This Wednesday: Seven tips for having an original thought or finding a solution.

Every Wednesday is Tip Day.
This Wednesday: Seven Tips for Having an Original Thought or Finding a Solution.

We all know the feeling of not being able to come up with an idea, a solution, or a strategy. Sometimes my head feels as empty as the Diet Coke cans that rattle around the corners of my office. So what can be done to get those brain wheels turning?

Here are seven tips for having an original thought. Some are backed up by hard science, some are folk strategies that I keep hearing about.

1. Go for a walk. Nietzsche wrote, “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking,” and studies show that the combination of exercise and sunshine increases alertness, focus, and energy. Leave your cell phone behind to allow yourself to think without interruption.

2. Do a headstand. People who practice yoga swear that a headstand stimulates ideas – whether by the increased blood flow to the brain, or the reversed view of the world.

3. Think about a problem, then go to sleep. The dreaming mind keeps working and sometimes presents a solution. In one famous example, Friedrich Kekule dozed off while puzzling over the molecular structure of benzene. He dreamed of a snake whirling with its tail in its mouth, and when he awoke, he realized that benzene’s structure is a closed ring – a discovery for which he won the Nobel Prize.

4. Touch. Several friends have mentioned that touching, or being touched, helps them think—for instance, petting a dog, cuddling children, or getting a massage or manicure/pedicure. It certainly reduces stress, and maybe that’s why ideas begin to flow.

5. Public transportation. For me, looking out the window of a bus or train stimulates ideas. The changing view, the constant speed, the sense of progress, and the temporary suspension from the outside world frees my mind.

6. Shower. Taking a long shower works for lots of people.

7. Talk it out. My friend Michael Melcher, a career coach, pointed out that some people hit on their best ideas by “extroverting their intuition”; by talking to other people, they gain better access to their own ideas. Once he mentioned this notion of thinking-by-talking, I realized that how often, for me, a good idea came out of a conversation.

So what strategies am I overlooking? Do you have a way to spur yourself to think?

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I have a real fondness for reading blogs by economists, such as Greg Mankiw's Blog, because although the discussion often goes over my head, it sometimes exposes aspects of human nature that fascinate me -- as in Greg Mankiw's post today, about Giffen goods -- goods for which a lower price means LESS demand.

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Comments

[MoreTimeAndMoney]

I check-out what some of the most creative people on the planet are doing:
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/

[Jecca]

Number 7 is the one for me -- being a "verbal processor," I've heard it called. I often feel as if I don't know what I think until I actually hear myself saying it.

[adora]

Great tips! I'm a visual person, I also find it helpful to just doodle on scrap paper.

I've been observing many creative people and see what their tricks are. There is a surprising correlation between daily rituals and creativity. Creative people tend to follow a rigid daily schedule. e.g. Scott Adams of Dilbert. He wakes at 5am every day including Sundays, walk downstairs, eat a banana, get a diet coke, walk to office, pet the cat, write the blog... He says what you need to be a cartoonist is banana, diet coke, cat and touch screen monitor. The blog post about his ritual: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/how_to_make_a_c.html

Maybe it's because everything is on auto-pilot, they are more likely to free up their mind for more unusual ideas.

[Gretchen Rubin]

That's a very, very interesting point about daily ritual. Ritual would accomplish two things: removing distracting choices, and also keeping your rear in the chair (probably the hardest part of creativity). We tend to associate routine with "rigidity" and lack of creativity, but maybe it's just the opposite...
I always thought of myself as a person who thinks by writing, but now I'm seeing that talking, and even drawing, are very useful too. Bottom line: thinking is tough.

[LaurieM]

When I'm stumped on a problem, I often find that I must do something else. Something absorbing so that I won't keep thinking about the first problem. It breaks my thinking out of an unprofitable loop so that it can go explore other avenues of creativity.

[Kaye]

Brainstorming is an old staple of engineers working on solving a problem that needs an original solution. Best with a group of people so that one person's wacky idea can spur the great idea of another. Start with a problem statement and start listing any idea - no matter how silly or far-fetched- that might be a solution. Also, there should be a rule against any form of censure or criticism - no "that's stupid" or "that won't work". After generating and tallying a bunch of ideas, then you can go through and evaluate them. See also "mind mapping".

[bine]

3. Think about a problem, then go to sleep.
great! now i’d like to hear 7 tips on how to go to sleep when you have a problem on your mind. that’s really one of my biggest problems, not being able to stop thinking about a problem when wanting to go to sleep.
i like the tips, though. i usually use #1, and if that doesn’t help, #7. the public transportation tip amazed me - i hadn’t realized how many inspirations i get when riding the tram, but it’s true.
another one that helps for me: when i’m kind of “stuck” with a project and don’t know why, i make a list about what makes me uncomfortable about that project, what distracts me. often i proceed with a list how i’d rather have this project to be. that often leads to very creative insights.

[Ole Høegh]

I use visualisation. I think of the situation when the problem is solved: how is everybody feeling, what are their facial expression, body language etc., how does the room look, where are people situated etc. - as much detail as I can. I think of what people are saying to each other after the problem is solved. Then I start to go backwards, thinking of what just happened, how did we get there, how did we get to this feeling of relieve from a problem well solved? Somehow this often makes a solution obvious.

[Diana Bartling]

Usually when I can't come up with a solution to a problem I "let it stew." I think in pictures, so I visualize my brain as a stove with four burners. I use the front burners when I am actively working on something, but sometimes I need to put a problem on the back burner and let it stew for a while. I find that my best solutions come when I am not actively working on a problem, but just letting it sit for a while. My brain keeps working on it...probably even when I sleep.

[David Seruyange]

Sketching is a lost art - especially with respect to problem solving outside the space of "design" or artwork. It's also a way to leverage the visualization and spatial aspects of how we think. Of course I'm a complete charlatan with the above assertion since I have yet to have a good idea. However, I'm basing it on reading Bill Buxton's "Sketching User Experiences" and he's fairly qualified in that regard.

[Modern-Worker]

Great tips, thanks =)

[Maria Palma]

I often get stumped when I'm writing, so I go off and relax and read a book or magazine. Usually I'll stumble on an article or a passage that will help me with whatever topic I'm writing about.

Great post!

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