Dear friend,
Divergent thinking is oxygen for the creative soul. If you catch yourself marching in single-file behind everyone else, you’re already suffocating. The antidote is simple: step sideways, make your own trail, and keep harvesting odd, half-baked ideas before the inner critic burns them down.
Below is my personal, battle-tested field manual for thinking more divergently. Read it, remix it, toss what you don’t like, but above all—use it.
1. Ask “Why not?” before you ask “Why?”
Most people interrogate possibilities to death: “Why should I do that?” Flip the script. Every time a strange idea pops up, ask, “Why not?” The burden of proof now rests on convention, not on you. Each “why not” widens the aperture for fresh options.
2. Cross-pollinate like crazy
I’m a sociologist who photographs strangers, lifts heavy, raps terrible freestyles, and writes blog rants. Those clashes of culture create sparks—new metaphors, new questions, new frames. Collect obsessions the way bees collect pollen; then jam them together in ways no algorithm would predict. Innovation loves unlikely friendships.
3. Prune the inessential
“Less is more in street photography (and life).” Subtracting clutter—gear, apps, commitments—gives your brain white space to roam. Divergent thinking isn’t about adding bricks of knowledge; it’s about removing the walls that box you in.
4. Shoot from the gut, not the committee
In photos and in life, if you over-analyze, you paralyze. Trust instinctual flashes. “Document humanity with your heart … shoot from the gut.” The first draft of any idea should feel raw and a little embarrassing. Good—keep it moving.
5. Fail louder, faster
I call myself “the biggest failure in street photography” because every miss taught me a new route. Double your failure rate and you double your experiments; double your experiments and originality becomes inevitable.
6. Wander without GPS
Set aside a day, leave the map at home, and stroll a neighborhood you’ve never walked. Divergent thoughts hide in back-alleys, not on the freeway. Physical drifting trains mental drifting.
7. Make your body strong, your mind elastic
Heavy rack pulls, cold showers, intermittent fasting—these aren’t macho flexes; they’re discomfort reps. Each rep tells the brain: “I can push past default settings.” A strong body becomes fertile soil for reckless ideas.
8. Delete the algorithmic babysitter
Infinite scroll dims imagination. Try a digital fast—24 hours offline. Boredom will claw at you first; then the mind, unshackled, starts generating unpredictable connections. That’s the birthplace of divergent gold.
9. Publish in public
Blog, zine, podcast—doesn’t matter. Hitting “publish” forces you to crystallize fuzzy notions and invites feedback that mutates them further. Creativity is an ecosystem; let your ideas circulate and evolve outside your skull.
10. Create every day, even if it’s trash
“We flourish the most when we are in the act of creation.” Ten honest minutes of making beats two hours of scrolling “inspiration.” Consistent output is the compound interest of divergent thinking.
Closing riff
Divergent thinking isn’t a talent you’re born with; it’s a muscle you tear down and rebuild through practice, curiosity, and a stubborn refusal to color inside the lines. So grab your camera, notebook, or frying pan, and make something weird today. The world overflows with straight edges—be the scribble that breaks the page.