January 19, 2013

Lateral Thinking, Creative Thinking, Mindfulness and School Essays

In writing school essays, having something to say and saying it in a clear, concise, organized way is more important than a superb mastery of grammar and a ultra-rich vocabulary.

Here, I elaborate on "having something to say" part.  I believe adults too struggle with this issue.

I recommend the following steps to have ideas:

  1. Be aware. Know your thoughts and feelings about the topic in the Question. 
  2. Follow them bravely and quickly.
  3. Collect them in a clear/simple order.
Collect our thoughts and feelings about something.

Will this work for adult/corporate/professional world?

Let's see what the Literature has to say about this:

Lateral thinking: creativity step by step By Edward De Bono

De Bono's Course in Thinking

Six Thinking Hats

Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide To Better Ideas

How Breakthroughs Happen

The Myths of Innovation

I can easily whip up hundreds such links here.

It will take you hours to read them all, hours more to spot the gems scattered all over the places, and more to take and digest your notes.

I want to save you time and hassle. Here, I give them away in just 3 sentences.

  1. Know thyself, especially, thy thoughts and feelings.
  2. If they are in the same-old same-old areas/zones/routes/channels/domains, break free from them by leaving them alone or jumping out away from them.
  3. Collect your new thoughts and feelings bravely and calmly.

I keep using the word "brave" here and there because bravery is required to think honestly, feel honestly, and capture the thoughts and the feelings honestly.

That is the topic of a future post.

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