Creative Thinking For Dummies

Lay your problem out like a game: Using objects and/or words, you stimulate your imagination through exploratory play. You move away from linear thinking and enter a much less structured state where you can indulge in random actions and allow yourself to go where ideas lead you.

12. Return with the reward: Having been transformed himself, the hero arrives home with the power to transform his world

11. The resurrection: Almost home, the hero faces a final supreme test, where final victory resolves outstanding issues.

10. The road back: This is the third act, where the hero crosses the threshold back to his familiar world

9. The reward: The hero has possession of the reward, but danger still exists

8. The ordeal: This moment, when the hero faces his greatest fear and achieves his goal, is pivotal

7. Preparing for the challenge: Now is the time to face the challenge, with a life or death outcome in prospect

6. Allies, enemies and tests: Along the way, the hero recruits support, learns about his enemies and is tested

Sometimes the journey is an interior one, conquering inner demons or struggling to find new strength, like conquering fear to take on the shark in Jaws.

5. Crossing the threshold: This is the critical transition to the second act, where the hero makes the commitment to leave the old familiar world and journey into the unknown