Inspiration for a joyful and creative life

Some Problems May Take More than One Pass to Solve

Do you ever find that you are so anxious to solve a problem that you take the first answer that comes to you or your group?

Sometimes that works beautifully. But sometimes you may need more than one approach and to be willing to experiment to find the best solutions.

The More the Merrier

One recommendation I have is to come up with several ideas instead of just one. You may still end up using that first idea but often you come up with even better solutions as you go deeper.

You may also end up combining ideas for a much more powerful solution.

What?’s Working and What?’s Not

One thing I?ve been tuned in to lately, though, is that sometimes you have a good solution to a challenge and once you implement it, you find that it can be tweaked and further refined for an even better solution.

Only you would not have come to that conclusion if you didn?t work through the first solution first. You don?t always understand enough until you start working through a problem to see things from a different perspective.

You can see what aspects of your solution work, what doesn?t, and what can be improved.

What does all this mean to you?

It means that your first attempts at solving a problem aren?t necessarily a failure if they don?t work out the way you hoped. They may be a stepping stone in the process.

Simply to be open to learning and experimenting until you are satisfied with the results.

Remember that old saying? If at first you don?t succeed, try, try again.

Do you have a problem or challenge that you are ready to make some adjustments to refine your initial solution?

P.S. If you need some help figuring things out, email me for an idea session or two.

Sometimes when you need a creative idea, you can use a
little help.

IdeaChampions.com has developed a fun way to play with your
challenge.  Free the Genie is a card deck for facilitating
problem solving and innovation.

You can sample it for free here
http://www.ideachampions.com/free_the_genie/

Roger Von Oech also has a card deck that I love called The
Creative Whack Pack with over 64 cards and strategies that
can help generate new ideas and allow you to come up with
some fresh ideas.

Check out the Creative Whack of the Day here

http://creativethink.com/1pu

Inspiration is everywhere.  Throw in a little creativity, imagination, and a willingness to have fun and who knows where it might take you.

Like Dave Danhi, the Big Cheese, and Michelle Grant, Cheese Executive Officer, co-owners of the Grilled Cheese Truck, a traveling gourmet grilled cheese catering truck in L.A.

What started out as just fun, to enter L.A.’s 7^th Annual Grilled Cheese invitational, turned into a business when they realized they had a winner.  They decided the world needed more comfort food with a creative cheesy twist.

In addition to a simple and satisfying grilled cheese, you can also get grilled brie with pears and honey, or a dessert grilled sandwich with roasted bananas, Nutella hazelnut chocolate, and marshmallow.  Yum…..

You can follow them on Twitter or hire them to cater your next event.

They’ve been featured on ABC news and named the number one Food Truck in L.A.

It is fun to see people taking their ideas and putting them out in the world.

It is also interesting to see someone open to a good idea and running with it. I’ll bet some of their friends and family thought they were crazy.

What good idea have you had that you might be willing to try?  Can you dip your toe in and see what happens?

How can you give your idea a test drive – without buying a big yellow truck – and experiment without it being an all or nothing situation?

I must be hungry lately because I keep finding things to write about with food. Check out my blog post on Fun with Food.