Have you ever wondered how you can be more innovative in your research, and especially, in your proposals?
It’s a common struggle. You scour the literature to diligently prepare for your proposal writing, only to find out that perhaps there are “no new ideas” – or just small incremental improvements you can make on what’s already there. It can feel stifling.
In this 9 minute video from my course Think Creative, Be Productive, I use the analogy of a lost cat to show you why too much stuff packed into your memory isn’t a good thing. Sometimes it is better to not be quite so diligent in your literature research.
By the way, after watching this if you found yourself thinking: that’s all just theory, you might be interested in this factoid: In all my funded proposals, I never scoured the literature once before getting the core ideas down on paper for what the proposal was about. It was only after I’d formulated and solidified those core ideas that I’d go to the literature to see if there was anything relevant. That way, I didn’t contaminate my own creativity with others ideas. I encourage giving it a try!
