PathtoSuccess

This week I will be reflecting on the Creative Problem Solving Process and how it influenced my life. For those who don’t know. the creative problem solving process has four main steps:

1)  Clarify -State the Issue -Define key Assessment Criteria 2) Ideate -Diverge -Converge 3)Develop -Power Up -Assess 4) Implement

Based on my personal experiences, the most important critical factor of a successful creative problem solving process is Clarifying the Problem. If you do not clarify the problem and understand it then you may not be able to find a solution to your problem. You might be able to solve some minor issues but not the main or core problem. When assessing a situation, clarifying or understanding the problem is the first and most important part of the problem solving process. Albert Einstein said, “Given an hour to solve a problem, I would spend 55 minutes analyzing the problem and understanding it completely and 5 minutes coming up with a solution.

 When I went through the creative problem solving process in class and outside of class, I contributed in a variety of ways. One of the things I did to help create success was to listen to other’s ideas and defer judgement. This way everyone could feel like they contributed in a positive way and not feel bad by having their idea shot down. Another way that I contributed was encourage those that were a little shy to participate with their own ideas whether or not they were silly. An idea is a good one as it could lead to the solution by combining it with another or using a similar concept. To ensure that the process is more helpful next time, I would ask my group to separate for five minutes and brainstorm alone and then regroup to share ideas. This way there are less distractions and more ideas based on our individual ideas and experiences.

One thing I learned from the creative problem solving process is that in order to solve the core problem we must understand the core problem. Sometimes its not obvious, sometimes we find minor issues and think its the core problem. In order to solve the problem, we need to spend a good portion of our time on figuring out the core problem then everything else will fall into place.

This week we are going to look at the benefits of brainstorming and Ideation. These two concepts are wonderful when you are in need of an idea for a new product or service, theme for a party or even somewhere to go for a family vacation.

For some clarification for those that don’t know. Brainstorming is an individual or group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas to solve problems or find opportunities. Ideation is the formation of ideas or concepts. 

 Brainstorming and Ideation is great when your stuck trying to think of new ideas for anything from a product to birthday party to night out with friends. To improve the process, I would suggest that people first empty your mind, think of a white space. Try thinking of one word like active to describe a fitness program then go from there. Don’t do what I did the first time and think How Am I supposed to do this? Why can’t I think of an Idea? It will come. 

This week when I went through the process myself, I discovered some interesting things. For example, when I needed a new idea to generate interest for a local fitness program for children in my area I used ideation to create a few different solo ideas with an idea that combined three minor ideas into a new one. I gained a new appreciation for brainstorming and ideation due to its help getting me out my mind funk. I learned something this week about my own individual creativity. This was I work best when there is a set time limit and I ignore my base feelings and let things flow. I gained a lot more ideas that way than trying to force them out.

What I learned this week and I hope you will too is that in order to be more creative you must first create something. This can be a new idea, improvement on another, new way home from school...anything. Every little bit helps and the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

Lately i have been thinking about mind maps and idea maps. Which one gives the best results? It all depends on the situation.

Mind maps help you be more creative in many ways. Mind Mapping is a visual tool that helps, through free association, to capture and organize and remember information in a more creative and powerful way.  Idea mapping works through free association that links words and ideas based off personal experience.

Use mind mapping when brainstorming for an idea for a new product or service. Use idea mapping to converge all ideas in a more detailed manner.

When you are working to improve your creativity, there are many things that can interfere. These are called blocks to creativity and they can range from tension to lack of focus to self-doubt and lack of motivation.

This week there were three blocks that restricted my creativity. These were a lack of motivation, lack of focus and unresolved tension. My lack of focus and tension came from a very stressful week due to school tests, and extracurricular deadlines I had to meet. This meant that I couldn’t concentrate as well as I should have and didn’t commit myself to writing. My lack of motivation came from stress and my procrastination due to distractions in my personal life.

 Over the past week, there were a few ways that I used to get through these frustrating blocks. In order for me to determine that I had the strength to break these blocks, I realized that if I don’t get through them, they everything will build and cause me for problems in the future. For my lack of focus, I put reminders in big, bolded, colorful letters all around my desk to remind me to write. To resolve my tension, I used it as motivation at my martial arts club to train harder than ever for an upcoming event as well as spent thirty-five minutes at the gym hitting a bag. For my lack of motivation, I put it off for a day and did other activities such as reading, training, schoolwork. Finally, I felt motivated to start writing again.

Do I think I was successful in breaking my blocks? I believe that temporarily I broke them but they will come back. Maybe not today or tomorrow but maybe in a week when assignments build up or my life gets an unexpected curve-ball. However, I know that if I broke through my blocks this time, it will be easier to do so again.

From experiencing three creative blocks this week, I realize this is great motivation to be more creative in the future. First, experiencing a block is a great way to think of something different, to get out of the same old routine. Its exciting and different. Second, it forces your mind to adapt. Adapt to changes in your life whether personal or business. Adapting forces your mind to think of new solutions and challenge the boring aspects of your life.