"I have a mind like a steel... uh... thingy." Patrick Logan's weblog.

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008

The Second Right Answer

Roger von Oech via Gary King...

My mantra is “Look for the Second Right Answer.” This has been my guiding principle for over thirty years. Much of our educational system tries to teach us to look for the “one right answer.”

I find that looking for the second right answer is an incredibly easy way to open my mind. For example, when I’m looking for information, this mantra tells me to go beyond the right answers that have worked in the past and look for others. When I’m trying to be creative, it playfully advises me to put my ideas in unusual contexts to give them new meanings.

1 comment:

Christopher Cashell said...

If you like that bit, I highly recommend Roger von Oech's books. In particularly, A Wack on the Side of the Head was fantastic.

It's a book about creativity and things you can do to be more creative. "The Second Right Answer" was one of the suggestions he has in his book.

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Portland, Oregon, United States
I'm usually writing from my favorite location on the planet, the pacific northwest of the u.s. I write for myself only and unless otherwise specified my posts here should not be taken as representing an official position of my employer. Contact me at my gee mail account, username patrickdlogan.