4 simple ways to develop your imagination

One of the more frustrating classes I took in college in the 1980s was a computer science course on data structures and algorithms. In that class, we learned about a variety of approaches to solving key problems in programming. For example, we learned several different ways to take a list of numbers given in an arbitrary order and to sort that list from smallest to largest. These approaches differed in their efficiency.

What frustrated me about the class wasn’t the algorithms themselves—they were interesting. But we were never taught how anyone ever came up with those different approaches. What in the world would have gotten someone to even think of those things?

Looking back on it, my frustration arose because the class wasn’t teaching us how to imagine alternatives to what we already knew. Instead, it was just providing a series of alternatives that someone else had discovered.

In fact, much of school involves learning things that someone else has discovered and then doing assignments in which you answer questions that the person asking the question already knows the answer to. Yet, most of what you’re going to be asked to do for the rest of your career involves answering new questions that the person asking doesn’t already know how to answer (and perhaps nobody has a satisfactory answer to yet).

Imagining alternatives to current reality is not something you are likely to do well unless you practice it. If you feel like you need more practice being imaginative, here are a few things you can do to improve.

Consider the scenario

Bear in mind that all of the things you imagine are rooted in things you know already. In classic studies, people were asked to draw imaginary creatures from another planet. These creatures all tended to have the same structure, appendages, and sense organs as existing creatures. So, if you’re trying to imagine a new alternative, you’re going to call an existing scenario to mind. If you aren’t happy with the outcome of your imagination, try thinking of another scenario to use as a basis for your imagined situation.

Think first about the outcome

There is a tendency to focus on situations you know about when trying to imagine the future. Instead, focus on the solution or outcome you want to achieve, because that might call other things to mind. If you are trying to imagine modes of transportation in the future, rather than thinking about cars or trains, just focus on how a person could start at one place and end up at their desired location. That might lead to a different approach to imagining the future.

Add constraints

Try to constrain your imagination. People often think that constraints make them less creative. Studies suggest, though, that without constraints, you often imagine world that is quite similar to the world you know. When you put a lot of constraints on your imagination, most of the initial things you think of violate those constraints, so you have to keep working at it. You may fail to find anything that fits the constraints you set, but when you do, it is probably going to be pretty creative.

Devote time to practicing

You should also practice trying to imagine things—even when you don’t need to. Give yourself an assignment to imagine a solution to a problem you see, to come up with a plot for a story, or to develop a business idea. This practice will make you more comfortable using your imagination in situations where the idea you generate has implications for your job success.

Ultimately, remember that imagination is a skill that can be improved with practice. Because your education probably did not prepare you to be particularly imaginative, you’re going to have to work on it on your own. While it would have been nice to get more practice imagining in school, it is never too late to work on those skills.

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