Accidental Genius

 Accidental Genius

By Mark Levy

Preview 

Our mind is bombarded with thousands of thoughts and ideas every day. We go through them without much consciousness. What if there was a way to collect them? Free writing or writing without filtering helps us tap our creative genius. A guideline to watching oneself think with complete awareness and consciousness, Accidental Genius is a manual to give the mind the right direction. Further, it highlights how to prompt the mind to think freely and without blocks, how to transform random thoughts into executable ideas and how to polish these ideas and share them with others. 

About the Author 

Mark Levy dabbled into publishing and went on to become a highly successful book seller. In 1997, he decided to co-write his first book with a friend and has since then authored five other titles and newspaper articles. He runs a marketing strategy firm, teaches research-based business writing and loves magic tricks.

 

What to expect? Learn to tap your creative genius from your rich thought pool through the simple exercise of writing.  

Get introduced to the liberating exercise that is free writing. Learn how to pen down your thoughts and ideas without stopping to analyse or refine them. Writer’s block and lack of inspiration are now things of the past. When you know the trick of shutting up the editor in your head, writing as fast as you think, prompting your mind when you find it’s distracted, reviewing what you’ve written with an open mind, trashing what isn’t relevant or good enough and storing the cream of your thoughts to be presented in the future, you can solve almost any problem efficiently and effectively.  

 

There is no need to complicate things or overwhelm oneself with the task at hand no matter how tall the order. You have to start somewhere, and the best place to begin is to write about what appeals to you or what problem you’re facing and build on it. Work intelligently by training your mind to focus and refocus if you find yourself drifting away.  

 

Practices like using short open-ended prompts, asking questions, viewing the problem in a particular context, having conversations with oneself or others, but on paper, help greatly. Time and discipline are important factors. Working with set time goals takes the pressure off and following a writing routine makes focused and active thinking and writing, second nature.  

 

Alternating mundane tasks like house hold chores is a clever way to manage time better as well as approach your writing with a fresh perspective. So is coming back to your work after hours or days. It’s important to be open to new perspectives and be observant of the many stories around you. Probe deeper into your ideas and redefine words if needed, and build on what you’ve written.  

 

Prioritize quantity over quality in the initial stages. Instead of one great and often forced idea, come up with many average ideas that you can go back to and polish if needed. Compile the many thoughts you’ve jotted down into a comprehensive piece, and refine as needed by adding or deleting parts. It always helps to have a thought inventory that you can refer to at later stages, because what appears mundane now, may give you deeper insights at a later stage. 

What you will discover or find in the book: 

• How to write freely and without any mental hurdles? 

• How to tame thought process and concentration ability? 

• How to polish ‘thought chunks’ into presentable ideas executable solutions? 

• How to use free writing as a daily, long-term exercise? 

 

Start small 

We’re a generation obsessed with getting things right the first time. In the bargain we end up being too harsh with ourselves. That’s not how creative processes work. We must cut ourselves some slack and start easy. Idea generation or brainstorming is a mental exercise. Like in physical exercise it’s important to warm up before you start working out, a mental warm up is essential.  

Get yourself to put pen to paper, start writing, and write fast and continuously. There is no need to stop at intervals and worry about whether what you’re writing is correct or not. Don’t negate anything you’ve written rather build on all the ideas and concepts that you’ve jotted down. Also, there is no need to look back every now and then and worry about how much you’ve written or how far you’ve come. When you write in this manner, you’re approaching writing as a mundane, meditative exercise. It helps to get your thoughts flowing continuously without letting your mind shut down. 

 It’s important that the mind doesn’t shut down because the mind usually thinks faster than our hands write, and so, the latter must be trained to keep pace with the former. Unlike thinking, which makes your mind wander, writing keeps you grounded to your thoughts and so you don’t lose a single potential idea that flits across your mind. The exercise also involuntarily releases any mental blocks. Further, the repetitive style of the exercise may even allow engaging your subconscious, which is a treasure trove of creative ideas. 

Give yourself rules like finishing a certain number of words a day, or an exercise that will help you get in the groove, such as brainstorming for questions, instead of solutions to problems. Let your imagination flow.  

Don’t hesitate to trash it 

Many a time, in the process of writing, we end up getting attached to our ideas. True that at the time the idea looked promising. But in the process, if you discover that a particular idea isn’t working, it’s time to kill it; it’s time to ditch it. Rather than wallowing in a non-idea, pick up the reins and open your mind to new perspectives.  

At best, use the old idea to build on the new one. An idea is not worth executing until it’s been rejected at least a few times. When you reject an idea or parts of it, what you’re actually doing is improving on the original idea. You’re thinking from different angles to better the original thought.  

Make assumptions and run your thoughts in different contexts. It doesn’t matter if these contexts are unrealistic or imaginary. If there is a problem that needs to be solved, and you follow this style of thinking through different perspectives, odds are you will find an ideal solution faster because through the whole process, you will open your mind to endless possibilities. It’s just like the mind of a child that doesn’t limit itself because of which it can achieve anything right from going to outer space to being a superhero.  

It’s always better to have many average ideas than one strong idea. One strong idea means you’re improving in your mind where you may lose out on important aspects or ignore the best ones. Instead if you put your average thoughts on paper you’ll be improving on paper, which means every thought will be captured and you can always refer back to it; you will never lose it.  

Eat the frog first, and share for feedback! 

When you start a free writing session, it’s important that your centre of gravity or starting point, be something you’re inspired about. If we like something, we will effortlessly be good at it or focus on it. This is a great way to know where to start writing or solving a problem because it’s where your energy and interest lies. But if you’re feeling uninspired, start with that, and write about it. For instance, what is making you feel uninspired and why.  

Describe your feelings perhaps and build on that. When you write about the problem, it helps you see it more objectively, and odds are, you will find the solution to your problem. Free writing sessions could last for minutes or even hours divided into minute-sessions. Try and write on a new topic for each of these minute-sessions. That way you spend hours writing about different things and, in the bargain, explore various thoughts and perspectives.  

It always helps to change your audience, i.e., who you would address that bit you’ve written to. That way, you end up writing from various angles. You could write dialogues with different people, even well-known public figures. Imagining you’re talking to them. It will help you see the situation through a different lens. Don’t bother analyzing a solution you’ve written down just because it doesn’t feel right to you or, you think, wouldn’t feel right to someone you intend to show it to. Be honest and write what comes to your mind.  

Freewriting can be used to explore, analyse, and imagine new ideas and thoughts. However, it remains largely a personal endeavor. Despite the experience being personal, circulating one's writing pieces amongst friends and close colleagues, often helps in sharpening the writing skills. Feedback can offer insights in to a reader's perspective. It can help you in systematizing your thoughts and make your writing better. 

 

Focus on exploring the process of free writing  

Free writing is a great way to go about even for a public writing project, be it a new book, or a marketing presentation. Don’t worry about quality initially, focus on quantity. Explore the thoughts and ideas in your mind and write without stopping to edit or analyse. Write on different topics pertaining to the project so you take into account every relevant angle.  

 

Don’t focus on what kind of book readers will enjoy or on what marketing points will convince your boss. Instead look internally, within your mind, for inspiration. Make assumptions and redefine popular notions to get your mind to think in all directions. Try and discover what fascinates you.  

 

If you look at what the market wants, you’ll be stretched in different directions. If you write about what interests or intrigues you, based on your unique experiences in life, you’ll have a unique piece instead of a run of the mill, me-too project. Once you’ve jotted everything down, assemble pieces of your free writing as a collage before sharing it with others. At this stage you can polish your work and flesh out a draft worth sharing. Free writing can also be used to help others think. For instance, in an office set up, or a classroom, if you wish to facilitate your colleagues to think of solutions to, say, a marketing crisis the company is facing, or your students to come up with ideas for their next assignment.  

 

Ideas and stories are everywhere provided you’re observant enough to spot them. When you do, make a note of them even if you’re not free writing at that time. Build an inventory of thoughts and ideas that you can refer to later. Someone who is looking to extract the cream of a good book must highlight, make margin notes and dog ear pages, to keep track of the bits that resonate with them. If you disagree with the author, write about that too. Odds are that it will open new doors to a deeper and improved understanding of things.  

 

 

Final Summary 

Free writing is a helpful tool to achieve personal and professional goals. It is a great way to tame your mind and become more aware and concentrate better.  

Writing the way you think facilitates creative ideas that can be used for different purposes: writing assignments, official problems, and personal struggles. By writing about what is troubling you, or what you feel the problem is, or even what fascinates you, you can open your mind to so many possibilities.  

There are many ways to assist your mind while you free write. Once you follow this, you will surely have a draft that is worth sharing with the public if you wish to.