Exercising creativity

Creativity is a skill. We are all capable of being creative, although some are more skilled than others. And as with any other skill, practising leads to improvement.

Edward de Bono wrote a lovely book called How to have creative ideas: 62 exercises to develop the mind (affiliate link). The exercises, which all use random words, aim to “tickle” your brain into creativity.

Here are a few of the exercises.

The book includes tables of random words, but you can use any method to get a random word. One way is to take a book, open it at random, and place your finger on a word.

Odd man out

1. Get four random words.
2. Study the words, and find one that could be the “odd man out.”
3. Explain why.

De Bono’s example with random words FUR, RANSOM, CHIMPANZEE, and WORRY:

• … ‘worry’ is the only human emotion among the words
• … ‘chimpanzee’ is the only creature
• … ‘ransom’ is the only word that implies criminality
• … ‘fur’, ‘ransom’, and ‘worry’ are all unpleasant (for some people). ‘Chimpanzee’ is not.

Grouping

1. Get six random words.
2. Divide the six words into two groups of three on some basis.
3. Explain your reasoning.

De Bono’s example with random words TEARS, NIGHT, PREJUDICE, SPINACH, ANGLE, PYJAMAS:

• … ‘prejudice’, ‘night’, and ‘tears’ are dark in nature; the others not
• … ‘angle’, ‘tears’, and ‘prejudice’ are all ways of looking at something
• ‘… prejudice’, ‘spinach’, and ‘tears’ can all be complicated; the others are not

Pairing

1. Gather two lists of four random words each (List A and List B).
2. On some basis, pair a word from List A with a word from List B.
3. Define the basis of the pairing.

De Bono’s example with List A (TOAST, PROPHET, CHIP, TAIL) and List B (RUNWAY, FORMULA, LOLLIPOP, PYRAMID):

• … ‘toast’ (from List A) and ‘lollipop’ (from List B) are both edible
• … ‘prophet’ and ‘pyramid’ both occur in ancient cultures
• … ‘tail’ and ‘runway’ are both to do with aeroplanes
• … ‘chip’ and ‘formula’ require mathematics

Combining

1. Obtain two random words.
2. Try to combine the words to create a new business.
3. Show how the new business would work and why it might be expected to make a profit.

De Bono’s example with DOCK and CABIN

• … special parks where travelling cabins (motor homes) can dock very easily and comfortably
• … creation of special docks for the home (‘cabin’). These would be places where you could put various things like cameras, computers, briefcases, etc.

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De Bono, E. (2007). How to have creative ideas: 62 exercises to develop the mind. London: Vermilion.