Fall Off Your Bike On Purpose

I have an admission to make. I’m a half ass planner. Case in point: The capture box on my homepage promises a report that gives you 12 Ways to Think Without the Box without actually delivering a thing to anyone. For 2 weeks people have been exchanging their names and email addresses in hopes of getting some helpful information – and have got nothing in return (sorry).

As tempted as I am to use the excuse that there was a broken link on my page, I can’t, I just hadn’t written the 12 points until today – I was getting nervous with all the requests stacking up, but didn’t want to send out an uninspired piece. I’m pretty sure the added pressure of being past deadline was ultimately what got the ball rolling. This segues nicely into the actual list

• Procrastinate till the final countdown – I dunno about you but that’s when my best shit comes out. In fact, procrastinating until after the final countdown can really help you get your ass in gear. (Not recommended if you trade your time for money on someone else’s clock – great if you’re a free agent who makes your own deadlines)

• Spend some time “mashing” ideas. Pick any two unrelated ideas and try to mash them together, find all the secret ways in which they intermingle and then figure out how they relate to Kevin Bacon.

• Staplers Make Great Nutcrackers: Pick an object within sight and invent new and different uses for it- spend 20 minutes thinking of all the unusual ways the stapler on your desk can be improved upon or transformed completely and used in a new way.

• “Yes and”.. write down or say any stupid thing you want, whatever the first thing is that you think of – continue on that thought, accept it as fact, add to it. Example: I like the taste of dirt…Yes, and the texture is a refreshing alternative to broken glass…Yes, and there are so many varieties available…Yes, and.. The point here is to retrain your brain to think without the usual parameters enforced by negation.

• Wake up to Fuzzy Logic – seriously, while your mind is fresh and fuzzy. Sleepiness has the advantage of creating some whack and beautiful neurological misfiring.

• Have an Orgy – Seriously, have an ideagasm orgy with a few friends. Get snugly with your idea in the afterglow. (If your down for a real orgy, this may work well too, although I suspect exhaustion will overtake any and all cognition and you will forget every brilliant thing you or anyone else has ever said.)

• Forget what you know – find a new point of view – ask questions like a 6 year old, get on a bike, fall off on purpose, unlearn balance, unlearn calculus, discover ants and chewed gum on the sidewalk.

• Meditate – You don’t have to be Deepak Chopra or eat granola to do this – headphones and some “Your hand In Mine” will do just fine.

• Pick a feeling, any feeling – really get into that feeling – begin to create. Live in it for a few and see what comes.

• Get Uncomfortable – Push the envelope of what’s acceptable – I once knew a girl that made a paintings with her menstrual blood – that’s way too far out for me, but they were beautiful and started a conversation in my head that would’ve never taken place had I not taken the time to accept her art as valid expression. (insert jokes about being “in the flow” here)

• Be Absurd – List the most absurd solutions to your problems you can think of. Can’t seem to get out of the bed in the morning? Hire a marching band to play your Eye of The Tiger in your bedroom at 5am every morning.

• Do nothing – spend a day, or two, or 365 doing absolutely nothing. Guaranteed to piss off the powers that be and put your creative genius in the drivers seat.

Post Hate Mail, Left Out Points, Or Your Secret Recipe in the Comments, Thanks.