Page 47 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

38 THE FIRST REAL CHAPTER (FINALLY!)

Did you learn the right way to think when you were about four
months old? That’s when we first started to formulate our own thoughts.
Don’t tell me you’ve been practicing imperfectly all these years! No
wonder so many of your ideas wind up in the rough.
Well, guess what? You don’t have as much to learn from scratch
about creative thinking and problem solving as you might think. You
see, this book isn’t going to teach you as much as it’s going to help you
recognize what you do on your best days.
Recognizing, not learning. See? Already it’s easier than you thought.
Have you ever practiced Intergalactic Thinking? Sure you have.
You just don’t know it.
How about 180° Thinking? Have you ever engaged in that type of
thinking? Guess what? You’ve done that, too. Probably hundreds of
times. You’re just not aware.
Have you ever tried 100 MPH Thinking? Again, sure you have.
You’ve been practicing all of these types of thinking processes for
years. But, I hate to tell you, you’ve likely been practicing imperfectly
because you have been practicing unconsciously.
Intergalactic Thinking, 180° Thinking, and 100 MPH Thinking are
some of the thinking methods we cover in this book. I didn’t make up
these thinking techniques. They have been used by high-achieving peo-
ple for centuries. And, yes, you’ve used them on your best days. I just
made up the names—handles, if you will—to help people better grasp
these valuable tools and to make them easier to use.

CODIFYING THE CREATIVE PROCESS

As a creative thinking coach, I work with people in industry in two
principal ways. I help people improve their creative thinking abilities
in a general sense through corporate training and skills development
sessions. I also facilitate high-output brainstorming sessions geared to
specific issues, challenges, and opportunities (new product ideas, pro-
motional ideas, naming products, etc.).
One of my most active industry sectors is advertising, a field in which
creativity is so codified that companies actually have a “creative brief,” a
“creative department,” and creative is often used as a noun to describe the
advertising itself, as in, “The creative looks great!” Frankly, I understand
creative thinking much better than most people do. I understand cre-
ative thinking in a way that can help you become more conscious, con-
sistent thinkers.