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September 10, 2007

How to Play Follow the Leader to Kick Start Your Brain

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 11:00 am

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Did you ever play that game — Follow the Leader — in school? The person in front has an idea, and everyone else does the same thing. You might think it’s a bunch of redundancy. Most times it is.

But it doesn’t have to be.

Here’s a recipe to use this game to kick start your brain.

How to Play Follow the Leader to Kick Start Your Brain

In my class, we made our own rules. The game was not only more interesting. It was a WHOLE LOT more fun! My secret is that I’ve used the premises of this silly game to kick start my brain in every job I’ve ever had.

  • Look around for the great leaders, the great thinkers, you admire.
  • Follow the leaders.
    • Follow the folks who have ideas.
    • Follow the folks who have confidence.
    • Follow the folks who are positive.
    • Follow the folks who are jazzed about what they do.

    Follow the folks who know where they are going.

  • Pick one idea from one of the leaders you follow.
    • Take it apart. Put it back together.
    • Look at the idea from every direction you can.
    • Find the parts that are only like the leader. Find the parts that are also like you.

    Get to know the idea at a cellular level.

  • Take one tiny bit of that idea and replace it.
    • If they’re on a tennis court, move to a movie theater.
    • Move the idea to somewhere you understand.

    In other words, make the idea your own.

  • Here’s the crucial part: Don’t try to write . . . play with the idea. While you do that also do something else that suits you:
    • Listen to music.
    • Go for walk.
    • Take a shower.
    • Dance in an elevator.
    • Clean the refrigerator.

    You know what works.

  • Follow your heart to make the idea your own.

Absolutely, positively do not go back to the source once you’ve started to play with the idea . . . until you’ve made the idea your own. Then all that’s left is to write, tell, or present your thoughts, and to remember to thank the leader who was your inspiration.

You get the idea. Actually with a little practice, my guess is that you’ll be getting more than one.

How do you usually kick start your brain?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Related
I Have an Idea — I Have Lots of Them!
Don’t Hunt IDEAS — Be an Idea Magnet

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7 Comments to “How to Play Follow the Leader to Kick Start Your Brain”

  1. September 10th, 2007 at 11:19 am
    gp said

    LOL… this is an ez one for me … as I head out after a hectic a.m. Kick start my ideas… by riding on the mare… nothing like focusing on something else, and getting away from it and then free thinking to git ‘r going.

    And kick starting… not getting kicked :)

    gp in montana

  2. September 10th, 2007 at 11:39 am
    digitalnomad said

    Good advice, but I’m still looking. Brass in pocket…

  3. September 10th, 2007 at 11:45 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi GP!
    You do the git ‘r going and the ideas will be the thing that comes riding up behind you. But you already knew that! :)

    Tell the mare I said, “hi!”

  4. September 10th, 2007 at 11:49 am
    ME Strauss said

    Ah Digitalnomad!
    Great to see you!
    Could it be you might have missed the post before this? It had a link to Don’t Hunt IDEAS — Be an Idea Magnet
    That one’s a classic and the intro to this topic revisited. :)

  5. September 10th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
    Astone Agency said

    Great article! I totally agree with your comments!

  6. September 10th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mikhail!
    Great to see you! Thanks for the comment! :)

  7. September 12th, 2007 at 11:10 am
    Playing Follow the Leader with Liz Strauss | Pajama Professional said

    […] yet mentioned a way to make money online? I was planning on adding Liz Strauss’ article How to Play Follow the Leader to Kick-Start your Brain to this week’s Trip Around the Blogosphere. The thing is, once I started thinking about how I […]

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