Articles from metaphor
Many Minds
When we think about revision, we usually think about reworking the way we are expressing our ideas: restructuring our thoughts and refining the words we’re using to express them. But there’s a type of revision that comes earlier in creative problem-solving. It’s focused on shifting the approach you’re taking during the formative stages of ideation: revision as the art of seeing from a different perspective, with a fresh mind.
The Way Forward…
In my last article I explored how the way we visualize the creative problem-solving process has evolved over the last 70 years. The familiar Divergence/Convergence kite model eventually developed into the popular double diamond model that’s still taught in design schools. The FourSight model, a more recent visualization, is popular in education, especially in primary and secondary school settings. Each of these models conveys useful insights into the creative problem-solving process. In this article I introduce you to a new way of visualizing the creative problem-solving process I’ve developed. My Make-to-Know model revolves around a a concept I call “The Maker’s Workshop”—the generative space where your ideas collide, spark, and sometimes fuse. It’s the heart of the creative problem solving process.
Choreographing Creative Thinking
Models and visualizations of the creative thinking/problem-solving process are not just an academic exercise. They are maps that help us communicate with others about creativity and our creative projects. They are also wayfinding tools that help us reorient ourselves when we’ve lost our sense of direction during our creative work. And, they are learning tools that help us improve our creative thinking, planning, and execution.
Risk-Taking, Creativity, and the Experimenter's Mindset
We’ve all become more familiar (and hopefully adept) at calculating risk over the past two years as we’ve struggled to balance the demands of daily life with the threats posed by the seemingly endless waves of the COVID-19 virus. We’ve always lived with risks, but the pandemic has significantly altered the risk/reward ratio of everyday life. It’s also made many of us more risk averse. Our COVID-induced diminished tolerance for risk-taking may also have another significant consequence: you may be feeling an unfamiliar sense of alienation from your creative confidence and desire to engage in new creative work. You’re not alone, and you can rebuild your confidence and rekindle your passion for creative work, if you’re willing to take a few small risks.
The Brain, the Body, and the Mind
The dominant role the written word has assumed in the development of culture (especially Western culture) has inflated our perception of the role the brain plays so significantly that we now equate the brain with the mind. Nothing could be further from the truth. The organ we call the brain is not the mind. The mind is the whole body, which encompasses the brain. As we learn more about how the body and brain work together to form our thoughts, emotions, and perspective, we’re redefining the concept of thinking itself.
Loosely Organized Notes and Creative Thinking
In his essay “Communicating with Slip Boxes,” Niklas Luhmann argues that his collection of notes is not a passive archive of his thoughts, but a “competent” conversation partner capable of surprise. Luhmann isn’t a mad scientist imbuing his inanimate creation with human qualities, he’s stating a fact. The organization of his note-taking system allowed him to pose a question, then follow his branching and linked thoughts to unexpected answers. The “conversation” is the result of an open, loosely organized system designed to surprise.
The Faithful Gardener
Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about notes and note-taking—and why would you? Most notes we take are disposable: quick scratches meant to jog our memory. But notes serve a wide variety of purposes. Reminding is only one of them. Learning to distinguish between the types of notes you take and how to use your notes effectively is an essential part of thinking outside the brain.
Working Outside Your Brain
This article introduces a new series on creativity and the extended mind: how we use tools, our body, and the world around us to enhance the capacity of our brain and create in ways the mind can’t manage on its own. In this series I’ll be writing about note-taking, personal knowledge management systems, thinking with your body, and more.