the challenge
We’re on a weekend exploration assignment, and the Seed we are using is the Animal Seed. The goal: to capture Insights of things that look like animals.
Ready?
my insight
I found this decoration or abstract graffiti on a wall outside a shop in Tel-Aviv and immediately thought of a snail.
When I got home and started to write this post, I suddenly saw in it something else: a seahorse!
I love it when I capture two Insights for the price of one 🙂
reflection
I got two Insights for the price of one, and now I also have two things to reflect on. The first is looking for animals. Well, as an example.
If someone tells you to look for something that looks like an animal, chances are you’d instinctively think about a specific animal first. That is the natural tendency of many people: a well-defined concrete task is easier to do than thinking of the “any animal” or the abstraction of an animal.
With the Animal Seed, the best approach is deliberately preventing our brain from thinking of a concrete animal and instead trying to look for any animal.
If I had let my brain focus on a concrete animal, I would have probably missed this snail. Instead, I would have kept looking for a giraffe or a lion or a dog. The benefit in blocking these concrete paths and just look for anything that qualifies as an animal is huge. The chances for being surprised and collecting many more Insights are by far greater.
Which brings me to the second reflection. Keeping the abstract assignment in mind, allowed my to observe again the Insight I captured and find something new in it — something which is still in the animal kingdom, but in a completely different domain.
Playing with Insights you have already captured — using them as raw material — is a great leap forward in creativity. In fact, when I say we can use creative Insights to address real-world challenges and opportunities, that’s exactly what I am aiming for.
mental notes
- When looking for a creative Insight, try to phrase your challenge abstractly
- Creative Insights are great raw material… for additional Insights
now it is your turn… be creative!