When I was a young architect, right out of college, I had a habit of reading daily about a famous architect or books by them: Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Phillip Johnson, John Johansen, Bruce Goff and many others. A few years later when I was working in advertising and graphics/signage design my reading switched to famous and successful designers: George Lois, Jerry della Famina, Olgivy, Alex Osborn. During the past 20 years it has been people in creativity: Alex Osborn, Sid Parnes, E. Paul Torrance, Roger von Oech, Andy van Gundy, Michael Michalko and others.

Often when I am working on a project and feel that my work is dragging, the creative juices aren't flowing, the results are dull or bland, or I feel I have been stopped by the blank paper nemesis I reach out to these greats.

I write down a list of 6 to 12 of the people who's work, thinking and teaching have greatly added to mine and through my imagination I talk with them with a pad of paper in front of me or I talk with them while I am walking that morning or running errands during the day with a handful of note cards in my pocket or on the car seat next to me.

I scan my memory for examples of their work or thinking that I especially enjoy. Then I look for clues from the learnings from those works: previous or new learnings; that might apply to my current project.

I scan my memory for traits of the chosen list to see if I am using that trait in my thinking, if not, I try to add it for awhile: flexibility, paradigm busting, multiple sensing, forced relationships, searching for the essences, question asking....etc.

The Challenge this week is to...

• choose a project or problem you are working on.
• make a list of 6 to 12 creative people from your life or famous ones you have studied or met.
• think about creative traits of each
• hold a short creative thinking strategy discussion with each of them
• ask them (or your mind's/imagination's interpretation of them) for suggestions of how they would creatively solve your challenge or for tips for how you might