Page 127 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

118 INTERGALACTIC THINKING

see the potential of this method, you’ll use it often and become really
good at it.
Here’s how it works. Simply think of a galaxy of thought outside
your everyday realm. I usually suggest people choose a galaxy that’s
fairly familiar, one very unrelated to their line of work, and one with
many, many data points. I love using galaxies such as “the farm,” “the
ocean,” or “the circus.” I don’t like galaxies with relatively few data
points—like backgammon, taxidermy, or Russian musical instruments.
Start by picking a few data points in the galaxy of choice. If it’s the
ocean, you might choose “sand,” “starfish,” “boats,” and “wind.” Then,
just try to connect these seemingly unconnected concepts to the prob-
lem at hand.

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HOW INTERGALACTIC THINKING WORKS

Demonstration exercise: Working with a group trying to find ways to
make better beds, we found many ideas in the ocean, so to speak.
One team thought up a bed shaped like a boat. Who uses the cor-
ners of beds anyway? We have square-shaped beds only because
that’s the way it has been done for years, starting with rope-strung
bed frames. Do we need to use that shape today? Is it the best shape?
Or is it just traditional thinking so entrenched that we can’t envision
any other way to shape a bed even if there is a better way? Sure, the
entire sheeting and blanket industry is standardized around that rect-
angle shape, but does that mean it’s the only way? Yeah, a boat-
shaped bed might sound silly, even stupid, by conventional standards.
Most new ideas do sound odd. Many are laughed at. And in many
cases, real improvements don’t happen, not because there are no new
ideas, but because people can’t fathom the new ideas (see “Stop Mak-
ing Sense,” page 155).
Another team thought up a bed that makes itself. They started with
the concept of wind: Put a big fan at the end of the bed, then just let it
blow the covers back into place. Practical? Well, don’t be too judgmen-
tal. This team wasn’t. They didn’t kill this seemingly far-fetched idea.
Quite the contrary. Instead they asked, “How do we make this thing
work?” They came up with a contraption not unlike the mechanism that
folds shirts at the laundry. Then they simplified it, using lines and pul-
leys. No, it still hasn’t made it to perfection (no idea has), but it’s a step
in the right direction—an idea conceived using Intergalactic Thinking.

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