Page 123 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

114 INTERGALACTIC THINKING

INTERGALACTIC PROBLEM SOLVING

When do you need to think outside the galaxy? When you don’t know
the solution (which really should be all the time, because even when you
think you know the solution, how do you know it’s the best solution?).
When do you ordinarily not have a solution? When you encounter
problems you’ve never faced before. We already established in Chap-
ter 2 that there are basically two ways to solve a problem: Find solu-
tions or create solutions. And where do you find things? In the known,
or your “home galaxy.”
When we can’t find a solution, we are then forced to create solu-
tions. Problems force us to stretch to a place outside our limited
known; that’s why we call it creative problem solving.
Since most people do consider finding solutions in the known to be
a type of problem solving in addition to creating solutions, let’s go with
those two alternatives and see how this all ties together in the concept
Intergalactic Thinking.

The Problem-Solving Spectrum
Let’s look at what I call the problem-solving spectrum, because most of
the time it isn’t really a black-and-white issue of finding versus creat-
ing. Except for the old dyed-in-the-wool, tried-and-true ideas, virtually
every idea has some components of both old and new thought.
When you can find a solution in your direct experience—that is, in
your personal galaxy—you’re at the less original thinking end of the
spectrum.
But suppose you’ve never encountered this problem before (thus
you have no direct experience), but you know someone who has been

The Problem-Solving Spectrum

Create

Find

Direct Available New
Experience Knowledge Ideas