During the summer months, things tend to slow down and it’s easy for a little brain fog to cloud up your thinking. With everyone taking annual leave for holidays or to take care of children off school, you can slip out of your usual routine. You may have spent your time fantasising about weekend plans outside in the sun or counting down the days until your well-earned holiday. But now autumn is just around the corner, and with the new season comes a chance for you to get back into the swing of things, re-motivate yourself and ramp up your creativity.
If you want to reignite your creativity and generate some fresh ideas to boost business, this simple exercise will help you change your perspective and produce some creative solutions. This technique is an enjoyable and easy way to give your imagination a jolt and open your mind to other possibilities. Using a pen and paper or Mind Mapping software, such as iMindMap, this technique will help you map out your ideas quickly, without interrupting your trail of thought.
So let’s get started…
People with different backgrounds, experiences, interests and professions look at things in different ways. Adopting the mindsets of others will help you to view your problem from a variety of angles. Start by creating a Mind Map with each main branch representing a person or character whose perspective you want to explore. Be creative with who you select – choose a random assortment of people in different professions and circumstances. They don’t even have to be real. You can use anyone from your mother, your postman to a clown or even Elvis Presley! The more varied your choices are, the broader your base will be for producing ideas.
Consider how each person or character would approach your problem. Put yourself in their mindset and ask questions such as the ones below:
•What would they consider to be the most important factors?
•How would they describe the problem?
•How does their description differ from mine?
•What attitude would they take towards the problem?
As you work through each viewpoint, add the answers of each person to your Mind Map. You will notice how the different perspectives vary. For example, your mother may take a cautious and caring approach to your problem, while a clown will take a more carefree, fun approach. While creating your Mind Map, use one keyword per branch to help you trigger more associations and draw out new and imaginative strategies. iMindMap’s limitless canvas and radiating branches will allow you to build on your Mind Map without compromising its clarity and conciseness.
Once you have thought about how each of your characters would tackle your problem, consider how their ideas and approaches could actually work for you. For example, if we were to view our problem of how to increase employee engagement through the eyes of a clown, we might decide to hold more fun activity team-building events.
Borrowing other perspectives will allow you to look at your problem through fresh eyes and will help you generate creative solutions. With the help of Mind Mapping software, iMindMap, you can extract the ideas that were invisible to you at first so that you can solve your problems quickly. Download the iMindMap 8 Ultimate 7 day free trial and try it today:
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