Analogical Thinking: A Way To Produce Creative Ideas
Through the use of analogy, human beings have come up with many innovative ideas and creative solutions to problems. Here’s how you can apply analogical thinking to your life and work.
As a kid growing up in the 80s in Finglas, a suburb of Dublin City, we’d play in the grounds of an old farmhouse that stood in the middle of the housing estate. It was locally known as The Black House Community Centre, but we called it The Blacker. It was kip. A freezing cold run-down old place where teenagers would hang out in the dark, and beer cans, broken glass and dog shit would gather in corners. We’d steal matches from our dads and light fires in a recess at the back. There was a strong smell of piss there too. I can still smell it now.
Wild grasses and weeds grew everywhere on the grounds. We‘d pull bunches of sticklebacks (Cleavers) and throw them at each other for fun, and find them stuck inside the arms of jumpers and in the creases in our socks for days afterwards. The sticklebacks were clever little plants really, having evolved the ability to latch on to material like walls, trees, animal fur, and the backs of children’s jumpers.
