Creative Focus

Absurd similarities

Exercise: A classic riddle from Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, asks: “How is a raven like a writing desk?” No one is sure, but it’s puzzled readers and mad hatters for decades. In this exercise, flex your creative muscles to find similarities between very un-similar things - the stranger, the better! 

Why: Einstein referred to this creative method as Combinatory Play, “The act of opening up one mental channel by dabbling in another.” We often take for granted that certain things go together and other things don’t have anything in common. Identifying similarities between unrelated people, ideas, or objects forces us to see them differently, stretching our imagination to find shared traits that might not have been obvious at first. 

Enhances Creative Focus which includes the combination of logic and creative thinking. 

Example:

How is freedom like a dry towel? 

• Both are needed for an enjoyable shower 

• Absence of either one is a red flag for a terrible hotel 

How are houseplants like the Eiffel Tower? 

• I’m not qualified to take care of either one 

• You can find fake versions of both at IKEA

Absurd similarities

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Absurd similarities

What do they have in common?