The 8 Steps of Social Inventing

成为爱因斯坦之路

By Jon Spayde ■呆呆 选注

人只要敢于突破思维惯式就能产生壮举。爱因斯坦式的成功同样适合于今天我们社会的人。

1. Get ready to play.
Like other types of creativity, social inventiveness flourishes when you begin thinking outside conventional boundaries. Charlie Girsch, a St. Paul1, Minnesota-based creativity consultant, suggests that you start by playing with obviously absurd2 explanations for everyday events. "If traffic is slow, you'll be tempted to say, 'Hmm. Must be an accident up ahead.' Instead, try saying, 'Must be a family of turtles crossing the highway' or 'I expect there's some kind of alien abduction going on.'3 You'll be amazed how soon you will be looking at familiar problems in new ways." Girsch's book, Fanning4 the Creative Spirit (Creativity Central, 1999) has scores of other exercises for limbering up5 the inventive part of your brain.

2. Generate a zillion far-fetched ideas.6
Concerned about the homeless in your neighborhood? Imagine a Homeless Parliament, a Homeless Circus, homeless families forming an orchestra, a homeless museum... and on and on. Generate like mad with no regard for feasibility in order,7 as social invention pioneer Nicholas Albery advises, to "overcome worthy-but-dull ideas." Eventually the two or three best ideas will begin to stand out.

3. Take your wildest idea and bring it down to earth.8
How about that Homeless Circus? Could it turn into a forum for homeless people to display their creative talents? A performance series about homelessness? A neighborhood carnival9 with the homeless as guests of honor? Your flakiest10 idea may have a germ11 of brilliance that actually makes it more attractive, and thus more feasible (and fundable), than its worthy-but-dull cousins.

4. Look for inventions that solve more than one problem.
The Slow Food Movement, born in Italy, boosts local farmers and regional cuisine traditions and restaurateurs and the same time that it "feeds" our hunger for authentic tastes, healthy eating, and a more leisurely, saner style of life.12

5. Accentuate the positive.
"A very common question that I get when I work with people in communities is 'Why doesn't anybody care about our problems?'" notes Michael Patterson, a social inventor and activist in Massachusetts. "What a worthless question. 'Why?' questions are for philosophers. Ask 'How?' and 'What' questions—they are a lot more practical." For instance, Patterson asks, "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?"

6. Give it a rest.
Walk away from your favorite idea for a while, forget about it, let it sleep. With your conscious mind out of the way, your subconscious gets to fiddle with13 the concept for a while, and you just might have an unexpected insight or breakthrough14.

7. Practice "yes and" instead of "yes but."
No matter how tempted you are to say "Yes, but this will be hard because," or "Yes, but a million other people are doing this," shift the conjunction to "and" and see what sort of positive refinement or change emerges. "Yes, and we could concentrate on immigrants." "Yes, and we can make it open to all ages."

8. Get your idea into the world.
This is the tough part. You might seek out the help of activists who will take a shine to15 your ideas. Or become an organizer yourself. Paul Glove, a New York social inventor, counsels: "If you have an idea you believe in, write a pamphlet with your phone number on it and post it in Laundromats16 and bookstores. If three people call you, have lunch with them and call yourselves an organization. If five people call, meet with them and issue a press release." Presto17, you're launched.

1. St. Paul: 美国明尼苏达州的首府圣保罗。
2. absurd: 荒谬的，不合常理的。
3. 交通拥挤的时候，你很可能会说：“嗯，一定是前面发生了交通事故。”其实你还可以说：“一定是有一群乌龟正在过马路。”或者“我猜有人被外星人绑架了。” alien: 外国人，外星人。
4. fan: 激起，煽起。
5. limber up: 作准备活动。
6, 产生无数荒谬的念头。zillion: 无限大的数字，无数的。 far-fetched: 牵强的，靠不住的。
7. 像疯子似的滋生各种念头，不必考虑逻辑上的可行性。feasibility: 可行性。in order: 合乎逻辑的。
8. bring ... down to earth: 使……回到现实中来。
9. carnival/#ka:niv2l/: 表演会。
10. flaky: 古怪的，疯疯癫癫的。
11. germ: 开始，起点。
12. 起源于意大利的“慢餐运动”，提倡采用当地的农产品大力推崇带有地方色彩的烹饪方式和餐馆，以满足我们对美食、健康饮食的渴求，实现一种更悠闲、健康的生活方式。slow food movement: slow food 是相对于fast food 而言，slow food movement 起源于意大利，其宗旨是反对快餐和快餐文化，提倡传统烹饪。restaurateurs: 餐馆。 sane: 健康的。
13.fiddle with:胡来，盲目摆动。
14.breakthrough: 重大成就，惊人发现。
15. take a shine to: 喜欢，喜爱。
16. laundromats: 自助洗衣店。
17. presto: 说时迟，那时快；立刻。