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testimonies:portugal:testimonies:portugal:laurent_tool

A creativity exercise called "The dreamer, the realistic, and the criticist in each one of us" - Robert B. Dilts in "Strategies of Genius"

This exercise was a great help to me, it allowed me to gain clarity and make decisions about how to move forward in my project.

According this tool, it is considered that to stimulate creativity, there are 3 essential perception angles : the dreamer, the realistic, and the criticist. The dreamer without the realistic can’t achieve his/her ideas : the dreamer is focused on the « What », he is focused on the vision, on the long term. The realistic is focused on the « How », he is focused on the action, on the short term. The criticist is focused on the « Why », he is focused on the logic, on both short and long term.

  • The criticist and realistic won’t be very creative and/or innovative without the dreamer
  • The criticist and dreamer in the same boat, without realistic, will give endless conflicts.
  • The dreamer and the realistic can accomplish things together, but without the quality they could have had with a criticist onboard

The issue is that these 3 aspects of our personality coexist inside us, with different degrees and different way of expression, depending on our personal history, and they are in conflict to know which one will dominate, instead of living together in synergy.

Here is a way of our trying to reconcile these 3 aspects of our personality. 1. Put 4 papers in the ground with the following words (one per paper) : « realistic », « dreamer », « criticist », and « project ». Leave a physical space of 2 steps between each paper. Put yourself close the paper « project », give it a name, close your eyes. Then go to the « dreamer » circle, visualize an experience where you were particularly a dreamer. Then go to the « realistic » circle, visualize an experience where you were particularly a realistic. Then go to the « criticist » circle, visualize an experience where you were particularly a criticist.

2. Go back to « project », think about your project and start walking again. First, go to « dreamer » and ask your creative side to dream about your project. What is the objective ? What is the goal of this project ? How does it motivate you ? What will it bring to you ? Activate your senses, for example : « What will I see when I achieve my project ? »

3. Enter the « realistic » circle and feel what the « dreamer » revealed. Ask your realistic side to plan step by step the achievement of this dream. What do you have to do to execute this vision ? What resources do you need ? Who do you need ? Which people ? To do what ? What obstacles may you encounter ? How to overcome them ?

4. Go the « criticist » circle, and with this criticist perspective, observe rigorously what the realistic just revealed, globally and in details : What are the pros ? What are the cons ? What are the costs ? What does not depend on you ? What could improve the project ?

5. Go back to the « project » circle and try to recapitulate up what came out the previous steps.

6. Put all the 4 papers together in the center of the space. Imagine you will achieve the project soon, imagine it step by step.

testimonies/portugal/testimonies/portugal/laurent_tool.txt · Last modified: 2018/11/08 18:50 by Clement