Have you ever watched a spider spin an elaborate web? The beauty is intriguing – the spider had a system to create it. A spider web is a device built by a spider from proteinaceous spider silk from its spinnerets (how’s that for some trivia). Insects get trapped in their webs, providing nutrition to the spider. Did you know that not all spiders build webs to catch prey, and some do not build webs at all? “Spider web” is typically used to refer to a web that is still in use (nice and clean); “cobweb” refers to abandoned (dusty), webs.
When I take notes, my husband says I draw spider webs. I like his description because if you look at them, they do look like webs with an idea in the middle and branches going in every direction. I use them to trap ideas, just like the spider.
Tony Buzan, author and thought leader in the way the brain works; invented the Mind map. He shares the mind map is a thinking tool that reflects externally what goes on inside your head.
My ‘spider webs’ are used to capture ideas, take minutes in meetings, increase creativity, map a new project, outline an article, design a speech – some of my clients call this Neen-storming (a fun version of brainstorming I guess?).
Neen-storming is a way to leverage brilliance, save time, capture and sequence information and ideas.
Mapping your mind is fun, simply start with an idea in the center, then each new thought related to that central idea gets it’s own branch. Simple. The ideas related to each branch are then an extension of the idea.
To make these even more productive once all the ideas are on the page, I take it a step further and sequence them. This is especially helpful when preparing a speech or writing an article.
When I started my MBA I took traditional linear notes, whatever the professor said, I wrote it down. I did OK, got passes and credits. Half way through my MBA I discovered mind mapping and found I could take one page of notes in a whole class and then my results went from passes and credits to honors and high distinctions – Crazy! Finally I had found a way to trap my thoughts and ideas in a way my crazy creative brain could remember them. At the start of each exam I would simply draw the mind map I had studied and voila – questions were answered!
In the late 1950’s Dr. Roger Sperry began his research regarding the brain. Sperry’s work (later earned him a Nobel Prize for medicine in 1981) proved the brain is divided into two major areas: the right and left-brain. His research also identified that each part of the brain specializes in its own style of thinking and has different capacities.
An easy way to remember this is left is logical and right is creative. Super-productive people have whole brain thinking.
A great way to increase your creativity and stretch your thinking is to ask questions.
Questions can be used for clarification, probing assumptions, probing evidence and reasons, questioning viewpoints and probing consequences.
Some of my favourite questions to ask include:
- Who is this for? Who does this affect? Who else would benefit from this?
- So what?
- What is the story? What is the point? What exactly does this mean? What do we already know about this? What else can we assume? What would happen if we…? What other ways could we look at this? What are the pluses and minuses of…?
- Where is the best place for this? Where do we want this story to go?
- When is this due? When is action required?
- How is this relevant? How is this important? How is this a story? How is this related to other projects/clients? How will that affect…?
- Why do you think that? Why is this happening? Why is this better than…?
If you are looking for strategies to increase your productive creativity try these:
- Be open
- Drive a different way to work
- Order an unusual meal
- Read magazines (fashion, travel, food)
- Ask more questions
- Visit an art museum
- Watch foreign films
- Travel abroad
- Be well read
- Try Neen-storming
- Surround yourself with creative people
- Take a walk
I love this quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes ‘ a mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions’. Asking questions, using Neen-storming and being more creative will definitely stretch your mind!
We’d love to hear how you are stretching your mind, share your ideas with us here on our blog.
