How to break the Mold and Be an Independent Thinker

From entrepreneur.com
By Nadia Goodman 7-4-2013

To come up with truly creative products and unique ideas, great business leaders need to become independent thinkers. Our brains are wired to recycle ideas we have already heard from others but you can learn to think independently or to come up with novel ideas, with a few easy psychological tips and tools.

1. Place a lot of Constraints on the Problem- Open-ended problems are the enemy of independent thinking. Independent thinking requires you to break the mold; Everything you think is influenced by years of experience and cultural upbringing. If you do not have constraints, you will come up with answers that are really similar to what others have done before.
2. Combine Ideas That Seem Ill-Matched- When you are trying to solve a problem, your memory will retrieve solutions or concepts that seem like logical matches, often because others have used that match already. To think differently, consider ideas that do not seem compatible at all. For example: Coming up with a way to cook breakfast for the comfort of your bed. Many of your ideas will fail but any that succeed are likely to be unique and marketable.
3. Take the Birds Eye View- When your trying to solve a problem, zoom out to see variables that others might overlook. Thinking about the big picture, takes you out of the familiar way of thinking about the problem. What would happen if I succeed? How can I find a solution, that makes that outcome work.