[I have a new book, "The Creative Contrarian," coming out on October 12, 2021. Click link for more info and to preorder at Amazon.]
A wonderful creativity strategy is to look for ideas in the opposite direction from everyone else.
Here’s an example of a person who “zagged.”
In August 1969, a few days after the Beatles’ penultimate studio album had been recorded, the project was still without a name. The “Fab Four” and a few close advisors got together to brainstorm album titles. The prospective names they kicked around tilted toward the grandiose, and soon they played with calling the new album “Everest” in recognition of their towering contribution to the 1960s music scene.
Of course, such a name would necessitate an expensive 10,000-mile weeklong photo shoot to the Himalayas (such things were done by successful rock stars back then). But at this point in the group’s career, the Beatles were on the verge of disbanding and had little energy for such a trip.
What to do? Rock historian Ken McNab relates that drummer Ringo Starr, probably the most grounded of the musicians, reversed everyone’s perception on the album name by suggesting: “Why don’t the four of us just go out in front of the EMI recording studio and stroll across the ‘zebra’ crosswalk, and call the effort ‘Abbey Road’?”
Why not indeed! This simple solution took two hours to set up and shoot, and became the Beatles’ most iconic photo. Abbey Road went on to become their biggest selling album.
"Where can you zag?" What problem are you working on where can you go in the opposite direction from everyone else?
Fun stuff! I've found that looking at things in a backwards way is a good way to get unstuck.
Posted by: Jessica Vienna | 01 September 2021 at 01:32 PM