Page 141 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

CHAPTER 12

How to Put These Tools

to Work

As promised in the beginning of Part III, here are some simple, easy-to-
follow instructions about how to use these tools for optimal results.

USE THEM OR LOSE THEM

First, use your new thinking tools. As soon as you can, use them. When
you put down this book, even before you finish it, use any one of your
new thinking tools to deal with whatever problem, challenge or oppor-
tunity that comes your way (which means anytime, anywhere, because
everything is a creative opportunity).
Have you ever taken a golf lesson, a tennis lesson, a piano lesson, or
such? If you don’t use the newly honed skills immediately, what hap-
pens? Let’s say you wait a week before going to the practice range after
taking a golf lesson. Do you know what happens? You’ve forgotten
almost everything you learned. “Are my hands supposed to be above
my shoulder on the backswing?” “Am I supposed to lead with my hip?”
You’re not sure, so you practice timidly at best, or you practice wrong
at worst, putting yourself in an even deeper groove of improper
mechanics. You’re going to need three lessons to correct the effects of
one misinterpreted lesson.

REPETITION DEVELOPS NEW HABITS

After you’ve used any one of these thinking tools and are happy with
the results, use it again as soon as you can. On a golf course, if you hit