Today's book is "Kougu" by Shoji Kato.
I first encountered this book in the summer of 2012, when my father, then a high school teacher, recommended it to me.
Tools for Thinking
The word "Kougu" itself is a neologism, meaning "tools for thinking" according to the book's definition.
I was captivated by the very first sentence of this book:
"I often think that there are too many people whose job it is to think, but who don't have the tools for it."
That's exactly right. Most of the tools used for thinking (for coming up with ideas, for getting inspiration) are blank
notebooks, or vaguely opening a computer to a blank screen. Isn't that generally the case?
Recently, excellent tools like Miro have emerged, but if "how to think" and "how to use it" are not established, and if it's not "utilized" as a tool, then good ideas and plans are unlikely to be born.
The format frequently utilized in this book is the Manda-Art.
How to use Manda-Art
It's a technique for organizing and expanding thoughts by writing ideas into cells. It's called Manda-Art (Mandalas + Art) because the grid resembles the mandala patterns of Buddhism. Recently, Shohei Ohtani's Manda-Art, which he used at age 18 to set his goals, became famous.
It's easy to create. Prepare a 3x3 grid and write the main keyword in the center.
Then, in the surrounding 8 cells, write other keywords that come to mind from the central keyword. Once all 9 keywords are filled, repeat this process using each of the raised keywords as the new central theme.
This will result in a total of nine Manda-Arts. The idea is to combine keywords from different Manda-Arts by looking at them side-by-side to generate a large number of ideas.
Give Manda-Art a theme to increase the resolution of your project proposals.
Once you've mastered how to create a Manda-Art, you can connect and utilize them to enhance the resolution of your projects and ideas.
Essentially, a project is complete when it covers the 4W1H.
Who, when, where, what, and how will the idea be realized? Everything is contained within these questions. Therefore, if you're planning a seasonal event, for example, the idea is to create a Manda-Art focusing only on the "when" element. Even if you simply say "summer event," there are many variations: is it night or day, early morning or late night? Early summer or late summer? Then, by combining each of those keywords with a Manda-Art created from another axis, such as "where," you can increase the resolution of your plan, like "a firework display to launch everyone's summer memories, held on Enoshima at the end of summer."
If you're still stuck, use "Osborn's Checklist."
Even when creating Manda-Arts with various axes, there are times when you hit a wall.
There might be times when you feel like you need a little more punch, but you don't know what's missing. That's when Osborn's Checklist comes in handy.
The method is very simple: just ask the following questions about the ideas you have.
- Adapt?
- Can it be used for new purposes as is?
- Modify?
- Is there anything similar? Can it be imitated?
- Magnify?
- What if you change the meaning, color, movement, smell, or shape?
- Minify?
- What happens if you make it bigger, longer, or increase the frequency?
- Substitute?
- What happens if you make it smaller, shorter, or lighter?
- Rearrange?
- Is there a substitute person or thing? Can the materials or location be changed?
- Reverse?
- What happens if you swap them or change the order?
- Combine?
- What happens if you turn it upside down, left-right, up-down, or reverse the role?
Don't you feel like the possibilities are endless?
Finally, WAITER-U SHOP sells many thinking tools like the ones introduced here.
Please take a look at our CREATIVE category products. You're sure to find wonderful thinking tools that will be useful to you. WAITER-U hopes that your wonderful work will become even more wonderful.
