Isolation and Creativity

I've also come across a blog posting about the Creativity Trigger. I might be misinterpreting it a bit, but one of the things the author mentions is being overloaded by information such that one doesn't have original thoughts but merely reforms what someone else has already done. Well he's a designer, and originality has more value in that area that for a scientist or engineer, but I think we can learn from him. While it is important to be linked, and exposed to many sources of information, you should also balance this with times of isolation. This can bring new solutions, approaches, and strategies towards our problems.

Like everything in life, we need to strike a balance in how we go about solving problems. You can't be everything at all times, so take the time to make a conscious shift in your approach from time to time.

Imagination

I haven't posted in some time. It's probably a lack of imagination.

Why is it that some people are content to do the same job, the same way over and over. I don't think it's that they're lazy. In most cases what they are doing is labor intensive. They might be very proficient and fast at what they do.

I think it's a lack of imagination. They can't imagine doing it a different way. Not automated, not faster, not different. Just doing it.

I follow a couple of blogs on Excel. The posts are mostly about customizing and automating so one can do things faster, and exactly the way you want them to be instead of relying on what the programmers envisioned. The desire to do things differently requires imagination about the way you want things to be.

Work on your imagination and who knows where it will lead.