Page 137 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

CHAPTER 11

Conceptual Solitaire

Here’s a little exercise that I have developed to help people solve prob-
lems. I call it “Sentenced to Death.” This exercise is ideal for people
who work alone or who need to brainstorm alone. If group brain-
storming is like the Friday night poker game, this is more like “Con-
ceptual Solitaire.” It’s simple. Try it now. Take a few minutes to
complete this exercise, using a problem you are currently facing,
before reading further. Use the worksheet on the next page.

Step 1. Choose an issue to brainstorm solo. Preferably it is an
issue you’re currently facing, something that may have popped
up this week or something you’ve been facing for years without
a solution.
Step 2. Write your problem on the top line of this worksheet. I
suggest trying to get the problem down to 8 to 12 words. I also
suggest the first sentence be a question.
Step 3. On the second line write a second sentence that incorpo-
rates a key word or phrase from your first sentence. (The sec-
ond sentence doesn’t have to be a question.)
Step 4 and on. Continue to rephrase the statement on each suc-
cessive line, incorporating a new key word or phrase from each
preceding sentence into the sentence immediately following.