Making Conscious Assumptions - a creative thinking technique

Conscious Assumptions

A creative thinking technique

Making conscious assumptions is a key tool of a creative thinker. "No great discovery is made without a bold guess," said Isaac Newton.

Assumptive thinking is not the same as guessing though. Making an assumption is more like using a tentative step and creating a new perceptual lens when trying to discover something invisible or invent something new.

Assume that you are in a completely new situation. What would things look like to you?

Assume that you did something in a different way. How would it work? What would the consequences be?

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If you create something unseen before,
prepare to address challenges unmet earlier

~ Vadim Kotelnikov

Step Out of Your Shoes

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Challenge Your Existing Assumptions

Try to see what others haven't noticed. Think black and white ‒ turn your multicolored perceptions off for a while and see everything around you in pure black and white colors to identify the things that need to be changed radically... More

Creative Thinking

Tips for Challenging Assumptions

Disney Creativity Strategy

Ask 'Why? What If?' Questions

Be a disruptive ideator and think outside the box. Challenge assumptions and ask "Why?" and "What If?" questions to identify hidden problems and discover new opportunities. Keep eyes open for inspiration. Brainstorm every day to make this type of creative thinking a superconcious habit... More

Albert Einstein's Method

Albert Einstein is famous for making assumptions and thinking out their implications. Having assumed that he was riding on the back of a sunbeam, travelling through the universe with the speed of light, Einstein tried to imagine how things would look to him. The eventual result was the General Theory of Relativity. "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited," advised Albert Einstein. "We don't need to think more, we need to think differently."... More