Radiant Thinking

Part of the training I was in this week centered on creativity. I know that might sound odd for a training topic. But I work in radio and being creative is a big part of my job.

The trainer introduced us to a creative method known as radiant thinking. It's basically a word association exercise. You can use it for any creative effort, but he was teaching us to use it for developing story ideas.

You can try it right now. Get out a piece of paper. Draw a small circle (about the size of a 50-cent piece) in the middle of the paper. Now draw ten rays shooting out of the circle. Think of a word or idea and write it in the middle of the circle. Now as fast as you can, think of the first ten words that come to mind and write them down on the rays.

To take it further, pick the three most unusual words you just wrote and repeat the above steps using those words. Now see if there are any repeated words or connected ideas. The idea is that certain themes will emerge and you'll get a clearer picture of your creative ideas.

I can't imagine ever using this for my reports. But I'm thinking it might be downright brilliant for blogging. :)