Creative Problem-Solving (CPS) Techniques

Essays about Problem-Solving

• Invitation to thinktanking: Why Civilizations Rise and Fall
• Introduction to CPS
• Preface:  Einstein and Socrates
  Two historically powerful systems of thought combined
• Discovering the Best Answer Yourself
  A guide to using your personal resources to find good answers for almost any problem, situation, or opportunity.
• Taxonomy of Methods
  An organized guide to these and all other such creative problem-solving (CPS) techniques.
• Solving Problems
  Equipped with the right tools, YOU are more than a match for almost any problem, challenge or opportunity.
• Solving Problems Now
  In these difficult times, you already have the techniques to solve many of the daunting problems facing society…
• A Huge Untapped Resource
  Turn Creative Problem-Solving (CPS) Methods into Learning Methods.
• Additional Techniques
  A growing reference list with links to other techniques worth using, posted elsewhere on this site.
• Special Letter to Creativity Leaders
  Our response to several congratulatory letters recently received regarding our breakthrough success at St. Andrews Country Day School in Buffalo, NY.
• Opportunity for CPS in Schools and Education
  Every one of the hundreds of different methods for creativity and for ingeniously solving problems, now successfully in professional use around the world, can also serve as an amazingly effective method for learning.
• How to Wield Your Idea Butterfly Net
  Recording your ideas reinforces the habit of being observant, perceptive and creative, and it strengthens your own high creativity.
• Welcome to Image-Streaming
  A Practical “Talking Paper” on Image-Streaming Training.

Descriptions of Techniques

   Image-Streaming
Calling online the deeper, subconscious powers of your mind through visual imagery and verbal focusing. Includes group instructions.

   Key Follow-Ups on Image-Streaming
Checklists to ensure you get to do the real thing—and get to experience the real benefits.

  Write More Freely and Effectively
An immediate path for any writing task! No waiting for inspiration, no writer’s block.

   An Immediate Path for Any Creative Task
It works every time, as easy as watching a movie in your mind.

   Windtunnel
This process has become a favorite among many creativity experts and creative problem-solving professionals.

   Win-Win Finder
Incentive Equilibrium analysis finds solutions so both sides win.

   High Thinktank
Application of post-Einsteinian discovery technique, including a 30-day challenge for you.

   Toolbuilder
Using your best problem-solving methods to find even better methods.

   Simply Waking Up With the Answer
Some easy methods to let you find answers overnight, or sooner.

   Double-Entry A-Ha! Method (DEAM)
A really simple, easy, idea-generating and problem-solving device.

   Evoked Sidebands
An adventure in building understanding.

   Gravel Gulch
An easy 4-step procedure of stretching to see further possibilities.

   Beachhead
Visualizing the future to bring back innovations as yet not dreamed of today.

   Over the Wall
A guided imagery technique that leads you to discover answers waiting for you on the other side of a wall.

   The Melville Pattern
Describing anything in excruciating detail unlocks an endless stream of fractal imagination and creativity. Guest article by Silvia Hartmann.

   Beyond Methods
A 20-point checklist for success in problem-solving.

   Dynamic Format
Simple procedures for running better, more productive meetings, groups, clubs and classes.

Additional Techniques Worth Using

• Borrowed Genius
  Ask yourself, “What would a genius do?”
  
• Idea Generator
  for breakthroughs in science research.
  
• Mutual Listening
  for miracles in the classroom.
  
• Effective Problem-Solving: Using What We Know
  Includes updates to the Windtunnel method.
  
• Windtunnel!!!
  Insights from torrential outpourings.
  
• Freenoting
  The original torrential-outpour technique which pulls your best answers into focus of conscious awareness. Same dynamics as with “Windtunnel,” only in a version which you can work when alone without a partner.
  
• “Build Ability to Understand”
  A great way to build your full understanding until your a-ha! comes. Just run this procedure in the context of your problem or issue situation, without trying to force it to yield a specific answer, and see what emerges for you.
  
• Crabapple
  Use metaphor to find answers.
  
• Walk in the Woods
  Attention-catchers give clues.
  
• Two Experiments
  Quick ways to get great answers — Basic Associative Process and Three Doors, exploring and using the instant problem-solving associative reflexes of your mind.
  
• AAA — Ask, Aware, Answer
  Christopher Gooch offers good tools to heighten awareness and let your subconscious find the answers for you.