66 Day challenge

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Picture credit - ​The Dream by Picasso
Day 43 - Creative Thinking
Skill
22 May 2020
Prabodh Sirur
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sirurp@gmail.com
My learning for the day
Today I want to summarise two books on creative thinking skills. Grateful to
David Burkus​ for his blog - ‘​15 Best Books on Coming Up With Genius Ideas​’
Book 1 - Sur/petition: The New Business Formula to Help You Stay Ahead of the
Competition
Author - ​Edward De Bono
Summary (source - ​Questia​)
Competition was fine once upon a time. Now businesses must create
"monopolies of value"​.
Competition is choosing to run in the same race. ​Sur-petition is creating
your own race​.
Efficiency is no longer enough-we need ​effectiveness​. Problem solving is
limited-we also need ​design​. Information analysis will not by itself yield the
new ideas that are needed. Even competition is seen to be necessary but not
sufficient.
Competition on product or service price, quality and differentiation are no
longer going to be enough. These values must be integrated in your product/
service - Convenience, Quality of life, Self-importance and Distraction
The word I liked the most in the book is ​Valufacture​. Valufacture is
manufacturing Value.
These examples of Valuefacture will give you clarity about this concept -
Could you price movie tickets at $100, which includes a share in the film's
profits?
Could you create a high-tariff, no-waiting phone booth?
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The Ford story - a creative thought using Valufacture
De Bono had this advice for Ford (U.K.) who were struggling for market share
- Buy National Car Parks (NCP owns most of the city parking lots in Great
Britain) and at the entrance to every lot place a sign, ​Only Ford cars
admitted.​" The point is that a car is no longer just a lump of engineering.
The ability to park the car is integral to its value to city dwellers.
It is totally creative thinking asking a car company to buy a car parking place.
Book 2 -​ ​Creativity: Flow and The Psychology of Discovery and Invention
Author - ​Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Summary (source - ​August Book Review​ by ​Vilma Reynoso​)
This is a great book in the study of creative expression. Csikszentmihalyi
interviewed almost a hundred creative people in every field and synthesized
his findings in this book.
This book is for those who ​believe​ that they are NOT CREATIVE.
Here are some examples that PROVE that you are creative.
1. Deciding to shower a certain way as opposed to another is being creative
2. Decorating your bedroom is using your creative mind
3. Designing a spreadsheet needs creativity
4. Delivering a speech
5. Sewing a dress, knitting a scarf, building a skyscraper….
6. Rearranging your pantry, cooking
7. Making jewelry
8. Organizing the applications on your cell phone
9. Even blogging…. All of this needs creativity because you have an
opportunity to look at things differently, and find new ways of solving
problems
Every time you imagine and then take action, you are creating.
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi shows you what creative people are like, how the
creative process works, and what conditions encourage or discourage the
generation of original ideas.
Don’t believe yourself​ when you say “I am NOT creative”. Start saying “Of
course I am creative”.
What is Creative Thinking Skill?
Creative thinking is the ability to look at things differently, and find new ways of
solving problems
My learning so far on this topic
Day 3 post​ - 8 creative thinking techniques and tools
Day 13 post​ - An example of the Morphological matrix in action
Day 23 post​ - James Webb Young’s 5 step technique for producing ideas
Day 33 post​ - Two TED talks - Want to be more creative? Go for a walk & The
surprising habits of original thinkers
How to improve this skill?
Set a goal to ​become a go-to person​ by mastering the art and science of ​creative
thinking​.
Follow the ​LAST model​ to build your personal brand as a Guru of ​creative
thinking​.
Learn​ - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of
creative thinking
Apply​ -
Identify a model suitable to you
Create a template to document the flow of the process
Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
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Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did with
respect to ​creative thinking
Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used
for sharing/ training others
Share​ - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social
media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
Train​ - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over
time, your organization benefits from your efforts
Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge​ to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my
astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s
challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To
use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new
possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge​ (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills
learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF​ defines Life skills as - ​psychosocial abilities​ for adaptive and positive
behaviour that enable individuals ​to deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life​. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories
of skills
- cognitive skills​ for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills​ for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills​ for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
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Which LifeSkills are covered?
The ​World Health Organisation​ identified these basic areas of life skills that are
relevant across cultures:
1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated
academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
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