Giving Your Creativity a Whack!

It is not unusual to find that our thinking processes get stuck in a rut.  We become too linear in our thinking, relying on the same problem-solving methodologies to provide us with new insights.  Like the popular definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over expecting different results), it just isn't going to net us a new or different perspective.  Enter... the Creative Whack Pack.

This tool came to me by way of Tim Ferriss (author of the 4-Hour Work Week) and I have to share it with you because I love it.  I've given you links below to pick up your own pack of cards (and the creator's book too if you want 'more') because I'm not parting with mine.  I am already envisioning the ways that I am going to be using it within my own business, let alone with clients!  Don't be surprised if we're in a meeting together and I pull out my deck!

The tool was developed by Roger von Oech, founder and president of Creative Think, a creativity and innovation based organization.  He has authored both A Whack on the Side of the Head and A Kick in the Seat of the Pants.  

In the Whack Pack you will find 64 different cards, each designed to provoke and inspire your thinking.  Each is based on the idea that sometimes you need a 'whack on the side of the head' to get you thinking in a new, fresh way.  Using the deck is infinitely preferable to actually whacking my head each time I need a fresh perspective!  Each card helps you to...

• challenge your current thinking
• break out of your habitual thought patterns
• look at things in a fresh way
• discover new sources of information
• create new idea generation approaches and techniques
• develop new decision making skills
• kick yourself into taking action

If you feel that your approaches are getting a little 'stale', or you are looking for something to help jolt the team out of their 'group-think' patterns you will find value from picking up a deck of these cards.  We tend to get so caught up in deciding and moving on that we begin to lack the creative-muscle needed to develop the break-through insights and solutions we need, whether in our professional or personal lives.  The Whack Pack provides an inexpensive and easy to use process to help us uncover those new insights and solutions.