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492 : APPLYING CREATIVITY TO THE IDEA DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

stretching your left-brain The following exercises are useful for
stretching your left-brain and for making a conscious transition from
right-brain to left-brain thinking.

G Establish a timetable for all your work activities during the coming
week and check your progress every hour

G Make a step-by-step plan of your life activities for the next ten years
G Read a book on logic
G When you next buy a piece of electrical apparatus, read the

instruction manual from start to finish (before using the apparatus)
G Learn how to use a new computer program
G Complete a crossword puzzle
G Compile a detailed broken-down analysis of the three major issues

facing you at work
G Volunteer to make public presentations at every opportunity
G Write out the detailed search strategy which you intend to follow

when you next go on to the internet looking for specific information.

step three: make the most of divergent and
convergent thinking phases Awareness of the ground rules

for convergent and divergent thinking will help you make the most of
whole-brain thinking. It is highly important to keep the phases separate
from each other in order to preserve their distinct identities. We will
look at ground rules first.

keep the phases separate from each other
in order to preserve their distinct identities

ground rules for divergent thinking The ground rules are intended
to allow divergent thinking to generate freely ideas in quantity:

G Remember that you personally are capable of effective divergent
thinking

G Suspend and defer judgement – this means no criticism, no praise,
no logic, no evaluation

G Aim for a high volume of ideas – the more ideas you generate, the
higher the probability of hitting upon a truly unique or novel solution