Creative work is play.
It is free speculation
using
materials of
one's chosen form.
Stephen Nachmanovitch 1950 -
American
educator/artist
|
Thinking and recall series
Thinking creatively
Thinking creatively is a state of mind that enables you to
approach
tasks, problems, and situations with openness to alternatives.
Nine strategies towards creative thinking and meeting challenges:
- Re-think:
Look at a challenge in new or unusual
ways.
- Visualize:
Picture your problem and its
solutions.
Map it!
- Produce:
Don't be lazy! Get busy!
- Combine:
Make new combinations-- in considering
options, put them all on the table to find grains of truth or
possibility. Then refine!
- Form relationships
Make connections--similar to
mapping but adding text as to why concepts connect.
- Think in opposites
Often extremes present middle ground
where solutions lie.
- Metaphor! Simile!
Build an image.
- Fail:
Learn from experience: think as if you have
eliminated a solution toward finding one that does.
- Practice patience
Outlast the challenge!
Text of the exercise: Looking for a job?
Re-think:
Look at a challenge in new or unusual ways.
Find new ways that
others are too lazy, or don't think about, to try:
Example: Finding a job
or internship.
Expand your target visits:
What class did you do well in, and what jobs might be related?
What other fields are interesting?
Market yourself: develop your "brand."
Develop a portfolio, a list of qualifications, and or examples
of your work that match each company you visit. Prepare a
summary of each company you go to and how you match their
interests.
Check every resource you can think of:
online Web employment sites; your school's job search; business
windows
Ask friends, friends of your
parents, neighbors, teachers, and/or community leaders about
opportunities and referrals
Visualize: Picture your problem and its solutions.
Map it!
In just a couple words, summarize a
challenge you are facing.
Then add three related concepts.
Then draw lines to connect the words.
Remake the map on a separate piece of paper; add images.
Play with this idea and find your solution.
Produce:
A genius is productive.
Don't be lazy!
Combine:
Make new combinations.
Combine and recombine ideas, images, and thoughts
no matter
how strange or unusual.
Form relationships; make connections.
This applies to people and objects.
Get to know the people in your area of interest that can help
you improve. Demonstrate interest in them; ask questions! At the
arrow, enter some contacts, either by name and/or by title
and/or by qualification.
Opposites
Think in opposites.
Think opposite these words:
Hip hop | Flow | Employment | Organic | Blue | Nature
Then find a middle concept for one
Metaphor! Simile!
A simile uses "like" or "as" to build
an image. Examples:
The jungle's river was like a
peaceful path through a chaos of green.
The bird rose straight and fast as a rocket.
The service line moved as fast as stalled rush hour traffic.
A metaphor is more direct:
The event was viewed through the
mist of sadness.
The garden became a quilt of cared-for colors.
She led them with the carrot of reason and the stick of
embarrassment.
Now create your images:
The
exercise illustrates how situations can take on new meaning,
problems new solutions. Enter your thought quickly for the
following phrases with the first image that comes to mind.
Print, reflect, and make new connections if inspired.
The football team played as if
they...
The computer screen looked...
My study schedule is a...
Fail!
Great accomplishments are often the
result of chance, but chance born of many "unsuccessful"
experiments. Learn from these experiences; preparation to fail
is the path to success.
Patience
Some people are not recognized
until their "later" years.
Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906), French impressionist, did not have
his first exhibition until age 56. Accomplishment does not come
in 10 minutes. Give yourself ten days, or ten years! Practice
patience.
We hope one or two of these tips serve you well.
May your successes and failures
bring you
knowledge and peace.
Thinking and recall series
Website overview:
Kiosk guides for learning are a freely accessible educational environment that offers strategies to recognize and realize learning objectives. We accept individual differences without regard to ability and creed; sexual and affectional orientation; caste, tribal and national affiliation; individual, familial and collective history. Our suggestions should be thoughtfully considered for appropriateness and guidance to your situation, relying on elders, mentors, cohorts and/or professionals to achieve learning objectives and outcomes.