Series: Building Your Creative Practice @ Work
Part 3: Lateral thinking, nonsensical problem-solving, and the virtues of embracing uselessness
This is Part 3 in our series Building Your Creative Practice @ Work. Haven’t read Parts 1 & 2 yet?
I’m about to put you on to your next TV show obsession. And whole seasons of it are free on YouTube! (You’re welcome.)
I’m talking about Taskmaster, a British game show. Every episode, five comedians compete in the most arbitrary, nonsensical, and useless challenges a human might devise. Like painting the best picture they can without coming within 6 feet of the canvas. Or making the “most tremendous” pair of fake legs. (Whut?) Or inventing the most accurate egg timer possible in 20 minutes. Or eating the most watermelon in one minute, starting from a whole melon.
Lots of the tasks are, frankly, simply idiotic in the best possible way and involve the problem-solving equivalent of belly flopping into a pool in order to put out a match. (Which is why comedians are great contestants!) But a good number of the tasks actually involve lateral thinking.
Lateral thinking [...] refers to a person's capacity to address problems by imagining solutions that cannot be arrived at via deductive or logical means. Or, to put it in simpler terms: the ability to develop original answers to difficult questions. This is the essence of creativity [...].
-Phil Lewis in Forbes
I have to say, watching someone perform a task where they have to roll a giant ball onto a target up a huge hill and suddenly realize that there is nothing in the rules of the task against moving the target closer is intensely rewarding. It feels like a deeply human kind of satisfaction: “Ah-ha! There’s a better way to do this!” Creativity boost! Solution unlocked!
Talk about a dopamine rush.
So why does it feel like those moments are scarce in our lives…especially at work? And what advantages might we gain if we knew how to engage in more of them? What is we deliberately incorporated nonsensical problem-solving into our creative practice at work?
Do something useless…on purpose
In a world where productivity is held up as an inherent good in its own right (eye roll), the notion of engaging in "useless" activities might seem counterintuitive. But the pursuit of pointless tasks can be a gateway to creativity and innovative, lateral thinking. By granting yourself permission to explore the absurd, you open the door to imagination and unorthodoxy. (More on how to tap into those superpowers here. And we’ll share some exercises, activities, and frameworks for facilitating this a little later in the post!)
When faced with a random, arbitrary, or seemingly pointless challenge, the goal isn't to arrive at the most practical solution, but rather to unleash a flurry of ideas. When you’re free from utility, you consciously and subconsciously give your brain permission to innovate. You don’t know what you’re unknowingly censoring because somewhere buried in the recesses of your brain you have a little series of brake levers labeled “Too expensive” or “Too silly.” But when quality, feasibility, seriousness, and practicality are all explicitly moot, all the brakes are released.
While these kinds of exercises are great for your personal creative practice, they’re arguably even better in a group setting. Brainstorming, yes-anding, and one-upping each other in a safe environment with no bad ideas can be exponentially powerful. Scheduling group brainstorming sessions centered around whimsical challenges can build a lot of creative energy…and also just be fun and engaging! Essentially, team building as a side-effect.
Further, embracing the art of uselessness isn't about totally disregarding productivity; rather, it's about augmenting it. It's about recognizing that some of the most groundbreaking discoveries and creative breakthroughs stem from seemingly frivolous pursuits. These exercises serve as mental calisthenics, strengthening the creative muscles and honing the ability to think divergently.
8 nonsensical problem-solving tips & exercises
Some of the following tips stand alone as exercises, and others are “useless” mindsets to apply to a more run-of-the-mill problem-solving or brainstorming session. The first four tips are adapted from this article by Phil Lewis in Forbes, so check that out if you’d like more detail than provided here!
Role play: Pick a well-known person or persona and attempt to solve the problem like they would. How would Kermit the Frog solve this? What about Batman?
Wrong answers only: According to conventional wisdom, what’s the worst thing to do in this scenario? In his article, Lewis cites an example of a Swedish clothing manufacturer who asked themselves this question on Black Friday and decided not to do any kind of sale, and in fact only sell clothing protection products…which was totally on brand for them and got them a lot of positive press!
Just say no: Rather than doing something to solve this problem…what could you stop doing instead?
Tell a different story: According to Kurt Vonnegut, there are only 8 “shapes” of stories to be told. Analyze the problem to figure out what story is being told now and then try to talk about the problem in the “shape” of a different story.
Reverse problem-solving: Similar to “Wrong answers only,” ask yourself what are all the things you could do that would exacerbate this problem? (Might unlock an idea about the exact opposite!)
This isn’t a _____, it’s a _____: This one could also be a fun icebreaker on a brainstorming session. Take a common object—paperclip, broom, stapler, scarf, anything!—and ask everyone to invent a new use for it unrelated to its “real” use, then present it to the group. You can get this exercise as a free Miro template here!
Absurd inventions: Brainstorm how to solve a common, everyday problem in a ridiculously elaborate or impractical way. Basically, create a mental Rube Goldberg machine, or do what my friends and I call “unprobleming” something: Your leg is itchy? Just amputate it! Unproblemed!
Reinterpretation game: Take a story everyone knows and retell it from a different perspective. What does The Lion King look like from Scar’s perspective? How about The Wizard of Oz from the POV of the Wicked Witch of the West? (Oops, that’s literally the book/Broadway musical Wicked!)
In a world that often demands practicality and efficiency, there's immense value in carving out space for the seemingly useless—for your own mental health as well! So, next time you're faced with a problem or you need to brainstorm something, try crawling into the solution through the window. Or better yet, disguise yourself as a package, mail yourself to the solution, and ring the doorbell. The solution just might let you in.
Don’t forget to grab this free Miro template for one of the lateral thinking exercises above!
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