Too Tired? Too Anxious? Need More Time? We’ve got your back.
Vocabulary: define these words:
-Boondoggling
-Sinecure
-Disparate
How People Get New Ideas
“One way of investigating the problem is to consider the great ideas of the past and see just how they were generated. Unfortunately, the method of generation is never clear even to the “generators” themselves.”
1. If the method of generation is unclear even to the idea generators, what does this suggest about the process?
2. If ideas are external to us, where do they exist before we become aware of them?
“Obviously, then, what is needed is not only people with a good background in a particular field, but also people capable of making a connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem connected. A great many people had read Malthus. Perhaps some both studied species and read Malthus. But what you needed was someone who studied species, read Malthus, and had the ability to make a cross-connection.”
3. What does it mean that new ideas occur in the cross-connection of disparate concepts?
“Making the cross-connection requires a certain daring . . . To begin with, [a new idea] usually seems unreasonable.”
4. **Dare to make some cross-connections. What are some “ridiculous” ideas today that could yet be proven true one day in the future? List a few of them that come to mind.
“[T]he person who is most likely to get new ideas is a person of good background in the field of interest and one who is unconventional in his habits.”
5. The second characteristic is more important here. Why?
“My feeling is that as far as creativity is concerned, isolation is required . . . The presence of others can only inhibit this process, since creation is embarrassing.”
6. As is learning. Why is it embarrassing?
“The world in general disapproves of creativity, and to be creative in public is particularly bad. Even to speculate in public is rather worrisome.”
7. Do you agree? What part of creativity does “the world” disapprove of?
“For every new good idea you have, there are a hundred, ten thousand foolish ones, which you naturally do not care to display . . . It seems necessary to me, then, that all people at a session be willing to sound foolish and listen to others sound foolish.”
8. Foolishness in ideation and learning is akin to the willful suspension of disbelief that we engage in when read fiction or watch a movie. If we understand that, then there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Discuss the connection.
“Probably more inhibiting than anything else is a feeling of responsibility . . . The great ideas came as side issues.”
9. How does the feeling of responsibility inhibit new ideas? (Note: you don’t have to respond to this list – it’s for your information – except for #7. Please do that activity.)
7 Activities for Generating New Ideas:
1.Practice observation: people watch, visit a museum, or go to a festival and see what kinds of stimulation you encounter, and what ideas you generate.
2.Socialize outside of normal circles: One of the easiest ways to do this is to join an online social group where you don’t know anyone. Another way is to join a new group (writers, gamers, cooking lessons, music lessons).
3.Read books: or at least read some book review now and then. A few minutes to half an hour looking at hot new titles gives you insight into current topics, and how some of those topics are being treated. www.publishersweekly.com for examples.
4.Surf the web: check out home pages at Yahoo, Google, or Huffington post and then go from there. Try branching out from an article or two and see where it leads. www.yahoo.com.
5.Keep a regular journal.
6.Meditate: meditation allows us to clear our minds and open up to fresh new thoughts and ideas.
7.Try this exercise: Spend 10 minutes coming up with 42 ideas on a specific topic or problem. Remember the time limit and see how many you come up with for just one of the following topics (hint, you don’t have to come up with 42, but see how many you get).
U.S. immigration
Poverty
Pollution
Gender relations
Burning Man
Sports protests
10. Look for connections and potential research topics as you go and list two or three.
A final thought about the importance of words:
“When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers, only better and better lies.” Jon Snow
Too Tired? Too Anxious? Need More Time? We’ve got your back.