{"id":16606,"date":"2019-07-30T21:32:22","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T19:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=16606"},"modified":"2019-07-31T18:45:31","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T16:45:31","slug":"focus-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/focus-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"What you focus on matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

What you focus on matters<\/h3>\n

As I\u2019ve written before, when it comes to creativity, \u2018quantity leads to quality<\/a><\/span>\u2019. The reason for this is simple: the first ideas you come up with are generally \u2018logical\u2019 and not very creative. They might be fine, but the first ideas are typically somewhat boring ideas most people could\u2019ve come up with. The more ideas you generate, the more unusual they will become. Some of these unusual ideas will be ridiculous and completely impractical (for now<\/a><\/span>), but others might be innovative and absolutely brilliant.<\/p>\n

Because you want as many potential solutions as possible, it makes sense to approach your situation from different angles. There are many \u2018creative thinking techniques<\/a><\/span>\u2019 to help you do this, but you could also simply look at different aspects of the challenge itself. By phrasing your focus question differently, you will look at your challenge from completely different angles.<\/p>\n

Example<\/strong>
\nLet\u2019s look at an example. Imagine, you work in a very noisy open office<\/a><\/span>. You hardly get any work done as you are constantly distracted by people calling, walking around or discussing their weekend near your desk.<\/p>\n

You could focus on changing the office, \u2026but you could also direct your attention to changing people\u2019s behaviours.<\/p>\n

You could focus on the cause of the problem (and how to eliminate it), \u2026but you could also focus on yourself (and make sure the noise doesn\u2019t distract you).<\/p>\n

The questions you ask determine what types of ideas you’ll get<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The focus<\/a><\/span> you choose determines what solutions you will generate.<\/p>\n

If you focus on the office<\/span>, you might install sound-proof walls or even complete conference rooms. Or you could simply look for a different office altogether. If you focus on your colleagues\u2019 behaviour<\/span> instead, you might introduce an office policy to only speak at certain hours or to only call in a designated area. If you focus on what\u2019s causing the problem<\/span> (phone calls and people wanting to share their weekend stories) you could suggest blocking phone reception inside the building or an informal coffee meeting every Monday morning before work. Finally, if you focus on yourself<\/span>, you might eliminate your own distraction by buying noise-cancelling headphones or by starting to work from home.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is: there are many aspects of a situation to focus on. Based on these aspects, you can generate a whole range of possible focus questions. What you focus on determines what types of ideas you\u2019ll generate.<\/p>\n

Starting with multiple questions is always a good idea. Write down a bunch of questions and pick the questions that immediately spark ideas. See where they lead you. More questions generally means: more ideas. In our own creative sessions, we often use 5 to 12 different focus questions. This ensures a broad range of creative ideas to choose from.<\/p>\n

In the example above, some possible questions you could ask are:<\/p>\n