The One Thinking Exercise To Spark Innovative Ideas

I was on a call with a team member, and I asked, so what’s a procedural update you can make today, to minimize this issue again in the future?

He was speechless. I could hear the gears turning in his head, but nothing manifested out his mouth.

He was overthinking — something we all understand.

Overthinking inhibits our ability to be creative and propose new and exciting ideas. Ideas we can’t grasp on to when we’re busy beating ourselves up about being wrong.

We must separate our thinking into two camps.

The first camp is were you ideate, and anything goes.

It’s divergent thinking, a way to generate ideas without consequence.

“We have to generate ideas first before we can begin evaluating and eliminating them,” says Ozan Varol in his book, Think Like a Rocket Scientist.

The best way to start this type of thinking is through questions prompts.

Try this. 

Schedule thirty-minutes to think about an outcome your company is trying to achieve.

During that time, create a list of ideas that answer this one question:

If there were no financial constraints, what would we do to execute on (your topic)?

This time is personal. You don’t need a crowd. 

Do it alone and in a place that sparks creativity.

Ozan recommends, “you must shut down the rational thinker in you, the part responsible for otherwise safe, beneficial grown-up behaviors. Set aside the spreadsheets, and let your brain run wild. Investigate the absurd. Reach beyond your grasp. Blur the line between fantasy and reality.”

The second camp is to get real with your outcomes.

Convergent thinking is when you become pragmatic. It’s when you look at your list and cut the unrealistic options.

The reason you start with divergent thinking is “if we cut the accumulation process short — if we immediately start thinking about consequences — we run the risk of hampering originality” advises Ozan.

But we have to be realistic.

If your idea list has an item that would cost ten million dollars and you’re just starting, it’s likely more realistic to focus on other low-hanging fruit.

That doesn’t mean you have to cut the large cost idea. You have to invest more time in thinking it through.

That’s what Elon Musk did when he dramatically cut the cost of rockets, and SpaceX was born.

Convergent thinking forces you to think about your ideas and make sense of them.

It’s one reason authors separates writing from editing. Writing is divergent thinking, while editing is convergent.

Set time aside to think differently.

Lumping your thinking time into one time block session limits your creativity, especially if it’s with other people.

In your divergent thinking time block, let yourself run wild with the question prompt. There’s no such thing as a bad idea.

James Altucher writes down ten ideas a day on a waiters pad. He admits he has terrible ideas. But all you need is a few great ones.

When you set time aside to think divergently, you build your creative muscle.

Don’t become pragmatic too soon. Let your creativity and imagination run wild.