Authors: Sebastian Bailey
Mind Gym (29 page)
Opposites attract. Every action needs an equal and opposite reaction. Heroes have their villains. Yins have their yangs. Jon Stewart has Stephen Colbert. Whether you’re talking physics, folklore, or cliché (there’s two sides to every story), opposites exist, and they are a driving force of true creative potential, because they give you a starting point to bounce your ideas off of.
The opposites creativity tool considers the typical and traditional way of solving a problem and then bounces it off its opposite to create new and different solutions to that problem.
1
For example, deep-fried ice cream is a unique dessert because it is a combination of exact opposites: hot and cold. Pairing the heavy metal band Metallica with a symphony orchestra is an attention grabber because the two styles of music are so different.
The key to using this creativity tool is generating opposites. The opposite of black is white, the opposite of rich is poor, the opposite of tall is short, etc. At first glance, generating opposites seems simple enough; you are probably considering the most obvious answer. Try it yourself. What are the opposites of the following three words?
High ______________ Early ______________ Day ______________
The challenge with this creativity tool is to come up with as many other opposites as possible. Don’t stick to the literal opposite but find other alternatives. The literal opposite of black may be white, for example, but other colors would be considered opposites too. For example, in financial terms, you’re either in the black or in the red. Or in culinary terms, the opposite of rich might be bland. Here are some other opposites of black, rich, and tall; can you think of more?
| Black | White, red, green, orange, pink, light |
| Rich | Poor, well-off, comfortable, respected, shrewd, generous, understated, barren, plain, happy, light, sincere, bland |
| Tall | Short, long, strong, tiny, microscopic, giant, wide, narrow, true |
| High | |
| Early | |
| Day |
The power of playing the opposites is more evident when you have a problem to solve. Imagine you are planning a vacation and you want to do something different from last year’s week at a lake cabin. You can use this creativity tool to look at opposites and think creatively of alternatives for your next vacation. For example:
| Cabin | Hotel, resort, RV, tent, bed and breakfast, cruise |
| Lake | Ocean, mountain, desert, foreign country |
The key to this tool is to remember that the goal is to come up with innovative ideas rather than a comprehensive list of accurate opposites. So, as you come up with opposites, don’t stop to consider whether they are good or bad.
Here are four steps to get the most from this technique:
1. Ensure your objective is clear. If you are working in a group, make sure everyone understands what the objective is. For example, everyone needs to know that the goal is to plan your next vacation.
2. Brainstorm the ideas you would normally produce. Maybe you go to Las Vegas often, so your instinct is to not include it as an opposite of the cabin by the lake. But including it might spark some other ideas.
3. List the opposites. Remember, it’s okay if something isn’t an exact opposite. If your typical trip to California is to Santa Monica, then Venice Beach (right next door, but with a completely different vibe) would be considered an opposite.
4. Evaluate your opposites. Your instincts might tell you to cross things you don’t like off the list as you are generating it. Resist the urge. For example, you or someone in your group might suggest that the Bronx is the opposite of New York. Maybe you have absolutely no interest in visiting the Bronx. You can make that evaluation when you’re finished.
A group was asked to come up with ideas for opening a new restaurant. Their first assigned task was to use the opposites creativity tool to consider alternative types of food, operating hours, and prices for the various menu items.
You might think that the price of a dish isn’t the most exciting place to begin, but it surprisingly generated the most interesting ideas. First, the group discussed whether to set prices for whole meals or individual dishes. Thinking a little more creatively, someone suggested that rather than set prices, why not have different prices for different days: cheaper meals on Mondays, for example, when the restaurant would be quiet. Starting to think outrageously, someone suggested that rather than having different prices on different days, why not have different prices on the same day? An idea that came out of this was a restaurant in a financial district where the prices are on an electronic board and go up and down based on how much each option is ordered. Each table would have an electronic box so customers could place orders when they want and get the price showing at the time. Should you order your dessert now or wait to see if it gets cheaper? This approach would also allow the restaurant to manage their inventory by lowering the prices of slow-selling dishes and raising prices when they have only one of that item left. How much would you pay for the last lobster tail? The restaurant would also save money on staff, since they wouldn’t need waiters to take orders. There could also be a price based on loyalty. If customers came to the restaurant more than once a week, they would get cheaper meals, which would encourage them to eat there more often.
Sound far-fetched? It’s not. Although the group wasn’t aware of it, there used to be a bar in Paris called Le Footsie (as in “FTSE,” the London exchange) that operated on a similar principle: the items on the bar’s menu were modeled on stock shares, which rose and fell in price depending on how many people bought them. If such a great concept can come from thinking creatively about something as everyday as price, who knows what other innovative ideas might emerge when considering the restaurant’s ambiance or menu items?
People often find they are very surprised at both the quantity of ideas they produce using this technique and the broad range of ideas they may not otherwise have considered. There are, however, some common problems people run into when using this tool.
The main advantage of using the opposites creativity tool is that it is simple and easy to use and it generates a wide variety of ideas. The disadvantage is that the ideas produced tend to be based on an initial concept (e.g., opening a restaurant), meaning you may not always move far enough away from your traditional solution (e.g., why not operate a food truck instead?).
Here are some other common problems you may experience when using this tool and the solutions to overcome them:
| Problem | I seemed to come up with the most obvious opposites but not more creative alternatives. |
| Solution | Don’t take the word “opposite” too literally. Consider the broader category of the problem you are trying to solve. For example, if you are trying to come up with creative alternatives to your lake cabin vacation, consider all the possibilities within the category of lodgings and locations. The obvious opposite to “lake cabin” might be “no lake cabin,” but a more creative opposite of “cabin” could include anything from a castle to a windmill to a hole in the ground. Now, these opposites are sure to spark more creative ideas for your next vacation. |
| Problem | All the ideas seem useless. |
| Solution | Unfortunately, that’s creativity. If you come up with a fantastic idea every time you try, it’s probably not that fantastic of an idea or not that different from a load of ideas you’ve had before. Persevere. Try coming back to it later, using a different tool, or thinking about your goal from a different perspective. |
| Problem | The ideas didn’t seem very different from one another. |
| Solution | Think through your opposites again. Are you considering opposite ideas for every component of the original idea (not just “lake cabin” but “lake” and “cabin”). Have you articulated your objective clearly (e.g., we need ideas for a new topping that will be baked in the middle of a pizza)? If you are clear about your objectives, the ideas should get different quickly. The alternative is to try a different tool. |
| Problem | It was difficult coming up with the original ideas. |
| Solution | You’re probably using the wrong tool. Try brainstorming without any filters from your own life experiences. Maybe you should choose to start not with opposites of your last vacation but of Kate Hudson’s last vacation or Jimmy Kimmel’s last vacation. Then pick out the more fitting ones to your life or wants and take them through the opposites process. |
| Problem | There were too many alternatives for each of the original ideas. |
| Solution | This is a great problem to have. Record your ideas in an orderly fashion (as much as possible). Then consider what criteria you should use to evaluate them. For example, one of your must haves for a vacation might be a high level of comfort. You could run through your list of ideas and remove many using that criteria (for example, the idea of a tent at the lake would get the ax right away). |
2
The morphological matrix is an ugly name for a very elegant creativity tool. It has been used by everyone from philosophers to car designers to scriptwriters. Its method is simple: break down a goal into its component parts, consider these parts separately, and then recombine them to find new solutions.
This tool helps you generate ideas super fast. On an idea-generated-per-second basis, no other technique can beat the morphological matrix.
Here is the simple key to the matrix: attributes. An attribute is a component part of a problem. So, if you’re tasked with generating ideas for a surprise party, an attribute of the party might be the theme, the location, or the music. An attribute is different from an item, which is a possible answer to each attribute question. Therefore, for the attribute “location,” two items that might fit are “boat” and “rooftop.” Making the matrix work is all about understanding the difference between attributes and items, and not confusing the two.
Let’s suppose, then, that your objective is to host that surprise party. Select three or four of the best attributes (“best” could mean anything from the most interesting to what makes the most sense given your objective). In this instance, you might choose dress, location, and music. Once the best attributes have been selected, come up with a list of items for each attribute.
| Dress | Location | Music |
| Wild West | Boat | String quartet |
| 1920s | Underground club | Jazz band |
| Celebrity | In the country | DJ |
| School | Rooftop terrace | Acoustic |
| Starts with the letter p | Warehouse | Pianist |
| Someone else | Posh hotel | Gospel choir |
| Disco | At home | ABBA tribute band |
| Medieval banquet | At the seaside | Blues guitarist |
| Toga | Favorite bar | Karaoke |
| Black tie | Shop window | Sounds of nature |
Then take one item from each column to generate many more new ideas. For example:
• A Wild West party on a rooftop terrace with a blues guitarist in the corner
• A toga party in a shop window with a gospel choir singing in the background
• Everyone dressed as something beginning with the letter
p
, in a posh hotel with a pianist playing on a grand piano
There are ten items in each of these three attributes, so you have a thousand possible combinations or solutions to your objective. Add one more attribute and you have ten thousand possible ideas. And by using the morphological matrix tool in this way, you are sure to generate ideas that you would not normally have considered. Professional party planners can eat their party hats.
3
So far, we’ve dealt with creativity in a structured and rational way. But your mind has the ability to reach even further. To fully harness the power of creativity and come up with even more exciting and original ideas, you need to tap into your intuition as well.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a popular film trivia game. Building on the idea of six degrees of separation (the theory that anyone can contact anyone else in the world through six relationships or fewer), the game challenges players to link any film star to actor Kevin Bacon. So, for example, if the star in question is Tobey Maguire, then you could link him to Kevin Bacon as follows: Tobey Maguire was in
Spider-Man
, as was James Franco. James Franco was in
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
, as was John Lithgow. John Lithgow was in the original
Footloose
, as was Kevin Bacon.
In the same way the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game uses your film knowledge to link two seemingly unconnected actors, your mind pulls seemingly disparate objects together to create something new when using the morphological matrix. Pick three nouns randomly from a dictionary and see if you can find a way to connect them. For example, let’s choose “electricity,” “herring,” and “one-armed bandit.”
Can you link the three together? It’s tricky, yes, but not impossible. One way of linking them could be that a particular one-armed bandit, which needs electricity to operate, has a fish theme and the jackpot is when you get three herrings in a row. Or maybe there was a bandit who liked nothing more than frying herrings on his electric cooker, because it only required the use of one arm. The words in question are so divergent, you could never have connected them using logic. By thinking more freely, you can.