“Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them.”
– A. Einstein
– A. Einstein
You too can think like a genius. So says Michael Michalko, a “creative thinking expert” and author.
The non-profit educational public service Study Guides and Strategies has done a fantastic adaptation of Michalko’s article, “Thinking like a genius: eight strategies used by the supercreative, from Aristotle and Leonardo to Einstein and Edison“. It quickly summarizes how anyone can use the same thinking styles & techniques as Aristotle & Einstein to be more effective in everyday life. (Thank goodness for study guides!)
To whet your appetite, the eight strategies are:
- Look at problems in many different ways, and find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has publicized!)
- Visualize!
- Produce! A distinguishing characteristic of genius is productivity.
- Make novel combinations. Combine, and recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual.
- Form relationships; make connections between dissimilar subjects.
- Think in opposites.
- Think metaphorically.
- Prepare yourself for chance.
