when you’re not even thinking about them. I was once making a sandwich and thought of my next site about pets. Makes sense?
Using Real-Life Experience To Generate Ideas
By using the experiences of your own life to generate ideas, you can also become very creative. The most creative solutions often come from solving real-life problems like your own. So, for instance, I once had a terribly frustrating experience trying to navigate a loan application process online. From that personal experience sprang an automated loan system which I built to simplify everything. So this is how I used my own experience to create a solution that solved precisely the problem I had.
Look at the pain points in your own life and ask yourself: “Can we do this better?” It was in this way that vimmed up not out of tricky methods nor based on brain-storming but by solving some everyday issues and problems.
The Overrated Power Of Overthinking
This one is fun: Thinking Too Much. You may think that if you simply sit and mull over an idea long enough, it will one day become the next big thing. Guess what? It never will. In fact, overthinking is the nemesis of creativity. I once spent a few weeks in overanxious meditation on an idea for a REITs blog post only to suddenly realize the easy solution was looking at me in the face all along. Don’t fall into the trap of attending to each and every little detail. Sometimes one must trust one’s intuition and keep things moving forward.
What Really Matters: Action
All the creative thinking tools in the world don’t help a bit if you don’t take action It’s easy to get into the habit of sitting around and making for ideas, but eventually you have got to choose one continue on it. This lesson I had to learn the hard way. I used to be someone who filled notebooks with ideas and mental frameworks, except they never got off the page. Once I started taking small steps towards carrying out my ideas, that’s when things really took off.
Final Thoughts To sum things up—all creative thinking exercises are tools for entrepreneurs when it comes to generating ideas. There are some that are old favorites like brainstorming and mind mapping, while others may surprise you–like meditation or storyboarding. But the most important thing is to find out what works for you, get those ideas out there and most importantly: take action.
The one tool that doesn’t quite go with the “creative thinking” category? SWOT analysis It’s more for analyzing existing ideas than thinking up new ones. So next time you find yourself stuck in a rut, forget the SWOT and try thinking up some new ideas – or better yet, make yourself a sandwich.