新概念雙語(yǔ)：四個(gè)好方法：讓你的創(chuàng)造力源源不斷

Innovation。 It’s easy to talk about it — it’s probably one of your department’s key goals or built into your company’s mission statement — but it’s not so easy to do。 It’s even harder to make it a habit in your day-to-day workflow。 As an innovation consultant and entrepreneur， I was recently given a sneak peek at a new book on innovation called A Beautiful Constraint。 In short， it teaches you to take your constraints — budget， time， resources， whatever — and make them work for you in your quest for innovation。 It sounds simple， and in many ways it is。 Electrified by the read and brimming with inspiration for the new year ahead， I’m suggesting four easy ways to up your innovation game。

創(chuàng)新。談?wù)撘幌碌故峭θ菀椎?，也許就是部門目標(biāo)之一或公司的任務(wù)計(jì)劃，但實(shí)行起來(lái)一點(diǎn)都不容易呀。甚至還比把它成為你每天的習(xí)慣更困難。作為一名創(chuàng)新咨詢師和企業(yè)家，筆者最近看了一本書名為A Beautiful Constraint。簡(jiǎn)而言之，這本書教導(dǎo)人們?nèi)绾渭s束自己——包括預(yù)算，時(shí)間，資源，等等，并讓它們?cè)谀阈枰獎(jiǎng)?chuàng)新的時(shí)候起作用。聽起來(lái)很簡(jiǎn)單，不過(guò)在很多方面也的確很簡(jiǎn)單。受到了本次閱讀的靈感觸動(dòng)，筆者建議這4種讓你產(chǎn)生創(chuàng)造力的方法。

1.Turn “can’t” into “can if”

1 把“不能”變?yōu)?ldquo;可能”

Problems make us feel paralyzed。 When you meet a roadblock， it’s natural to throw your hands up and want to walk away。 But next time you find yourself brainstorming on something and saying “We can’t because…” try starting the sentence “We can if…” instead。

各種問(wèn)題麻痹了我們的神經(jīng)。當(dāng)我們遇到了障礙，自然而然地我們就想舉起雙手調(diào)頭就走。但下次你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在頭腦風(fēng)暴的時(shí)候在說(shuō)“我們不能……是因?yàn)?hellip;…”，換另一種說(shuō)法：“我們可以……”

Here’s an example： Recently， my business Never Liked It Anyway made a venture into creating its own content。 We needed an army of talented writers。 Immediately， we waved the “We can’t because we don’t have money” flag。 It didn’t serve us very well。 Then， we shifted to thinking about options： “We can if… we identify talented， aspiring writers and offer them mentorship instead，” and “We can if… we align them to our vision of ousting Cosmopolitan magazine and invite them to be part of that journey!”

舉個(gè)例子，最近，我的專欄Never Liked It Anyway冒險(xiǎn)地增設(shè)了內(nèi)容，我們需要許多有才的寫手。很快的，我們舉了“我們不能找到人因?yàn)槲覀儧]有資金”的白旗。這讓我們的感覺都不會(huì)。然后我們轉(zhuǎn)換了思維方式：“我們能夠做到如果……我們找到了有才的，有激情的作家，并為他們提供培訓(xùn)來(lái)補(bǔ)償。”或“我們能夠做到如果……我們把他們與我們的大都會(huì)雜志的理念聯(lián)合起來(lái)，并要求他們成為其中的一員!”

Simple， right? We now have five talented writers on our team， and we’re growing fast。

很簡(jiǎn)單，對(duì)吧?筆者的團(tuán)隊(duì)如今已經(jīng)有5位才華洋溢的作家了，并且我們還在快速發(fā)展之中。

2.Access your assets

2 獲得資產(chǎn)。

Ownership is becoming an antiquated concept， replaced by the shared economy。 Companies like Zipcar， Netflix， Songza， Rent the Runway， and Dropbox have smashed ownership into oblivion。 This “access” mode of thinking should apply to your business assets and resources， too。 Rather than thinking about what assets you own， consider what assets you can access。

所有權(quán)已經(jīng)是一個(gè)過(guò)時(shí)的概念了，已經(jīng)被分享經(jīng)濟(jì)所取代。諸如Zipcar， Netflix， Songza， Rent the Runway還有Dropbox這些公司都已經(jīng)把公司的所有權(quán)粉碎得遺忘了。這個(gè)“通行證”的思維模式也應(yīng)該應(yīng)用在商業(yè)資產(chǎn)和資源之中。與其計(jì)算自己擁有多少資產(chǎn)，還不如考慮你能獲得的資產(chǎn)有多少。

3.Ask impossible questions

3 提出不可能的問(wèn)題。

Weirdly， in the context of innovation， impossible questions are more useful than hard questions。

Impossible questions collide the scale of your ambition with the problem itself。 This turbocharges creativity and catapults us into problem solving mode instantly。

奇怪的是，在談?wù)搫?chuàng)新的語(yǔ)境中，不可能的問(wèn)題比困難的問(wèn)題來(lái)得更有用。不可能的問(wèn)題使你的志向幅度和問(wèn)題本身相碰撞。這樣的渦輪式的壓力所產(chǎn)生的創(chuàng)造力引發(fā)我們瞬間解決問(wèn)題的可能。

4.Put constraints on yourself

4 嚴(yán)格約束自己。

We’re not always up against constraints。 In some parts of our working lives， we actually have it pretty good。 Ironically， this can be a challenge in itself and often results in us moving slowly and less creatively against our problem。

我們總不是一直面臨著現(xiàn)在。在我們工作生活的一些部分，我們的確受到很大的限制?，F(xiàn)實(shí)的是，這也能成為一項(xiàng)挑戰(zhàn)并常常讓我們?cè)趩?wèn)題面前進(jìn)度緩慢，創(chuàng)造力低下。

The solution? Put constraints on yourself。 That’s right： Deliberately limit your time， budget， or resources。 I’m in the process of launching a podcast series。 Each week， I watched it slide off my task list and land on next week’s to-dos。 Then， I decided to put a constraint on myself： Just spend 15 minutes each day working toward this goal。 Of course I have 15 minutes to invest in this project every day! In five days， I made more progress than I had in the previous five weeks。 Progress begets progress， and now the project has momentum of its own。

解決方法是?約束你自己。對(duì)的，故意限制自己的時(shí)間，資金或資源。筆者正在進(jìn)行著播客系列的內(nèi)容創(chuàng)建，每周我都會(huì)看著它在我的待辦事項(xiàng)中消失，然后出現(xiàn)在下周的清單中。然后，我覺得給自己一些限制：每天只花15分鐘完成這件事。當(dāng)然我每天都有15分鐘完成這件事!堅(jiān)持五天后，我所取得的進(jìn)步比之前5周的進(jìn)步多得多，進(jìn)步推動(dòng)進(jìn)步，現(xiàn)在這個(gè)欄目已經(jīng)很受歡迎了。

So there you have it： four easy ways to up your innovation game。 Most importantly， remember that innovation is a habit。 The more you practice it， the easier this way of thinking， and being， becomes。 Next time you encounter an innovation-crushing roadblock， allow yourself to feel the frustration — and even a sense of resignation。 But then challenge yourself to overcome it and to actually embrace its limitation。 A Beautiful Constraint may sound like an oxymoron， but therein lies its challenge and effectiveness。

所以就這樣：你有這4種方法來(lái)增加自己的創(chuàng)造力。最重要的是，記得創(chuàng)新是一個(gè)習(xí)慣。你越多加練習(xí)，創(chuàng)新的思維，創(chuàng)新的發(fā)現(xiàn)和創(chuàng)新的結(jié)果就會(huì)越來(lái)越容易出現(xiàn)。下次當(dāng)你遇到一個(gè)創(chuàng)新障礙時(shí)，要讓自己去感受這種焦躁的情緒，即使是辭職的想法。然后挑戰(zhàn)自己的耐力去解決它，并接受它的局限性。“美麗的限制”聽起來(lái)有點(diǎn)像雙關(guān)語(yǔ)，但實(shí)際上它就隱含了挑戰(zhàn)與效果。