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Creative Lift 63 – Designing with Strategic Thinking in Mind

Creative Lift 63 – Designing with Strategic Thinking in Mind

by | Mar 12, 2024 | Podcast Episodes

In this season of Creative Lift, “Creating Space,” we’re making the abstract and sometimes confusing creative process more tangible. We’re giving ourselves tools to see the way we move through the creative process so that we can ideate, craft our work, gather feedback, and revise our work with more clarity and flow.

Today’s episode, “Designing with Strategic Thinking in Mind,” builds on the concept of the Illuminary, which I outlined in episode 60. In this imagined space, you can visualize different kinds of creative thinking inside distinct mental rooms. In our last two episodes, 61 and 62, we explored the Studio where you’re invited to think expansively—brainstorming, improvising and experimenting.

Today, we’re heading over to the Workshop, where you’re invited to think critically—making decisions, developing ideas, and revising your work.

When I spend too much time in the Studio, my ideas spiral out of control, leading me into intriguing, but often illogical territory. When I spend too much time in the Workshop, my work bogs down under the weight of my critical eye. 

Even though both rooms are essential, so is the wall between them. Without a wall to separate these kinds of thinking, your inner critic has clear access to throw darts at fledgling ideas. In retaliation, your creativity is likely to rebel and either shut down or tangle storylines into rats’ nests.

My recommendation is that you firmly close your Studio door, and march across the hall into an entirely separate room where you can envision your Workshop. You’ll want to be able to move easily between the rooms—often in one work session, you’ll start out in the Studio to generate ideas, head over to the Workshop to begin to shape those ideas, hit a snag and need to pop back to the Studio to brainstorm again, and then bring your solution ideas back to the Workshop to finish the day’s work. The more capacity you build in these two spaces, the more fluidly you’ll be able to use as you move between them.

Let’s explore the Workshop, which is filled with practical tools and the can-do optimism you need when you’re facing a pile of messy, but promising ideas. 

LISTEN IN:

EPISODE LINKS:

Find me on Instagram: @naomikinsman

Find Alex on Instagram: @ag.doherty

 

You can also help others find the show by rating and reviewing it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to the show. Your words make such a difference for them—and for me, as I continue to create this show. Many, many thanks in advance. And of course, a huge thank you to Alex Doherty for his fantastic editing of the show.

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Solve Problems by Asking the Right Questions

Solve Problems by Asking the Right Questions

by | Mar 30, 2017 | Creative Life

When you ask the wrong questions, you end up with the wrong answers. Seems logical enough, right? Most of us don’t intentionally ask the wrong questions. However, just because we don’t intend to ask low-value questions doesn’t mean we don’t ask them.

Here are a few sneaky questions that might pop up from time to time:

  • Why is everyone else succeeding faster than me?
  • Why didn’t I get started on this project sooner?
  • Why is this project so challenging?
  • What should I do about this mess?
  • When will things start working out?
  • What’s wrong with me?

Questions such as these may seem like a tiny, not-so-helpful habit. The truth is, questions such as these can completely derail us. Why? Because our mind goes to work on solving the questions we feed it. So, instead of tackling our problems, our mind is doggedly mapping out wrong turns, or collecting reasons to support our unintentional belief that nothing is ever going to change in our lives.

It’s not enough to realize that these questions aren’t helping us.

Knowing we shouldn’t do something usually doesn’t stop us from doing it. In fact, if we focus on the questions we shouldn’t ask, we’ll end up being unable to avoid thinking about them. If, instead, we have a strategy to help us find more positive, helpful questions, we will have a clear way to address any negative questions that arise.

When you find yourself in a low-value question spiral, ask yourself:

  1.  Is this question pointing out a real problem?
    • If yes, move on to question two.
    • If no, release the question and go do something playful or active. Move into a new, more optimistic space.
  2. What is the real problem?
    • State the problem in clear language, such as “I’m frustrated with how long it is taking me to finish the script I’m writing.”
  3. Review your past experiences. When have you had a win in a similar situation?
    • Think expansively. Maybe you’ve never finished a script before, but you have finished a project of some kind.
    • Keep reviewing until you find three examples of (even loosely) similar wins and look for commonalities between the situations. What seems to work for you?
    • Take note of situations where you definitely didn’t succeed. They may add an important element to your ultimate question.
  4. Shape what you’ve discovered into a clear, specific question.
    • Your question might now sound like, “How might I give myself a motivating deadline that doesn’t make me feel like I can’t breathe?
  5. Brainstorm elements of this question so that you can break the problem into smaller, easy-to-handle questions.
    • Answer your big question by tackling these smaller questions one at a time.
    • Your set of questions might look like:
      • WHY is this project important? What big-picture vision can I tap into? What will finishing this project mean for me and for others?
      • WHAT are the milestones between where I am and my completed project?
      • HOW LONG does it normally take me to write one scene?
      • WHEN might I expect to be done, given the milestones I’ve determined and my regular writing speed?
      • WHO might help me stick to my goal?
      • WHERE might I get stuck? What strategies might I use to overcome my obstacles?

The right question can transform an impossible roadblock.

A set of questions such as this can turn a desperate plea such as “Why is this project so challenging?” into a manageable situation. However, unless you’re superhuman, it’s unlikely that your first impulse in the midst of a crisis is to ask productive questions. That’s why the first four steps are essential. Once you have gently moved yourself out of downward-spiral thinking into a more confident, optimistic space, you are able to tap into the wisdom that’s there, inside you, waiting to be uncovered. No one is as much an expert on you as YOU. You know what works for you and what doesn’t. All you need is the reliable process to help you find what you knew all along.

What unhelpful question have you been wrestling with lately? How might this process bring momentum to a blocked area of your life? Go ahead and try it out, and then come back and let me know how it goes! I’d love to hear your story. Tag me on Instagram or Twitter.

Naomi’s Playlist: POINT

by | Oct 5, 2016 | Tools & Apps

My playlist is an eclectic collection of tools that help me approach my work as play. My hope is that they’ll do the same for you.

focus

Object: Making practical creative decisions.

What Didn’t Work: Trying to jump from a general discussion about ideas to an immediate choice.

My Aha! Moment: I’ve been exploring some new creative thinking tools after taking a course called “Creative Thinker’s Toolkit” that’s offered on Great Courses Plus. One of those tools is called POINT, a step-by-step tool to help thinkers develop novel ideas into something workable.

Most have had the experience of reaching for ideas during a brainstorming session, only to later toss out the “wild” ideas as unusable. When we don’t know how to make an idea work, and it doesn’t fit our normal patterns, we reject it. What would happen if we asked ourselves: How might this idea work?

One of my students was starting a new novel. She was at that moment we often reach when solving a creative puzzle. We have a few ideas and we know the next step is a decision. Sometimes we instinctively know which choice is right. Many times, though, if we’re honest with ourselves, we feel less than clear.

Fortunately, at that moment, I remembered the POINT tool. “Don’t choose!” I said, and then asked if she’d like to try a new approach. She was game, so we went through a structured evaluation of her ideas using POINT. By the time she made her choice, she had clarity and confidence and a plan to take forward.

POINT works for making decisions about writing projects, but also for making any decision that has more than one possible solution. Here’s how it can work.

How POINT works:

  • P stands for “positives.” What makes this idea appealing?
  • O stands for “opportunities.” What options will this idea make possible?
  • I stands for “issues.” What challenges might this idea bring?
  • NT stands for “new thinking.” What new ideas arise as you consider this idea in more depth?

Player’s Notes:

  • POINT offers a method for considering a more unusual idea. When you feel yourself resisting an option because of the unknowns, try focusing on one POINT question at a time. You don’t have to see the end result to consider the possibility.
  • Once you’ve evaluated each option, take time to look over the full list before making a final decision. New options you hadn’t considered may arise. Might two of your options combine? Might your ideas lead to a new option that has yet to come up?

Take it to the Next Level:

  • Not every problem requires creative problem solving, but if we approached more problems with this kind of thinking, we may find more novel solutions. Take a moment to brainstorm the general challenges, small and large, you face in your life. What problem may benefit from brainstorming and POINT thinking?

Would you like a shortcut for structuring your POINT thinking? I’ve created a template, which you can download here

I am not sure to whom to give primary credit for the POINT tool, but I discovered it while taking the Creative Thinker’s Toolkit course on The Great Courses Plus, delivered by Professor Gerard Puccio. Thank you to Professor Puccio and The Great Courses Plus for sharing this fantastic tool, and for providing an overall well-developed course. I highly recommend the course for anyone who is interested in developing his or her creative thinking skills.