Thinking Like a Genius
Thinking like a genius
Famous thinkers
"Even if you're not a genius, you can use the same strategies as Aristotle and Einstein to harness the power of your creative mind and better manage your future."
Nine approaches to creative problem solving:
Rethink! Look at problems in many different ways.
Visualize! Utilize diagrams and imagery to analyze your dilemma.
Produce! Genius is productive.
Combine! Make novel combinations...
Form! Form relationships.
Opposite! Think in opposites.
Metaphor/simile! Think metaphorically.
Failure! Learning from your mistakes is one example of using failure.
Patience! Don't confuse inspiration with ideas.
Exercise #1: illustrates applications of the nine approaches.
Exercise/blog #3 contains random thoughts on thinking like a genius.
Exercise #2 illustrates how famous thinkers used these approches.
Exercise text:
Look at problems in many different ways.
Find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has publicized!)
Leonardo da Vinci believed that, to gain knowledge about the form of a problem, you begin by learning how to restructure it in many different ways. He felt that the first way he looked at a problem was too biased. Often, the problem itself is reconstructed and becomes a new one.
Visualize!
When Einstein thought through a problem, he always found it necessary to formulate his subject in as many different ways as possible, including using diagrams. He visualized solutions, and believed that words and numbers as such did not play a significant role in his thinking process.
Produce!
A distinguishing characteristic of genius is productivity.
Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California at Davis found that the most respected scientists produced not only great works, but also many "bad" ones. They
Famous thinkers
"Even if you're not a genius, you can use the same strategies as Aristotle and Einstein to harness the power of your creative mind and better manage your future."
Nine approaches to creative problem solving:
Rethink! Look at problems in many different ways.
Visualize! Utilize diagrams and imagery to analyze your dilemma.
Produce! Genius is productive.
Combine! Make novel combinations...
Form! Form relationships.
Opposite! Think in opposites.
Metaphor/simile! Think metaphorically.
Failure! Learning from your mistakes is one example of using failure.
Patience! Don't confuse inspiration with ideas.
Exercise #1: illustrates applications of the nine approaches.
Exercise/blog #3 contains random thoughts on thinking like a genius.
Exercise #2 illustrates how famous thinkers used these approches.
Exercise text:
Look at problems in many different ways.
Find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has publicized!)
Leonardo da Vinci believed that, to gain knowledge about the form of a problem, you begin by learning how to restructure it in many different ways. He felt that the first way he looked at a problem was too biased. Often, the problem itself is reconstructed and becomes a new one.
Visualize!
When Einstein thought through a problem, he always found it necessary to formulate his subject in as many different ways as possible, including using diagrams. He visualized solutions, and believed that words and numbers as such did not play a significant role in his thinking process.
Produce!
A distinguishing characteristic of genius is productivity.
Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California at Davis found that the most respected scientists produced not only great works, but also many "bad" ones. They