7 Banking all ideas from all source

7 Banking all ideas from all sources
• sharpening curiosity and skills of observation
• appreciating your surroundings and gathering
inspiration from them.
The creative thinker and innovator should practice:
• Being curious
• Skills of observation
• Listening
• Reading
• Travelling
• Recording.
By practicing these skills you will be committing information
and knowledge to the depth mind for later use.
Curiosity is the basis for learning, an eager desire to know
more is the stimulus for motivation. Ken Rowat writing in
The Guardian, 1979 said:
‘‘Creative activity, agonising though it may be
at times, is essentially life enhancing, often
joyful, and this can be judged not from the fixed
smiles worn by models advertising power tools
but by the extent to which the individual is
seriously engrossed in his activity. Outside
making love, men and women never feel better
than when they are totally engaged in exploration
or construction, especially when the motivation
is simple: ‘I wonder what will happen if I do
this?’’’
To be observant means to give careful, analytical attention
to what you see. We miss so much of what is around us in
everyday life because we don’t really observe. It is good
practice to really look at things; people, objects and scenes,
as if you have never seen them before. Then record what
you see so that the details are committed to memory; you
never know when they might just be useful.
Be curious when you listen to things. Keep an open mind,
don’t be too analytical too quickly and use your judgement
carefully about what you are hearing. Always make sure you
fully understand what is being said to you. Ask questions
to clarify if needs be. You cannot evaluate what you are
listening to until you fully understand the meaning and intention
behind it.
Reading is a great way to exercise the mind, to keep it active,
open and eager to learn. Books hold untold amounts of information
which, if removed from their setting, may make sense
and have a connection to your present situation or problem.
Reading fiction and poetry, as well as non-fiction, is a good
way of stimulating and exercising the imagination.
Travelling gives you the opportunity to experience things
you would not normally encounter, thereby adding to your
bank of information and widening your horizons and
thoughts. It also helps to make the familiar strange. If we
did not venture beyond our own country we would not know
how it differed from other cultures.
Recording your thoughts and observations is a very useful
habit. It is a way of committing information to the mind for
future reference. It also allows you to browse through your
notes and play with new combinations and connections
which might not normally have occurred to you.

CHECKLIST: BANKING IDEAS
• Think about how you could improve your curiosity.
• As a curious person, what five questions would
you ask someone you had just met?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
• Can you recall beneficial observations that have
come from you being curious?
• Would you consider yourself a good listener?
• Do you use questions when listening to new ideas
to make sure you fully understand them?
• Do you read books and articles to keep your mind
stimulated?
• Do you read fiction to develop your imagination?
• Have you ever travelled as a means to finding new
ideas related to your job?
• Do you choose holidays that stimulate and refresh
both your mind and your body?