Today’s Tip: Spatial Abilities

Today’s tip is around spatial abilities, including thinking outside the. Ox. Or in this case, outside the sphere. When I was in college and taking an advanced calculus class, we were sent home with our exams and answer booklets. Where I went to school, we were on the honor system and expected to do work without cheating. Something I valued highly, not only for integrity sake, but also because I actually wanted to learn and satisfy my insatiable curiosity. But I ran into a problem where you had to find the point where a line intersected a sphere. The only issue was that I had forgotten the formula for a sphere - eek! But I remembered the formula for a circle. So I set out to build a circle one dimension at a time to discover the solution. I built the first circle on the X Axis, then on the Y Axis, and then the Z Axis. Then I used the formulas for triangles to build a pyramid inside the sphere, then outside the sphere. With that done, I could easily see the exact point on the sphere where the line intersected to give me the correct answer. However, I was worried that if I didn’t show my work, it would look like I was cheating. And this was before wide spread computers, cell phones, etc. So I wrote out about 20 pages of notes with pencil and the paper notebook given to us for our exam answers. After the professor, one of the most brilliant mathematicians I had run across, graded the papers, he came in with the most perplexed look on his face saying one of the students had gone on and on for pages and then boom, the correct answer! I laughed thinking to myself, this must have left him so confused, despite my best attempt at explanation. And that can happen when you think outside the box, but are so gritty and determined to get to the solution. So if that is what you face at times in life, don’t let it discourage you if others don’t understand. Just own your conviction in the solution and keep going!

Design Thinking shortcut for today:

Today’s Design Thinking shortcut:

Don’t always approach design from the same perspective. Leave yourself room to think outside the box and wander around sometimes!

Innovation shortcut for today:

Today’s Innovation shortcut:

There are many roads to innovation. Just because you don’t take the road that everyone else does, doesn’t mean you are taking the wrong one. Keep going and find a way to make it happen!