A fellow de Bono Trainer gave me 12 Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking which is completely accurate. As innovative thinkers, we can learn something from this great list on creativity.
1. You are creative. Believe it!
2. Creative thinking is work. You will have more bad ideas than good ones, but those bad ideas lead you to the great ideas.
3. You must go through the motions of being creative. You must practice your ideas to become better at them.
4. Your brain is not a computer. Your brain cannot tell the difference between actual and fantasy experiences. (Think about Walt Disney)
5. There is no one right answer. Aristotle said it best it is either A or not-A.
6. Never stop with your first good idea. Always strive to improve your good ideas because that improvement may lead to your greatest discovery.
7. Expect the experts to be negative. Experts look at new ideas with absolutes and self censorship about their expertise.
8. Trust your instincts. Don't be discouraged by others opinions.
9. There is no such thing as failure. Celebrate your failures and review what you have learned from them.
10. You do not see things as they are; you see them as you are. All experiences have no meaning until you interpret them.
11. Always approach a problem on its own terms. Always consider other peoples points of view on the problem.
12. Learn to think unconventionally. For knowledge is limited to current knowledge, while imagination has no limits so embrace imagination.
The de Bono tools have helped thousands of people worldwide to think more creative in a systematic way that helps capture all your ideas on POST-IT NOTES!
By de Bono Consulting
