Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Dreaming

Go for Baroque

Go away

Remember how to play

Why? What? When? Where? How?

Create your space

Get the right stuff

Be a streetcomber

Get physical

Lose your limited thinking

You are not under arrest!

Make up a story

Go fishing with Edison

Use a mind machine

Find a mentor

Dare to daydream

Record your night dreams

Transform your inner critic

Go back to pen and paper

Stuff your head with facts

Take a nap

Keep a swipe file

Balance your brain

Feed your brain

Create a goals board

Join the League of Adventurers

Part 2: Originating

Follow the four brainstorming guidelines

Ask the ignorant

Try the opposite

Do a future interview

Force a word association

Force a picture association

When you have a good idea – keep going!

Start with the end

Apply your why, who, what, where, and when questions

Have a Trendstorming session

Use mind maps

Try Freewriting

Challenge all assumptions

Imagine someone else’s solution

Vary the attributes

Teach your problem

Make 1 + 1 equal 3

Summon your Originator alter ego

Combine

Learn from nature

Match your interests and your skills

Fish in a different pond

Repurpose

Steal their methods

Believe in goosebumps

Part 3: Applying

Summon your Action Man or Woman alter ego

Create an action map

To get, ask

Give them a taste

To sell, pre-sell

Use OPM

Declare a MAD

Use the Pareto Principle

Test a prototype

Piggyback

Outsource

Keep an Ideas Box

Create a loyalty card

Give it a personality

Keep it simple

Ready, fire, aim!

Look for the quirk

Have a plan B

Make a not-to-do list

Embrace procrastination

Be the staff

Chunk and micro-chunk

Use timepods

Use the Einstein levels

Know when to quit

Part 4: Adapting

They became successful writers

 

They found the quirk that works

 

She got strangers to give her money

 

Her gift made her rich

 

The real experts led them to success

 

He got their attention – and their business

 

Word of mouth took it from free to famous

 

A change of location made dinner profitable

 

They’re winning breakthrough ideas

 

He combined two trends and created a third

 

They found customers who weren’t being served

 

He deals with dirt – and cleans up

 

He took a chore and made it a game

 

This time it’s personal

 

He’s playing by the (biggest) book

 

They made travel less taxing

 

They got people hooked

 

She changed the medium and they got the message

 

She went back to the future

 

She went from 'vs.' to 'and'

 

He unlocked his creativity

 

He took a risk for Sin

 

She went from Mum to money

 

He does what drives others mad

 

She let her passion lead the way

 

 

Afterword

 

About the author

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Author of “Focus: the power of targeted thinking,” a Pearson title that has had a gratifyingly good reception this year,  “Your Writing Coach” (Nicholas Brealey Publishing—2007 and just reprinted), “Do Something Different,” a collection of 100 case studies of innovative marketing (Virgin Books), and “Successful Scriptwriting” (Writers Digest Press, with Kerry Cox). He has also written many articles, including a personal development column for the Times Educational Supplement. As mentioned above, his “Brainstorm” creativity e-bulletin has circa 2500 subscribers.

The author's own creative endeavours have included writing more than 100 episodes of television, including “Relic Hunter,” “Benson,” and “Family Ties,” a feature film starring Kelsey Grammer (“The Real Howard Spitz”), a mini-series, “Midnight Man,” starring Rob Lowe, and two TV movies starring the Olsen Twins. The author has also had plays produced in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin, and written for many magazines and newspapers. Another feature film, “Global Beach,” is in pre-production with director Fulvio Bernasconi, to be shot in 2009.

Jurgen Wolff teaches workshops on creativity, creative marketing, writing, personal development, and time management around the world. He has lectured at the University of Southern California, for the Skyros Institute, the Academy for Chief Executives, the BBC, Fremantle Media, the London School of Journalism, the European Media programme, and at private workshops in the United States, England, Spain, Germany, Denmark, France, South Africa, Belgium, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In September he is teaching a creativity workshop in Portland, Oregon, and in November a pitching workshop in London.