Page 173 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

164 REDEFINING THE ACCEPTABLE RANGE

This book has systematically been helping you open your accept-
able range of thought to give you a broader playing field upon which
to operate.
The early chapters of the book were written to help you better
understand creativity, as we addressed many of the fundamental ele-
ments of this wonderful stuff: the value of not knowing so you can
wonder more, the role of problem solving, the character of change, and
the distinction between creativity and talent.
The section on creative thinking tools—the Do-It-Yourself Lobot-
omy instruments—gave you the thinking skills to help you continually
find new ideas that will expand your acceptable range.
The discourse on accidental genius demonstrated the benefits of
open-mindedness, the need for a broader acceptable range even when
you’re not looking for a new idea.
Chapter 16 has asked you to “stop making sense” and demonstrated
how a narrow acceptable range can be expanded. It so frequently takes
perseverance and courage to proceed with new ideas.
Chapter 18, “Mind Farming,” is designed to help managers (or
others who consciously manage their own skill sets) to cultivate think-
ing traits that lead to expanding the acceptable range of ideas.

DON’T BREAK THE RULES, BREAK THE RULER

Creativity is about originating ideas. Much of what this book covers is
the active generation of these original concepts. After all, in today’s pit-
bull-eat-pit-bull competitive environment, just waiting for creative bril-
liance to strike is not enough; we need to make it happen when and
where we need fresh ideas. Like genetically engineered food, our
ideation process needs to be bulked up, and bulked up big, to stay in the
game. That said, if you can open your acceptable range of thought and
keep it open, that is like keeping your creative soil in a constant state of
proper nutritional health so that the bounty of fresh ideas simply grows,
blossoms, and reseeds itself for further growth and regeneration, on and
on, indefinitely.
That is how the great creative minds work. By constantly exploring
new territory. By constantly developing fresh ideas.
As they attack challenges and opportunities, a lot of people say,
“Let’s break the rules!” But even when they do create new ideas, I too
often see people ignore those new concepts that may take their efforts
forward in favor of playing it safe with tried-and-true solutions. They