Posts Tagged ‘thinking’

Face Adversity with a Smile

I told my friend Graham that I often cycle the two miles from my house to the town centre but unfortunately there is a big hill on the route. He replied, ‘You mean fortunately.’ He explained that I should be glad of the extra exercise that the hill provided. My attitude to the hill has now changed. I used to grumble as I approached it but now I… Continue reading

October 7 2009 | By Paul | Tagged: adversity, attitude, bader, confront, hardship, keller, positive, problem, thinking | 13 comments»

Where Do Ideas Come From?

Since publishing a series of posts on dating and living in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been asked several times how I came up with the idea to see dating as a kind of metaphor for life. The immediate source of the story was pretty mundane – someone asked me a question about another article and I used going on a date as an example to illustrate… Continue reading

September 29 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: creativity, idea, thinking, writing | 15 comments»

10 Things in Life That Aren’t Fair — and What to Do About Them (Part 2 of 2)

“If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.”– Johnny Carson In Part 1 of this series, I discussed some of the ways that life deals us a bum hand, and some of the ways we can deal with that. In this post, I continue the list, starting with some oddnesses about factors that seem to play as big a role, if not even… Continue reading

September 2 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: consumption, decision-making, fairness, height, idea, innovation, mind, thinking | 12 comments»

10 Things in Life That Aren’t Fair – and What to Do About Them (Part 1 of 2)

"Who ever said life is fair? Where is that written? Life isn't always fair." – Grandpa, The Princess Bride Life’s not fair. Our thought processes are controlled by brains that are not always strictly rational. Social and economic forces beyond our control can toss us like plastic bags in the wind. Physical appearances play as large a role, if not larger, in the way we regard others – and the way… Continue reading

August 31 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: consumption, decision-making, fairness, mind, thinking | 15 comments»

Go Out and Play!

We all know that play is important for kids. Play teaches them coordination, adult roles, social interaction, and basic problem-solving skills. But somehow, we’ve fallen prey to the idea that play is only important for kids. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

Bzzz! Wrong!… Continue reading

March 18 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: adult, career, creativity, play, thinking, work, work-life balance | 18 comments»

How to Cultivate an “Insight Outlook”

One powerful way to live a more creative life is to cultivate an "insight outlook" -- the art of looking more deeply at everything we experience with an open, inquisitive spirit. Creative people are intensely observant, paying careful attention to everything they think and hear. They realize that their environments – the people they talk to, the places they go, the things they read or hear on the radio or… Continue reading

February 18 2009 | By Chuck | Tagged: association, brain, creativity, ideas, problem-solving, thinking | 6 comments»

Think Laterally

Lateral thinking is a phrase coined by Edward de Bono as a counterpoint to conventional or vertical thinking. In conventional thinking we go forward in a predictable, direct fashion. Lateral thinking involves coming at the problem from new directions – literally from the side. De Bono defines the four main aspects of lateral thinking as follows:

The recognition of dominant polarizing ideas.
The search for different ways of looking at things.
A relaxation

February 9 2009 | By Paul | Tagged: assumption, brainstorm, creativity, de bono, discovery, imagination, lateral, puzzle, thinking | 9 comments»

The Value of Writing Well

It’s that time of year again. No, not “the holiday season”. I mean, it is holiday time, but for professors it doesn’t start feeling like holiday time until final grades are in and the books are closed on another semester. No, for me, it’s paper-grading time, the time of year when I’m reminded over and over of the importance of good writing skills – and of their rarity. The ability to… Continue reading

December 8 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: learning, student, style, talent, thinking, writing | 25 comments»

Expand Your Verbal Intelligence

The most common method of thinking in the Western world is verbal thinking. Although we have a range of intelligences including numerical, musical, spatial, emotional, verbal and kinaesthetic intelligences, it is verbal intelligence that we depend on most. We tend to think and express ourselves in words.

It can be argued that mastery of the use of words and verbal intelligence is the most important skill we develop… Continue reading

September 8 2008 | By Paul | Tagged: dictionary, intelligence, language, speech, thinking, verbal, vocabulary, word, writing | 10 comments»

Your Creative Genius Mindset: The Essential Qualities for “Outside the Box” Thinking

Click on the IQ Matrix image to view larger version. To be creative, is to have the capacity to think freely, openly, without limitations or constraints about problems and challenges confronting our life reality. When we are creative, we tend to see opportunities and possibilities that we would normally filter out of our personal experience. Creativity allows us to think outside of the box, around the box and… Continue reading

September 3 2008 | By Adam | Tagged: creativity, mind maps, thinking | 24 comments»

10 Skills You Need to Succeed at Almost Anything

What does it take to succeed? A positive attitude? Well, sure, but that’s hardly enough. The Law of Attraction? The Secret? These ideas might act as spurs to action, but without the action itself, they don’t do much. Success, however it’s defined, takes action, and taking good and appropriate action takes skills. Some of these skills (not enough, though) are taught in school (not well enough, either), others are taught on… Continue reading

July 30 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: learning, networking, skill, speaking, success, thinking, writing | 218 comments»

Confront Assumptions

Every time that we approach a problem, in any walk of life, we bring to bear assumptions that limit our ability to conceive fresh solutions. Innovators are always aware of assumptions and are always happy to confront them. There is a story told about a northern pike, a large carnivorous freshwater fish. A pike was put into an aquarium, which had a glass partition dividing it. In the other half from… Continue reading

July 9 2008 | By Paul | Tagged: assumption, business, challenge, creativity, innovation, innovator, lateral, leader, thinking | 7 comments»

Don’t Bring Me Answers, Bring Me More Questions!

Don't depend on answers in uncertain times We live in a world that seems endlessly hungry for answers: preferably quick, unambiguous, definitive, once-and-for-all, simple answers. We want to be told what to do, how to solve our problems, how to live our lives to best effect. At work, bosses grind out the old chestnut, "Don't bring me problems, bring me solutions." Politicians running for office are expected to come up… Continue reading

July 4 2008 | By Adrian | Tagged: asking, decision-making, decisions, problem-solving, question, solution, thinking | 6 comments»

Boredom Can Be Good For You

Being bored will help you be better at what you do

There are a great many books, web sites, and training courses today more or less dedicated to the idea that being bored is a major sin, for which the only cure is to find ways to be busy and productive every waking moment. People who follow this idea are constantly on-the-go — any feelings of boredom quickly smothered with… Continue reading

June 1 2008 | By Adrian | Tagged: active, attention-span, boredom, effectiveness, gtd, personal growth, thinking | 13 comments»

The Lifehack Productivity Bookshelf

I just received my copy of Lifehack contributor Pamela Skilling's new book Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams. Pamela's book is a guide for people fed up with the corporate lifestyle -- the lack of creative expression, the lack of spiritual reward, and ultimately the lack of control over the conditions of your own employment -- who are looking… Continue reading

May 19 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: book, leadership, learning, Management, organization, Productivity, reading, thinking | 2 comments»