The First Square
The Importance of the Initial Approach
Before diving into an idea and starting to play around with it, we’re always faced with reality as it stands, along with the usual and familiar ways of perceiving and interpreting it.
Often, accepting these conventional perspectives without questioning them can severely limit our creative efforts. Without realizing it, we end up starting from the same point, with the same map and using the same vehicle, expecting a different journey.
While it’s not impossible to achieve something new this way, we would miss out on the chance for a more original starting point.
Anyone aiming to generate new ideas—whatever the purpose—must first understand the reality around them. This means grasping the context, the situation in which these ideas will exist (for a real-world example, check out VIP - Jane Jacobs, on this blog).
Once we do this—once we’re fully aware of “what’s there”—we can choose or even design the first square: the starting point for our ideas, without taking anything for granted.
Changing this initial definition, both in substance and form, will alter everything that follows. For example, how we define a problem often reveals much of its solution.
If we approach a situation with conflict and label it as a “problem,” we might aim to solve it. But if we see conflict as a generator of value—of divergent visions that can eventually complement and even enhance each other—we might not try to resolve it but instead organize its elements.
This clearly illustrates that how we define the original situation, what we encounter before we begin creating ideas, forms the ground, foundation, and even the first building blocks of what we construct.
We must always remember that we never act on reality itself but on the model we build of it. Those who create something always do so based on a model—sometimes inherited, sometimes self-created, but always symbolic. This is why creativity is so powerful—it can change everything.
So let’s not allow habits or clichés to dictate our first step without us even noticing.
The earliest stages of idea generation are:
- Observing the existing reality.
- Building a model that is different and amplifies the uniqueness of our ideas.
From this perspective, not only can we play with and manipulate the reality modifiers (what we’ll call “ideas” for simplicity), but also the model of reality itself. In fact, how we define reality becomes our first idea.
The scenarios and exercises we suggest in What Kind of Creativity Is Yours? benefit greatly from this approach to redefining the reality that requires new ideas.
For example, the test itself doesn’t follow the conventional approach of assigning a number to participants. Instead, right from the start, it avoids framing creativity as “more or less” and instead asks, “What is your natural creativity?” This was only possible by stepping away from traditional assumptions and redefining what a creativity test could be.
Use this concept to avoid accepting things “as they are” and allow yourself to be original from the very first square.