Do you feel ready to share your own creative ideas with the community of this website?
Check out the section on website news to discover how you may do so.
Yours truly,
Amir
In this issue:
(a) Creative Name Contest - cont.
(b) Creative ideas for...
(c) Creative tool - Function follows...
(d) New on Best100Ideas.com
(e) Recommendation of the month
(a) Creative Newsletter Name Contest - continued
Still looking for a catchy name for this Creative Ideas Newsletter. This is your chance to help and win a free copy of the 100 Creative Presentation Ideas E-book.
All you have to do is send as many name suggestions as you like to info@best100ideas.com, with your name and e-mail address.
The chosen name and 2 runners-up will win a free copy of the E-book.
Get your friends to send other names as well and get a chance to win the book. Simply forward them this newsletter.
To help you get going here a few suggested name guidelines :
• Related to creativity, creative ideas, and creative tools.
• Original - not used by other websites or newsletters.
• Catchy sound - 1-3 words.
(b) Creative Ideas for Work-Life Balance
Finding a balance between work and personal life is one of the most dominant issues of our time, as most of you must have experienced. We find ourselves struggling and stressing to keep up with the demands of both areas. Often, the advice given in such a case is to draw borders and limits between the conflicting demands of work and personal life. However, these two aspects of our lives do not necessarily have to be on conflicting terms. Rather, they may even enhance and strengthen each other.
Following are a few ideas that might help you make this vision a reality. I only hope I myself will be able to pursue some of these ideas as well...(please tell me if you succeed in doing so).
- Use actual scales to keep track of your balance: Put a pair of scales at your office, or in your living room. These scales will represent the balance you keep in your life, and serve as a reminder when you need to return the balance. Whenever your work takes up more of your time and energy, add weights to one side of the scales marked with the label "work". When your home is drawing more of your attention - tip the scales to the other side. Now - instead of letting the two sides compete - try to use the weights on one side to help balance the other side - in other words - find sources of energy from your home to help you at work and vice versa. The next idea demonstrates how you may do so.
- Make your family work for you: Have you considered joining the resources that are available for you at home to help you at work? If your child is busy with coming up with an idea for a school project, offer a subject that can help you complete one of your job tasks. That way, you use the energy and enthusiasm of your child, getting closer together, and at the same time help the child prepare an original project.
- Decorate your workplace with the help of your family & friends : The surrounding environment of your workplace has positive or negative effects on your performance. Ask your family and friends to express their talents and help you enrich the workplace and fill it with energy. This may include painting the walls, rearranging the furniture, hanging decorations, etc. From then on, each time you look around, you will be filled with the good intent and energy they invested.
- When in need - break the routine: Every once in a while our work-life does get off balance. One of reasons for this is the fact that we get carried away by the routine, and forget the things which are most important to us. Breaking the routine means spending time with your family, friends or personal hobbies on hours that you would usually be at work, or break a personal habit off watching Sunday football in order to take the time and analyze the direction you are moving towards at work. In many ways, this idea follows the principle of "Function follows Form" described in the next section.
(c) Creative Tool: Function follows Form
"Function follows Form" is a general principle that helps one come up with creative ideas, when used in conjunction with other creative tools. In a broader sense, the same principle may also be used when planning or leading any significant change:
- What does it mean? Most of us are accustomed to look for creative ideas in order to satisfy a certain need or function. Thus, when you face a problem that cannot be solved through regular patterns of operation, you will often try to come up with creative uses of the available resources in order to solve that problem. In other words - you know the function you wish the creative idea to perform, and you look for the form (the way) in which it can achieve it. When we reverse that process - first think of a structural change and only later think of the end it may serve - we change the form and then think of the new idea's function.
- Example: Say you wanted to change something about your office atmosphere or culture, but was not sure exactly what you wish to achieve through that change. You feel a change is needed but can't point the finger on why. You could think of numerous structural changes in the office and its operation, each of which would yield some interesting effect, and then choose the ones to try out. For instance, you might seat employees facing the client entrance and see what that leads to (e.g. better attention to service?), or you might change the working hours, and hold a group break and activity everyday around midday (helping team spirit? strengthening communication across units and levels?).
- How to change the form? Thinking of structural changes that may be achieved by using various creative tools. Several such tools will be described in upcoming issues of this section. In the meantime - simply try to move things around, realizing new forms and functions.
Share your ideas:
• Submit your own creative ideas: this new feature now offers you the chance to send your own creative ideas to be publicized on the website and on this newsletter, with full credit given to you!
Wait no more! Make your ideas known to the world!
TRIZ is the Russian acronym for the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving and was developed by Genrich Altshuller over 20 years ago after he and his team of associates analyzed thousands of patents which solved technical contradictions without compromise. Altshuller identified 40 Principles from his analysis of successful inventions and 39 technical characteristics that generate contradictions.
Personally, I think it is one of the most powerful approaches to innovation. Now you can use the power of this innovation and problem-solving technique on the palm of your hand, or rather - on your PDA.
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