Generating New Ideas

Think Differently and Spark Creativity

"We need to think differently!"
"This needs some fresh ideas!"
"We have got to be more creative around here!"

Are messages like these popping up more and more in your workplace?

Faced with complex, open-ended, ever-changing challenges, organizations realize that constant, ongoing innovation is critical to stay ahead of the competition.

This is why we need to be on the lookout for new ideas that can drive innovation, and it's why the ability to think differently, generate new ideas, and spark creativity within a team becomes an important skill. You need to work actively on building and cultivating this skill, and it can be done!

Often, though, we make the mistake of assuming that good ideas just happen. Or worse still, we get caught in the mind trap that creativity is an aptitude; some people have it, others don't. Then there is the other self-defeating belief - "I am not intelligent enough to come up with good ideas."

These assumptions are rarely true. Everyone can come up with fresh, radical ideas - you just need to learn to open your mind and think differently. This article shows you how to do so.

How to Generate New Ideas

Standard idea-generation techniques concentrate on combining or adapting existing ideas. This can certainly generate results. But here, our focus is on equipping you with tools that help you leap onto a totally different plane. These approaches push your mind to forge new connections, think differently and consider new perspectives.

A word of caution - while these techniques are extremely effective, they will only succeed if they are backed by rich knowledge of the area you're working on. This means that if you are not prepared with adequate information about the issue, you are unlikely to come up with a great idea even by using the techniques listed here.

Incidentally, these techniques can be applied to spark creativity in group settings and brainstorming sessions as well.

Breaking Thought Patterns

All of us can tend to get stuck in certain thinking patterns. Breaking these thought patterns can help you get your mind unstuck and generate new ideas. There are several techniques you can use to break established thought patterns:

• Challenge assumptions: For every situation, you have a set of key assumptions. Challenging these assumptions gives you a whole new spin on possibilities.
  
  You want to buy a house but can't since you assume you don't have the money to make a down payment on the loan. Challenge the assumption. Sure, you don't have cash in the bank but couldn't you sell some of your other assets to raise the money? Could you dip into your retirement fund? Could you work overtime and build up the kitty in six months? Suddenly the picture starts looking brighter.
  
  
• Reword the problem: Stating the problem differently often leads to different ideas. To reword the problem look at the issue from different angles. "Why do we need to solve the problem?", "What's the roadblock here?", "What will happen if we don't solve the problem?" These questions will give you new insights. You might come up with new ideas to solve your new problem.
  
  In the mid 1950s, shipping companies were losing money on freighters. They decided they needed to focus on building faster and more efficient ships. However, the problem persisted. Then one consultant defined the problem differently. He said the problem the industry should consider was "how can we reduce cost?" The new problem statement generated new ideas. All aspects of shipping, including storage of cargo and loading time, were considered. The outcome of this shift in focus resulted in the container ship and the roll-on/roll-off freighter.
  
  
• Think in reverse: If you feel you cannot think of anything new, try turning things upside-down. Instead of focusing on how you could solve a problem/improve operations/enhance a product, consider how could you create the problem/worsen operations/downgrade the product. The reverse ideas will come flowing in. Consider these ideas - once you've reversed them again - as possible solutions for the original challenge.
  
  
• Express yourself through different media: We have multiple intelligences but somehow, when faced with workplace challenges we just tend to use our verbal reasoning ability. How about expressing the challenge through different media? Clay, music, word association games, paint, there are several ways you can express the challenge. Don't bother about solving the challenge at this point. Just express it. Different expression might spark off different thought patterns. And these new thought patterns may yield new ideas. 

Harmful Effects of Radiation

Many tests have been conducted to see how radiation alters the every day bodily functions. Personally, I think it is mind numbing that there are still no government endorsed health warnings on mobile phone boxes to let people know the truth and make their own minds up. 

 

With the wealthy revenue that is in the mobile phone market, there is not much chance of any top channel publicly admitting a problem with mobile phones. Though even so, there has been many u-turns in recent studies and their results. Behind closed doors, many MPs are looking into the radiation threat with great detail. In fact, some local MPs have opposed new propositions to erect new masts in areas that have already had second mast planning rejected with local residence rallying support against it.

We do have to look at the sharp (unknown) increase in brain cancer in the last decade (which coincides with the recent technology boom.)

 

Well, In the Soviet Union, the radiation from mobile phones was used to cause brain damage on lab rats. Today, the evidence points strongly at radiation becoming a menacing threat to our modern day society. 

 

EMFs And The Surrounding Dangers

 

EMFs (Electromagnetic fields) are emitted from all electrical appliances, some give more than others and some give out far more than the most powerful over head transmission lines. More importantly, many give out more than the recommended safety guide lines.

 

Typical safety guide lines are between 0.5 and 2 milligauss

 

Experiments have shown that a standard digital alarm clock emit a field of 6 milligauss

A computer can emit 20 milligauss

Whilst a mobile phone measures around 100 milligauss

 

Why the effects of a mobile phone really are bad.

 

Results conclude that the human body is put under the same strain when on a mobile phone than when it is put through a course of radiation already known to be harmful to humans. every one has basic survival instinct,  if a fire is hot, we move. Well that is in our inner stress reaction. This is routed back to our genes, we try to adapt to situations and over millions of years, we evolve. The mobile phone revolution is a new phenomenon that evolution knows nothing about yet. As nothing in the bodies genes knows how to protect itself, disease slowly develops as no stress reaction was triggered and nothing was done. Although most tests carried out in Europe suggest only radiation that cooks you're brain is harmful. Other scientific studies compel some worrying reports and findings. 

 

Just as radiation is carried from mast to phone through radio waves, the cells in our bodies do just that. There is a constant exchange of information between living cells in our body. When man-made radiation was put together, no one thought the signals produced could interfere with the bodies natural exchange of information. The cells in a human body are sensitive to alien energy, the energy from a mobile phone is several billion times stronger than those of the cells, which can cause the body to malfunction.

 

Electromagnetic radiation caused by a mobile phone call for 2-3 minutes can alter the way your body responds, reacts and functions for up to 3 hours after the call. Every particle of our body spins around its own axis like a minute merry go round. This spinning motion creates a radiation field around each particle. If some sort of unevenness is brought in to the motion, it is transformed in to an electromagnetic wave spreading in all directions like ripples on water. Each of the body's particles spins and at the same time wobbles slightly due to its magnetic field and the electromagnetism within its field. This generates a very complex pattern of radiation known as the spin generated electromagnetic field, or the spin field.

 

So even if a radiation signal is not strong enough to fry you're brain, it will cause damage within the body's natural defence system. Blood cells slow down the work rate of carrying blood and oxygen round the body. The spin effect is altered and the body is left in unknown territory and finds it difficult to regroup for sometime after. The body's harmonious function is not able to operate as particles are out of synchronisation with each other. 

 

Using a Biophone or Bioguard has consistently shown that it does help the body to protect its self where evolution cannot. It resists the alteration the radiation emits and does not let it effect the spin of the inner body particles. Even using one after a call has shown that regrouping of cells is so much faster.

  

Magnetic water conditioner

Magnetic water conditioner

Magnetic Limescale Remover for hard water areas

What happens to water when it passes through a magnetic field?

The water molecules are modified to behave like soft water!! At the atomic level.



What can I expect H2Flow-water softener to do for me?

In just a few months you will begin to save money from energy savings.
Over the years you will save money because your plumbing, fixtures and appliances will last longer.
The scale in your plumbing will be greatly reduced in just a few months.
Your water heater will use less fuel and will last longer.
After just a few days when bathing your skin will feel softer and not dry and itchy.  Your hair will feel silky and more manageable.
After just a few days dishes washed by hand or in a dish washer will clean easier, and without spotting.
You will use less detergent when washing laundry, doing dishes, and bathing.
Kitchen and bathroom faucets and fixtures will clean easier, and last longer.


 

How It Works to remove limescale

The H2Flow acts on salts suspended in the domestic water supply which helps prevent the build up of limescale. A 6mm deposit of limescale in the homes water supply can add 40% to the cost of heating and also prolongs the life of pipes and appliances.

Electronic limescale inhibitors produce a pulsed electro magnetic field in the pipes to soften and loosen the scale. The H2flow has been designed to mimic these products but without the consumption of  any electricity and producing electro magnetic waves - a much healthier and cheaper alternative. Adding chemicals to hard water is a common method of combating limescale, although the water treated cannot be used for drinking or cooking and the provision of chemicals can be expensive-the H2Flow is a much better alternative.



Who can benefit from H2 flow - magnetic water conditioner

Those living in hard water areas have benefited most, where limescale has been reduced in pipes and appliances. This in turn, reduces heating bills and extends the life of appliances.

Not only the domestic user can benefit, places where water appears to maintain its pH value for longer such as livestock farms, fish farms & nurseries. Also car wash machines - to ensure a better finish with less marks on drying. Other industries may also benefit from this product.



History of water and magnets

Since the turn of the 19th century, literature has cited the effects of  lodestones and naturally occurring magnetic mineral formations.  The formation of Hardness and Scale was noticeably reduced in laundry and cooking when this "magnetically" treated water was used.
In Europe for past 40 years, magnets have been an Economical as well as an Ecological approach to dealing with the Scaling and Mineral formation problems associated with hard water.



Benefits of H2Flow - magnetic water conditioner

Using magnetic fields to condition hard water is now becoming very popular, although most of this type of product is powered from mains electricity to produce an electromagnetic field around a water pipe. H2Flow performs the same function without consuming power and without producing any electromagnetic radiation!

As water passes through the CRP magnetic field the limescale (salt) molecules lose their attraction to one another and are prevented from combining into larger structures (limescale), causing them to remain in suspension. Water treated in this way will eventually return to its original pattern, but in the average household the treated water is used before this event. Once fitted, the running costs of an H2Flow are zero, but the savings can be considerable - both financial and environmental.

It also provides your home with magnetically treated drinking water and all the health benefits that come with drinking magnetized water.

Human Brain

The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.  Most of the expansion comes from the cerebral cortex, a convoluted layer of neural tissue that covers the surface of the forebrain. Especially expanded are the frontal lobes, which are associated with executive functions such as self-control, planning, reasoning, and abstract thought. The portion of the brain devoted to vision is also greatly enlarged in human beings.

Brain evolution, from the earliest shrewlike mammals through primates to hominids, is marked by a steady increase in encephalization, or the ratio of brain to body size. The human brain has been estimated to contain 50–100 billion (1011) neurons, of which about 10 billion (1010) are cortical pyramidal cells. These cells pass signals to each other via as many as 1000 trillion (1015) synaptic connections.

The brain monitors and regulates the body's actions and reactions. It continuously receives sensory information, and rapidly analyzes this data and then responds, controlling bodily actions and functions. The brainstem controls breathing, heart rate, and other autonomic processes that are independent of conscious brain functions. The neocortex is the center of higher-order thinking, learning, and memory. The cerebellum is responsible for the body's balance, posture, and the coordination of movement.

In spite of the fact that it is protected by the thick bones of the skull, suspended in cerebrospinal fluid, and isolated from the bloodstream by the blood-brain barrier, the delicate nature of the human brain makes it susceptible to many types of damage and disease. The most common forms of physical damage are closed head injuries such as a blow to the head, a stroke, or poisoning by a wide variety of chemicals that can act as neurotoxins. Infection of the brain is rare because of the barriers that protect it, but is very serious when it occurs. The human brain is also susceptible to degenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease. A number of psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia and depression, are widely thought to be caused at least partially by brain dysfunctions, although the nature of such brain anomalies is not well understood.






Structure

Bisection of the head of an adult man, showing the cerebral cortex and underlying white matte

The adult human brain weighs on average about 3 lb (1.5 kg) with a size (volume) of around 1130 cubic centimetres (cm3) in women and 1260 cm3 in men, although there is substantial individual variation. Men with the same body height and body surface area as women have on average 100g heavier brains,[6] although these differences do not correlate in any simple way with gray matter neuron counts or with overall measures of cognitive performance. 

Neanderthals had larger brains at adulthood than present-day humans. The brain is very soft, having a consistency similar to soft gelatin or firm tofu. Despite being referred to as "grey matter", the live cortex is pinkish-beige in color and slightly off-white in the interior. At the age of 20, a man has around 176,000 km and a woman about 149,000 km of myelinated axons in their brains.

General features

Drawing of the human brain, showing several important structures


The cerebral hemispheres form the largest part of the human brain and are situated above most other brain structures. They are covered with a cortical layer with a convoluted topography Underneath the cerebrum lies the brainstem, resembling a stalk on which the cerebrum is attached. At the rear of the brain, beneath the cerebrum and behind the brainstem, is the cerebellum, a structure with a horizontally furrowed surface that makes it look different from any other brain area. The same structures are present in other mammals, although the cerebellum is not so large relative to the rest of the brain. As a rule, the smaller the cerebrum, the less convoluted the cortex. The cortex of a rat or mouse is almost completely smooth. The cortex of a dolphin or whale, on the other hand, is more convoluted than the cortex of a human.

The dominant feature of the human brain is corticalization. The cerebral cortex in humans is so large that it overshadows every other part of the brain. A few subcortical structures show alterations reflecting this trend. The cerebellum, for example, has a medial zone connected mainly to subcortical motor areas, and a lateral zone connected primarily to the cortex. In humans the lateral zone takes up a much larger fraction of the cerebellum than in most other mammalian species. 

Corticalization is reflected in function as well as structure. In a rat, surgical removal of the entire cerebral cortex leaves an animal that is still capable of walking around and interacting with the environment. In a human, comparable cerebral cortex damage produces a permanent state of coma. The amount of association cortex, relative to the other two categories, increases dramatically as one goes from simpler mammals, such as the rat and the cat, to more complex ones, such as the chimpanzee and the human.
Major gyri and sulci on the lateral surface of the cortex

The cerebral cortex is essentially a sheet of neural tissue, folded in a way that allows a large surface area to fit within the confines of the skull. Each cerebral hemisphere, in fact, has a total surface area of about 1.3 square feet. Anatomists call each cortical fold a sulcus, and the smooth area between folds a gyrus. Most human brains show a similar pattern of folding, but there are enough variations in the shape and placement of folds to make every brain unique. 

Nevertheless, the pattern is consistent enough for each major fold to have a name, for example, the "superior frontal gyrus", "postcentral sulcus", or "trans-occipital sulcus". Deep folding features in brain such as the inter-hemispheric and lateral fissure, and the insular cortex are present in almost all normal subjects.

100 Unbelievable Facts

If you’re a trainer and you want to know why you should keep a collection of unbelievable facts in your training toolkit, here’s why…

 

…you sometimes need to catch people’s attention in any way you can!

I remember once running a course with a truly difficult young man. In fact, he was quite impossible. He sat in the group wearing a woollen hat which he refused to remove and his expression was sullen. He took no part in any of the discussions except to say they were a waste of time and simply refused to participate in the group exercises.

By chance, shortly after the first morning break… when I was wondering just what to do with my young man… someone mentioned a news story about a child being born on its way to hospital in the front seat of a car.

This triggered one of those long-lost facts deep in my memory to come to the surface and I added a “Did-you-know…?” which was…

“Did you know that Winston Churchill was born in a ladies room at a dance?”

At that moment everyone was intrigued by this fact. The greatest Briton of all time… a wartime hero… Prime Minister several times… born in a ladies’ loo. And guess what? For the first time in the course, my awkward young man was interested too. In fact, he couldn’t help himself.

You see, much as some people hate to be taught and trained, there are few of us who can resist learning something interesting. It’s in our blood. The need to know.

As a way to keep my young man’s interest alive, I spent the rest of that course trawling up as many interesting and credibility-busting facts as I could. Even if I had to stretch their relevance to the subject of my course.

And it’s a trick you can keep up your sleeve too. Just make a file on your computer called “Strange Facts” and put in it any fascinating facts that you come across while surfing or training.

Here are 100 good ones to start you off…

1. If you are struck by lightning, your skin will be heated to 28,000 degrees Centigrade, hotter than the surface of the Sun.

2. If you trace your family tree back 25 generations, you will have 33,554,432 direct ancestors – assuming no incest was involved.

3. The average distance between the stars in the sky is 20 million miles.

4. It would take a modern spaceship 70,000 years to get to the nearest star to earth.

5. An asteroid wiped out every single dinosaur in the world, but not a single species of toad or salamander was affected. No one knows why, nor why the crocodiles and tortoises survived.

6. If you dug a well to the centre of the Earth, and dropped a brick in it, it would take 45 minutes to get to the bottom – 4,000 miles down.

7. Your body sheds 10 billion flakes of skin every day.

8. The Earth weighs 6,500 million million million tons.

9. Honey is the only food consumed by humans that doesn’t go off.

10. The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters.

11. A donkey can sink into quicksand but a mule can’t.

12. Every time you sneeze your heart stops a second.

13. There are 22 miles more canals in Birmingham UK than in Venice.

14. Potato crisps were invented by a Mr Crumm.

15. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in their correct order.

16. Eskimoes have hundreds of words for snow but none for hello.

17. The word “set” has the most definitions in the English language.

18. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating its letters is uncopyrightable.

19. Windmills always turn counter-clockwise.

20. The “Sixth Sick Sheik’s Sixth Sheep’s Sick” is the hardest tongue-twister.

21. The longest English word without a vowel is twyndyllyngs which means “twins”.

22. 1 x 8 + 1 = 9

      12 x 8 + 2 = 98

      123 x 8 + 3 = 987

      1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876

      12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765

      123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654

      1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543

      12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432

      123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

23. The word “dreamt” is the only common word in the English language that ends in “mt”.

24. Albert Einstein never wore any socks.

25. The average human will eat 8 spiders while asleep in their lifetime.

26. In space, astronauts cannot cry because there is no gravity.

27. Hummingbirds are the only creatures that can fly backwards.

28. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

29. Cockroaches can live 9 days without their heads before they starve to death.

30. A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down.

31. The lighter was invented before the match.

32. The average left-handed person lives 7 years LESS than a right-handed person.

33. The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year!

34. Scientists with high-speed cameras have discovered that rain drops are not tear shaped but rather look like hamburger buns.

35. The first Internet domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com on March 15, 1985.

36. When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone back in 1876, only six phones were sold in the first month.

37. Approximately 7.5% of all office documents get lost.

38. Business.com is currently the most expensive domain name sold: for $7.5 million.

39. In 2001, the five most valuable brand names in order were Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE, and Nokia.

40. In Canada, the most productive day of the working week is Tuesday.

41. In a study by the University of Chicago in 1907, it was concluded that the easiest colour to spot is yellow. This is why John Hertz, who is the founder of the Yellow Cab Company picked cabs to be yellow.

42. It takes about 63,000 trees to make the newsprint for the average Sunday edition of The New York Times.

43. On average a business document is copied 19 times.

44. The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system in India, employing over 1.6 million people.

45. Warner Chappel Music owns the copyright to the song “Happy Birthday.” They make over $1 million in royalties every year from the commercial use of the song.

46. All babies are colour-blind when they are born.

47. Children grow faster in the springtime than any other season during the year.

48. Each nostril of a human being registers smells in a different way. Smells that are made from the right nostril are more pleasant than the left. However, smells can be detected more accurately when made by the left nostril.

49. Humans are born with 350 bones in their body, however when a person reaches adulthood they only have 206 bones. This occurs because many of them join together to make a single bone.