If you enjoyed the previous two games (“Odd card out” and Edward de Bono’s exercises), you might like “Improve me.”
Have you noticed that with the “Odd card out” game, you had to study the cards to find differences and similarities? You might have looked up or recalled the traditional divinatory meanings of the cards. “Improve me” is another game in which you have to study the cards to come up with creative ideas.
It works like this …
Shuffle the deck, draw two cards at random, and place them face up in front of you. Using any criteria, show how the second card improves the first. You can define ‘improve’ any way you wish.
Say for example that you have drawn Trumps VIII and XV, Strength and the Devil.
How can the Devil improve strength? Here are some of my suggestions, but you will find different ones:
- Strength is about order, the Devil is chaos. Temporary chaos is good for creativity.
- The woman in Strength is very serious; the Devil can add some mirth.
- A weakness (the Devil) can be turned into a strength. The Devil ‘activates’ this process.
- The Devil draws out the worst in us, it shows us our shadow side; we cannot be creative when we know only what is in the light (Strength).
- When we have confronted our shadow (the Devil), we also discover new strengths.
- The woman is earth-bound; confronting her shadow can “give her wings” (the Devil).
- The woman needs physical strength to control the lion; the Devil suggests that you can bind someone by mental power alone (although the Devil’s tricks—temptation, guilt, fear, despair—are not recommended!).
- The lion (Leo) suggests fire; in Trump XV the fire becomes reality.
- The Devil’s crown is more spectacular than the woman’s, and offers better protection (in a materialistic sense, of course).
- Strength is a concept suggested by the image; the Devil is there in all his (un)glory.
- Time has moved on from day to night.
- Strength shows a woman and her instincts, which she has under control; the devil features not only the Shadow, but also a man and a woman. The Devil is therefore closer to ego integration (the shadow is integrated into the consciousness; male and female are balanced and integrated).
- Unlike Strength, where the animal instincts are controlled, the Devil suggests passion and desire, which is necessary for certain elements in the creative process.
- When the Devil enters Strength’s world, the “sparks will fly.”
“Improve me” as a creativity technique”
Every ‘improvement’ that you came up with during the game, can also be used to spark ideas. The same goes for the “odd card out” game.
Suppose you own a software company, but have problems retaining staff. Young people in particular stay only for a while, and then they move on. What can you do to make them want to stay?
- Order to chaos might suggest that the creativity required for your business will not flourish in a conventional office environment. Some chaos—casual clothes, brightly coloured inspirational images on the walls, toys and various objects that can serve as “ticklers,” a deck of Tarot cards, for example—may be more attractive to the creative spirit.
- Mirth: most creativity experts agree that fun enhances creativity; how about a “joke competition” once a week?
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