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151 aerobic exercises for the creative side of your brain |
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Right Brain Workouts stimulate creative thinking, champion the pursuit of humane ideas, illustrate the benefits of thinking creatively, and urge you to exercise your creative abilities. NEW I'm proud to announce that Right Brain Workouts now appear on Idea Connection. You'll find new Workouts as well as Workouts selected and updated from these archives. Eventually all Workouts will move to a special Right Brain Workout section of Idea Connection. During the transition, some of the links below will take you to the Idea Connection posting. Use Right Brain Workouts regularly to inspire your own creative thinking. Show your friends, family, trainees, and employees that you are serious about your commitments making the world better. Commit yourself to progressive, forward-thinking innovation. ♪ Sing Along! Right Brain Workouts with a note in front of their title link to a thinking song by Peter Lloyd or a friend. Your comments are always welcome by email. |
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| Subject | |
| 99 Bottles of Beer | If you're the kind of person who prefers variety in the work you do, this might help explain why that makes you a more creative and valuable worker. |
| Abominations | It's been a long time since anyone updated the Biblical list of abominations. Let's get to work. |
| Equal time for left-brainers. | |
| Anger | Introducing the sixth of seven Creative Juices |
| When a French Poodle meets a German shepherd, do they have any trouble understanding each other? Of course, not. We might want to learn how to talk from those that don't. | |
| An Atheist Who Prays | What? Heresy! Aren't all atheists narrow-minded rejecters of all things holy? |
| How do you feel about bats? Here's one good reason for opening your mind to "batty" ideas. | |
| Everybody knows the story of this musician and his handicap. What about his attitude? | |
| Believing Is Seeing | When is it okay to lie? What about when you tell you kids about Santa Claus? |
| You're getting very sleepy... Sinking deeper into your subconscious... Ask for anything you want, and it's yours! So says the man you're about to meet. | |
| There's a Mozart inside every one of us. Someone who wants to play instead of work. How do your bring out your own little genius? | |
| There's nothing new about it. The birds do it, the bees do it. And now, let's do it. | |
| Black and White | Is cutting someone with a knife always a bad thing? |
| Blockbusting the Ether | Praise for the way kids like Einstein destroy what they've just created. |
♪ Boss |
What do you do when you know you're right and your boss is wrong? Imagine this scenario. |
| In my never-ending, ever vigilant search for news you can use in your personal crusade for right brain supremacy where you work, I found a survey. | |
| If it's true that opposites attract, then the two hemispheres of your brain ought to get along quite well. As usual, I have other ideas. | |
| Attention all frustrated, unpublished writers: Here's a library willing to put your work on its shelves. | |
| Breaking the Rules | What The Year of Living Biblically taught me about law breaking. |
| Bullshit | What to do when people start shoveling it. |
| Have you called your mother lately? She just might have some worthwhile advice. | |
| Cats and Dogs | A good example of how mixing opposites can yield the best hybrid results. |
| Centered Eye | Have artists throughout the centuries been following intuitive rules they do not even realize exist? |
| Christmas List | Before you make your list, check it twice, check out what one man wished for more than a hundred years ago. |
| CigArson | A lawyer joke with a lesson in the art of the yarn. |
| Who would you rather have invent your next new product? An engineer, a designer, a marketer, or your customer? | |
| Who's more beautiful, Barbara Hershey or Betty Grable? I disguised myself as a 1940s news photographer to answer this momentous question. | |
| No, you're not crazy. You boss is. At least if he's one of the five kinds of crazy bosses you're about to meet. | |
| It's time to play oxymoron. How many word combinations can you think of that turn out to be contradictions? | |
| Creative Fire | Every idea begins with a spark of inspiration. But most ideas flash and fade before they have a chance to set the world on fire. How can you keep your creative fire hot without getting burned? |
| If you were ever caught copying in school, you were probably punished. But in real life, some people get paid to imitate. Time to settle the score. | |
| Creative Space | Many companies understand that creativity takes time. Some thoughts on what to do about space. |
| Ever catch yourself tapping your foot at the Symphony? It may be gauche, but it's not as bad as listening to the music with half a brain. | |
| Crosscuts | Unrelated ideas head for each other on a certain collision course. Why you want to witness this wreck. |
| The Crown of Creation | In defense of the most dangerous animal on earth. |
| The Curb-Cut Effect | If you live long enough, ride a bike, or push a baby buggy, you're just one of the many who are grateful for an invention not even meant for them. |
| Dangerous Dreams | While there's no such thing as a bad idea, even a beautiful concept can get out of hand. |
| Darwin Does It Again | Who's the greatest—Charles Darwin or Mohammad Ali? Depends on whom you ask. |
| Attention academics everywhere. The best teachers are dead teachers. | |
| Want to know what one of the world's foremost physicists does when he runs out of ideas? He gets depressed. Until he gets something creative people dread. | |
| I hope your hungry. We're going to an Italian grocery for a lesson in how to keep life interesting. | |
| So many inventions are the result of accident and error, it makes you want to make mistakes on purpose. But that's not quite the right the idea. | |
| Who was Christopher Columbus? Let's not be so sure. | |
| Disturb the Peace | When is peace not such a good idea? |
| Tickets, please. Now boarding for the most unique place in the universe. | |
| Sorry to wake you up, but I think it's time we talk about your dreams. | |
| Here are all sorts of wise sayings. Half of them might even be true. Read them now, the sooner the better. Or later, after all, patience is a virtue. | |
| Earth... the planet with the name only a mother could love. But wait, she is the mother, after all. | |
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Eating Outside the Box |
Why do we avoid not only what can’t hurt us but also can help? Even when the upside might put a dent in world hunger! |
| You've seen those bumper stickers... "My child is an honor student at such-and-such a school." I think they're a bad sign. | |
| Instructions on how to avoid the world's worst possible catastrophe. | |
| Envy | Introducing the fifth of seven Creative Juices |
| Equal Time | Why it's not necessarily fair to act as if there's no such thing as a bad idea. |
| Evolation | Where could scientists and believers possibly meet and agree on the idea of evolution? Read and see. |
| When you look at the front of a car, do the you see a face? One very successful car designer nearly lost an important assignment because he didn't. | |
| Failing Observations | Five important lessons about failing from someone who knows the score. |
| A great way to capture your ideas is to speak them into a pocket taper recorder. In fact, the following Right Brain Workout is taken from a tape I made on a walk around the block. | |
| Why you should never criticize your boss. | |
| No, I'm not running for President, even though I've chosen to address the subject of foreign relations in this Workout. | |
| Sound like something out of Star Trek? Read about the man who invented Frozen Smoke by doing the impossible. | |
| This Right Brain Workout is about funerals. Actually, what you should wear to a funeral. That is, your own funeral, your final fashion statement. | |
| A chrysanthemum by any other name would be... well, easier to spell, for one thing. Names--what's in them for you? | |
| Need a big idea? Ideas are everywhere, including inside your trash can. Let's take a look. | |
| Getting It Wrong | Film director and creative director Stein X Leikanger examines why people will never be computers and vice versa. |
| A Girl's Touch | Who says kids can't change the world? Read about a fourth-grader who's well on her way to doing just that. |
| Gluttony | Introducing the second of seven Creative Juices. |
| Greed | Meet the third of seven Creative Juices. |
| Handcuffing Creativity | Why do corporate control freaks stifle the most valuable or powerful source of innovative energy at their disposal? |
| Raise your right hand and repeat after me... "I swear by Apollo the physician... and Aesculapius... and all the gods and goddesses..." | |
| Sorry, this is not a comment card, but it contains a comment on comment cards. | |
| Tired of fishing for new ideas all by yourself? Try the software program that turns your computer into a supermarket of ideas. | |
| The Shangri La of great ideas. You know where it is? Why don't you go there more often? | |
| Idiot | Do you have what it takes to be a creative leader? You might be surprised at what it takes. |
| Imaginary Friends | What happens when you put sworn enemies in the same place? What happens if they're just puppets? |
| Some creativity advocates claim that there's no such thing as a bad idea. Read about man who collects them. | |
| Anyone can be creative with a little help from a carnivorous grapefruit. | |
| Innovative Animals | Match your creative muscle against Koko the gorilla. Do you dare? |
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In Order to Serve You Better... |
An exercise in translating the blizzard of blarney you get from your customer service representative. |
| Any one who's ever had their knuckles rapped for violating the rules of English grammar, I give you permission to re-think those rules. | |
| Maybe I've finally gone too far, but at least listen to my complaint about teachers who were too educated. | |
| If you think necessity is the mother of invention wait till you meet these four people who turned adversity into innovation. | |
| It's Own Sake | This is a defense of being creative for the sake of being creative. |
| One of the original marketing innovators of this century makes his product in a county where selling it is illegal. The company's record of law breaking goes back to 1865. | |
| Ever complain about not having enough time to be creative? Some advice from Marlene Dietrich. | |
| When life serves you lemons, make lemonade. Right? Read what one very creative woman did to her career when her company served her a pink slip. | |
| ♪ Let Your People Go | Liberating words of wisdom from Doug Hall of the Eureka! Ranch. |
| A few words of wisdom from an airport baggage handler on the logic of lemmings. | |
| Losing Your Butt | A lesson in recovering from disaster from the humble skink lizard. |
| Lust | An introduction to the fourth of your seven Creative Juices. |
| Making It Real | Faint praise can be worse than insult. Consider the value of using words that mean what you want to say. |
| Read carefully. If I practice what he preach, I'm likely to make a few mistakes. | |
| The Malfunction of Intellect | Somewhere along the way Americans lost their ability to think Stephen R. Grossman offers what it will take for us to regain this most important skill. |
| Mother Nature, Inventor | Mother Nature deserves so much more than our admiration. She is always ready to help us invent. |
| Would the real Mother of Invention please stand up? I'm not sure you are who you say you are. | |
| Naming Your Invention | Naming a invention, product, service, or company doesn't have to be torture. Here are three guidelines to help you through the ordeal. |
| Where do successful innovators like 3M, Xerox, and Sony get their great ideas? They probably don't care. | |
| Why is there only one word for Thesaurus? I contend that the answer to this and a lot of other imponderables can be summed up in three little words. | |
| Some helpful tips for anyone who's ever been accused of nitpicking. | |
| The great German poet-philosopher Friedrich Schiller joins us with advice on how to stop thinking so hard. | |
| If you're wondering why there's not any order to these Workouts, read this one. | |
| How good are you at recognizing great ideas? How about a little test? | |
| Pillow Babble | In a matter of 18 translations, a simple proposition turns into utter nonsense. |
| Placebo | Creativity can make Creativity can make e-commerce more than just another tool, according to Rick Wehder. |
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Please Don't Pray for Me |
In the largest study of third-party prayer the prayed-for don't do so well. |
♪ Pledge |
How blind followers of tradition compelled a seven-year-old boy to swear allegiance to four invisible witches. |
| Pride | Meet the first of your seven Creative Juices. |
| Do you have a problem? Would you like a problem? | |
| Protecting Baby Ideas | An innovative lesson from the clever dolphin on giving your new ideas a head start in life. |
| If you're like most people, you talk to your computer. It's when your computer starts talking to you that you have to worry... or do you? | |
| If a statement is true, it doesn't matter who says it. Right? Or wrong? You be the judge. | |
♪ Rewards |
A lot of companies are trying all sorts of programs to make their employees more creative. It's easy to inspire creativity, especially if you know what not to do. |
| Rocket Slips | The value of making mistakes has been demonstrated throughout history by some pretty impressive blunderers. |
| How often do you find yourself following the same routine, without ever questioning why? Why? | |
| Three simple rules to help you get the best possible work out of your creative people. | |
| The
Scatological Conception |
Is there any way to keep really great ideas from going down the toilet? |
| Selling Out | Thinking of selling your company? Rick Wehder has some advice about your most valuable asset. |
| sdrawkcaB | How a dyslexic banker made his handicap the key to success. |
| Sears Catalog | Great ideas are anywhere you can find them. Doug Hall 's had great success looking in one place you might never have considered. |
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The Seven Creative Juices |
What does it really mean to get your creative juices flowing? Could it be those urges you've been told you have to hold in check. Here's why you should check them out instead. |
| It's a hit! Going... going... gone! That could be the moon if a certain scientist has his way. | |
| Workout writer seeks interested audience to consider what would happen if personal ads were more creative. | |
| Skink the Lizard | Sometimes losing can take you farther than the alternative--holding on to what you may not need. A lesson from a lizard. |
| Slicing Pi | Yes, it's irrational, but if you want to create you have to fudge. |
| Sloth | Meet the last of the seven Creative Juices. |
| You'd think great creative minds could at least agree on the source of their great ideas. No such luck. Here's a catalog of creative explanations. | |
| Creative people get a bad rap for a lot of eccentric behavior--like always being late. Here's how to make tardiness pay off in the long run. | |
| He's been called Spiderman. But unlike the imaginary web- slinger, he may actually save lives someday. | |
| Here's a sure-fire way to generate ideas. However, do not attempt this technique without consulting your physician. | |
| Order in the court. Peter Lloyd of The Right Brain Works is about to make his closing remarks to the bench. You be the judge. | |
| Despite the fact that creative people often work themselves to death, I can demonstrate that art is easy. | |
| So you've got a great idea. Copyright it, quick! Sorry, you can't. Sandra Day O'Connor and I explain why ideas are free, and should be. | |
| If you hate to see yourself on videotape, maybe you should take another look. Looks at the way you look at yourself. | |
| Come on, admit it. You not only sing in the shower, you sometimes wish you had followed your dream of becoming a rock star. | |
| Thinking like a kid is not just fun. According to one experiment, it can put you in better contact with reality. | |
| ♪ Thomas Edison Blues | What really happened up in Tom's lab the night he invented the light bulb? |
| Toilet Seat Aesthetics | Yes, even the commode can teach us something about truth, beauty, and how to get along. |
| Tired of your best ideas nose-diving in the trash can? Here are some words of encouragement. | |
| It would seem that tradition would be the bane of creative people. Not necessarily. | |
| The Training Sandwich | One poop in the pot does not a potty-trained kid make. The same goes for company training programs. |
| Truth in Business | Oxymoron? Business Management Consultant Rick Wehder says, no, it doesn't have to be. In fact, it's the secret behind a vision that works. |
| Unintended Benefits | Some innovators and inventors have learned that, when defending their work, offense can be the best defense. |
| Vive la Différence! | What can the Beatles and the Boston Consulting Group teach us about coming up with breakthrough ideas? |
| ♪ Waiting for Invention | What's the difference between a really great idea and a really great new product? All the difference in the world. |
| Watering Hole | Hanging around the water cooler, at least the way these folks do it, can make your workplace more productive and profitable. |
| What Do I Know? | How the curse of knowledge gets in the way of knowing. |
| You're about to hire someone or interview for a job. Here's how to do it all wrong. | |
| The Wright Stuff | What does it take to get a great idea off the ground? The answer is easy if you ask the Wright guys. |
| Why Windows Makes You More Creative | It takes more than a super-cool operating system to bring out your creative best. It's actually the other way around. |
| What happens when you look this word up in dictionary tells us a lot about authority. | |
| You Gotta Wanna | Rick Wehder reminds us of the importance of aligning your work with your life interests. |
