THE CREATIVE THINKING HANDBOOK-Chris Griffiths & Melina Costi

• In the 2016 Future of Jobs report, The WEF listed creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving as the three most important skills to succeed in the 2020 workplace.
• Creative thinking: avoid thinking patterns that stifle fresh ideas

- Selective thinking: makes us favor some ideas over others and blinds us to any information that contradicts them ><  Reactive thinking: 

- Reactive thinking: drives people to quickly push an idea out, hoping to beat everyone else to it. But while being first sounds great, it can actually be a big disadvantage.

- Assumptive thinking: It's normal to base decisions and ideas on knowledge or past experiences. But this stops us from seeking new information and trying other ways of doing things, both of which lead to creative ideas.

• Most people rush to find solutions but the chances of coming up with a good idea this way are slim. This is because creativity calls for more than a superficial understanding of the problem, you have to dig deep => A good start is defining the problem and clarifying what you do and don't know about it. State the challenge as it stands, and describe what would be a good enough outcome and a best-case scenario. List all assumptions and focus on what you know for sure, sticking only to verifiable facts. 
• Ask as many questions as you can think of using the prompts: What, Why, Where, Who, When and How. By asking "WHY" at least 5 times, they get to the underlying details of any problem they encounter.
• You can gain fresh insights by imagining how others would tackle the problems, from colleague and customers to billionaires, dead philosophers and even fairy godmothers.
• We need to be strategic about our thinking in order to be more creative and brainstorming. For brainstorming meeting, select a time and place-Choose a facilitator-Mix of personalities and expertise-Let people brainstorm individually and then share with the group-The Post-It Notes
• Your head and heart both have a role to play when choosing the right ideas.
• you need confidence, a solid plan and a constant supply of creativity to bring your idea to life
• To keep the creativity flowing, make time for it and build an environment that supports it..
• Spend a week or two paying attention to when your focus and productivity peaks, and start using these times to work on tasks that require some creative brainpower.