When I have a TOUGH time coming up with blogging topics, I scour my blogging notebooks for junk ideas to turn into blog post treasures. I also push my creative thinking skills and look through newspaper or magazine articles to inspire ideas.
This latter method uncovered a Wall Street Journal story featuring Ki Nassauer, junker and author of “Junk Beautiful: Room by Room Makeovers” (affiliate link). It followed her as she pursued junk at a rural South Dakota hoarders house to look for ideas to fit into her twice-yearly magazine, “Flea Market Style,” and annual “Junk Bonanza flea market festival.”
15 Creative Thinking Skills to Turn Junk Ideas into Treasures
Within the story, there were fifteen creative thinking skills demonstrating how KI Nassauer turns “junk ideas” into treasures with potential.
Infographic by and courtesy of Diane Bleck – DoodleInstitute.com
Combing through the story and looking to generalize what she does, here are fifteen ways any of us can turn junk ideas into treasures when we need a creative kick start:
1. Space out the deadline for when you need to come up with an idea to give yourself more time
2. Take care of your rich idea sources
3. Take advantage of high probability idea sources
4. Spend more time looking for other ideas
5. Have a creative partner to stimulate ideas
6. Always say “Yes” to new ideas initially
7. Go where others won’t to look for additional junk ideas
8. Change the angle from which you’re considering the idea
9. Look at just part of junk ideas and throw out the rest
10. Turn the junk idea upside down
11. Stack or put junk ideas together
12, Consider outlandish ideas you’d typically overlook
13, Turn the idea around to its opposite
14, Apply different support or resources to the idea
15. Pretty up marginal ideas any way you can
What creative thinking skills do you use when you’re stuck creatively?
These 15 creative thinking skills to turn junk ideas into treasures are definitely worth considering, in my view, to help get you unstuck creatively. – Mike Brown
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