the answer come to him because he had been wrestling so hard with
his conscious mind about ways of checking on the gold in the
crown? Or, did the answer somehow come to him because his mind
was in a much more fuzzy state as he lay in the bath? Was bath-
time a mechanism by which he managed to achieve a deeper think-
ing level, a state of flow perhaps?
We shall never know, of course. But there is strong empirical
evidence from various inventors and artists that the fuzzier, gentler,
“bath-time” state is an extremely fecund one for ideas. It seems
likely that you need both the hard, concentrated engagement and
the gentler, less focused approach, and that you need to be able to
move between the two with ease.
As De Bono’s idea of an “interesting” category demonstrates,
it is always helpful when you can find a position that is between the
extremes of such tyrannical opposites as “yes” and “no,” “know”
and “don’t know.”
In a world of complexity where I find myself increasingly
uncertain and opposed to dogmatic positions, I find the intuition
template below a helpful one to induce gentler, fuzzier approaches:Certain about the solution Strong hunch or intuition
Possible way forward that needs Don’t know what to do but
testing happy to keep saying this
Think of a business issue you are wrestling with and use this template on it. Does it help?Having hunches is like working in three rather than two dimen-
sions. You are no longer so bound by the demands of time and
place. You can see the problem from different perspectives.
By concentrating on the idea of the hunch, something very
interesting happens to you and your relationship to time. You begin
to dwell on an idea over a period, letting it roll around your head.
People who have a hunch often tell you so and seek your involve-
ment in thinking it through. As you mull something over, so you
start to look at it from all sorts of different angles.Harnessing Your Creativity 171