Page 52 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

Good Ideas Get in the Way of Great Ideas 43

Let this book help you let go of
what you know just long enough
to discover something better. It's taken me all of my life
to have the mind of a child.
As a creativity coach in busi-
ness, I discovered years ago the
key to helping people think more
creatively. Picasso

The secret isn’t to will new ideas; it’s to let go of what you know.

Think about that. Letting go of what you know so you can better
use the vast resources of your mind. Simple? Yes. Easy? Well, yes
again—that is, if you gain some very basic insights into the thought
process and use a little discipline to master some new thinking habits.

GOOD IDEAS GET IN THE WAY OF GREAT IDEAS

It is my experience working with
people in business that many peo-
ple suffer from the same tragic Good is the enemy of great.
flaw in their creative process.
We don’t come up with great ideas
because we come up with good
ideas. And, yes, as you might guess, the vast majority Voltaire
of these good ideas are ideas we already know.

7

A HEAD TALKS ABOUT STAYING FRESH

In an article in Time Out New York in May 2001, David Byrne, former
Talking Heads front man and all-around creative genius, discussed the
challenges of staying fresh in an area where you have deep experience
and familiarity. “You cannot unlearn what you know and go back to
square one, so I try to put myself in a situation where I’m off balance.
Then I have to struggle and scrape a bit rather than fall back on what
I already know.”

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