Lesson 5 Unlock Your Original Thinking
Out of the Box with Original Thinking
Original thinking is the ability ____ think outside the box, to look at a problem, and to figure out a new, creative solution for it.
Many people choose to ____ follow the path others have already paved, but it is difficult to achieve something exceptional in this way.
More often those who think differently achieve lasting success ____ to address the challenges of tomorrow, it’s essential to adopt a fresh approach distinct from yesterday.
So, how can ____ cultivate original thinking that leads to outstanding achievements?
Generate ____ Lot of Ideas
If you want to have good ideas, you must have ____ ideas.
Traditionally, people follow the ____ that they prefer “quality over quantity.”
However, in the case of ____ quantity and quality are equally important.
____ creative individuals do not actually produce better ideas than average ones.
____ they produce more ideas.
Their increased idea output means that they are more likely to hit ____ something brilliant.
An excellent example is ____ Picasso. Picasso is famous for a handful of artworks.
However, ____ people realize that Picasso’s portfolio includes 2,800 ceramics, 1,800 paintings, 1,200 sculptures, and more than 12,000 drawings.
Again, only a fraction of them ____ famous.
Likewise, Mozart composed over 600 pieces before his death at age 35, only a handful of which are recognized as particularly ____
Einstein also had more than 248 publications, but many of ____ didn’t have much impact.
The lesson here is to produce a large volume ____ work.
This way, you have more of a ____ that one or two will be outstanding.
Just pour out whatever comes to mind and ____ the gems from the rocks.
Don’t Rush
We ____ frequently told that procrastination is our worst enemy.
Almost every self-help book describes successful people ____ being those who can overcome procrastination.
However, several ____ of genius have stemmed from procrastination.
Great originals know how to utilize procrastination as a strategy in ____ idea production.
Procrastination encourages ____ progress rather than rapid progress, which leaves your brain open to a wider range of ideas.
While ____ may be the enemy of productivity, it can be a resource for creativity.
Few people know that Leondardo da Vinci was a ____ procrastinator.
____ took him 16 years to complete the Mona Lisa.
Some of the things that took his attention away from work, like learning optics, ____ the way he modeled light and made him into a much better painter.
What about Martin Luther King, ____
The original script of his speech, believe it or ____ didn’t contain the words “I have a dream.”
The night before the biggest speech of his life, he was up past 3 a.m. rewriting ____ script.
____ was sitting in the audience waiting for his turn to go onto the stage and still writing notes on his script.
After he got on stage, 11 minutes ____ he heard Mahalia Jackson, his favorite singer, cry out: “Tell them about the dream, Martin.”
Encouraged by a shout from the audience, ____ drew upon some of his past talks, and the result became the landmark speech “I have a dream.”
By delaying the task of finalizing the speech until the very last minute, he left himself open to the ____ range of possible ideas.
The text wasn’t set in ____ and he had the freedom to improvise.
Fight the Status Quo
The hallmark of originality is rejecting the default and ____ out if a better option exists.
Your ability to do things differently, to question and refine the way things work ____ what makes you creative and different.
Your Internet browser is a ____ Change it! You don’t like the system?
Say so! You have a new ____ Try it! You see a better way of doing things?
Test it! Most people won’t ____ any risk.
They’ll just stick with what they know, thinking it’ll ____ good enough.
But if you think that you can change things, then your originality ____ your creativity could make a big difference in the end.
The founders of an ____ eyewear company, for instance, couldn’t understand why it was so hard to find an affordable pair of glasses.
____ thought the problem was interesting, so they conducted some research.
They found that ____ one company dominated 80% of the market.
As a result, they created a company that ____ one expected to thrive.
Instead of depending on only physical stores where customers ____ try the eyeglasses on directly, they created a business where you could simply order inexpensive, high-quality eyewear online.
Using this business model, they were able to offer glasses that normally cost ____ for only $95.
____ addition, every time a customer purchased glasses from them, they’d make a donation to charities.
All of this was possible ____ they sold on the Internet.
The online eyewear company has, ____ a doubt, been successful.
It was voted ____ the most innovative business by a world-leading business magazine.
The company grew to be worth more than a ____ dollars.
Anyone could have noticed the problem with expensive glasses in stores, but it ____ courageous pioneers to find the answers.
____ and systems are made by people.
This means they can be changed by people ____ well.
It’s a good ____ to challenge the defaults.
We often believe that original insight is primarily a matter of nature: ____ are either born with it, or you aren’t.
But from ____ different perspective, it can be nurtured.
The above stories, however, show that original thinking can be improved through ____ effort.
It turns out ____ we are all original thinkers in process.