IdeaConnection :: Right Brain Workouts

Dumbth Rule No. 9

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Steve Allen has written a book I call a must-read for everyone interested in strengthening their creative-thinking muscles. It was published in 1989 as Dumbth: And 81 Ways to Make Americans Smarter and in 1998 as Dumbth: The Lost Art of Thinking with 101 Ways to Reason Better & Improve Your Mind.

Centered Eye

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The question of intuition comes up eventually whenever people discuss creativity, innovation, and how the creative process works. Some reject the idea of intuition as something magical or spiritual. Others disregard it as a shortcut for hard, intellectual work, and a principal source of error.

Cats and Dogs

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Creative idea-generating techniques include those that produce surprising innovations and inventions by forcing thinkers to consider opposites. Nature teaches us this lesson. Where would we be, after all, without opposite sexes?

Sloth

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

This is the seventh and last in a series of Right Brain Workouts devoted to the Seven Creative Juices. Using the Seven Deadly Sins as my starting point, I've audaciously re-positioned them as the natural forces that drive creativity, innovation, invention, the arts, and human progress. Today we meet Sloth.

Anger

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

This is the sixth in a series of Right Brain Workouts devoted to the Seven Creative Juices. Using the Seven Deadly Sins as my starting point, I've audaciously re-positioned them as the natural forces that drive creativity, innovation, invention, the arts, and human progress. Today we meet Anger.

Crosscuts

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The collision of random ideas often results in the most interesting and exciting innovations. Like the French entomologist who, while examining a wasp's nest, got the idea of manufacturing paper from wood pulp.

Idiot

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Any idiot can kill a great creative idea. All it takes is the ability to recognize that the new idea is different. Like rejecting the Model T because it doesn't have a feed bag. Or poo-pooing any innovation just because it's different. We've been known to justify our distaste for the different with the ultimate authority.

Envy

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

This is the fifth in a series of Right Brain Workouts devoted to the Seven Creative Juices. Using the Seven Deadly Sins as my starting point, I've audaciously re-positioned them as the natural forces that drive creativity, innovation, invention, the arts, and human progress. Today we meet Envy.

The Training Sandwich

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Forty-one percent of workers want to quit their jobs because they are dissatisfied with company training. So says Business Week/Up Front, "Why your workers might jump ship."

Nitpickers

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Don't you just love nitpickers? The horseflies of life's hike through the woods. And they think they're so helpful. You've just put a precious part of your life into a piece of creative work, when along come the bright-eyed, ever so helpful nitpickers, who actually think they can make it better in minute or two!

Lust

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

This is the fourth in a series of Right Brain Workouts devoted to the Seven Creative Juices. Using the Seven Deadly Sins as my starting point, I've audaciously re-positioned them as the natural forces that drive creativity, innovation, invention, the arts, and human progress. Today we meet Lust.

CigArson

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

There's a story going around about a lawyer who bought a box of rare and expensive cigars and insured them against fire. It doesn't take a terribly creative mind to come up with such a loony notion. It would take some real innovative sleight of hand, however, to pull it off.

Batman

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

This is the story of the original bat man. People called him bat man, not because he protected them from harm, which he did, but because they thought he was crazy.

Greed

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

This is the third in a series of Right Brain Workouts devoted to the Seven Creative Juices. Using the Seven Deadly Sins as my starting point, I've audaciously re-positioned them as the natural forces that drive creativity, innovation, invention, the arts, and human progress. Today we meet Greed.

Why Windows Makes You More Creative

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Creative people, dressed in black, use skinny, white Macs. That's the rule. The rest of us plod along with un-cool, not-so-innovative Windows. I'm here to throw that rule out the window.

Critics

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

"The most insolent monstrosity ever perpetrated in the history of music." That's what one critic called Bolero. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, was greeted with, "...stupid and hopelessly vulgar music!" by another. Yes, he was writing about one of music's most creative and revolutionarily innovative composers of all time!

Gluttony

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

This is the second in a series of Right Brain Workouts devoted to the Seven Creative Juices. Using the Seven Deadly Sins as my starting point, I've audaciously re-positioned them as the natural forces that drive creativity, innovation, invention, the arts, and human progress. Today we meet Gluttony.

Toilet Seat Aesthetics

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Men and women need no more reasons to bicker. They have no trouble creating their own bones of contention. So as a public service, I would like to eliminate one source of confrontation among many heterosexual couples--the battle over whether to leave up or put down the toilet seat.

Say You Like It

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

What do you do when your creative people present you with something you absolutely hate?

Pride

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

This is the first installment of a series of Right Brain Workouts devoted to the Seven Creative Juices. Using the Seven Deadly Sins as my starting point, I've audaciously re-positioned them as the natural forces that drive creativity, innovation, invention, the arts, and human progress. Today we meet Pride.