It’s easy to say and hard to do — Deferring Judgement.

Alex Osborn the original guru of creativity suggested that during brainstorming, participants should “defer judgement.” Osborn wrote Applied Imagination many years ago, which defined brainstorming. He actually coined the term. It’s a rule from the master —  you don’t critique ideas during brainstorming — it’s challenging.

But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about Deferring Judgement as a daily habit, as a continuous way of being. I heard Sid Parnes talk at CPSI, and this was his lifestyle “add” to the original Osborn guidance. As a fundamental way of being, it’s a big shift. But wow, what benefits for your creativity!

Let’s face it, we are all pretty much judging all the time. A friend of mine once said, “I can’t go 5 minutes without major judgements.” Think about it and then go about your daily business for about an hour. Then review your thinking. You’ll have a list of judgements as long as your arm, like:

* “She really doesn’t know how to dress professionally.”

* This iPhone application is needlessly complex”

* “His Dad was a bum, I think he is to.”

* “He never gets it right first time.”

* “The bus company is hopeless.”

Now, many of these judgements may in fact be true. It doesn’t matter. When you think judgmentally, all the time, you’re pushing possibility out of your head. You are saying, mentally, you don’t want to know different, you don’t want ideas, insights. I have an image in my head of a large living room with lots of big windows. This is your brain. If the windows and shutters are closed, no new ideas are going to come in. Creative thinking is possibility thinking, like, “What If…?” It’s like opening those windows and letting in light and air, it changes the room.

I’m not saying Never Judge. I’m saying defer it, put it off. The time will arrive when you have to decide something, and then, you’ll need to use critical thinking. But by giving things a bit more time, who knows, you might discover something important. The other distinction I’d like to make is deferring judgement doesn’t mean just shutting up and not saying critical things. That’s a good start, but there’s more.  It means really, giving a concept, a person, an idea — a chance. Looking at things with an open, or neutral mind to see what’s there without preconceptions. In a decision making mode, you might even look for what is right about it, or what it’s potential is, not for what is wrong about it.

Yes, it’s very easy to talk about here, and in reality, very difficult to do, this deferral of judgement as a lifestyle choice. But if you can do it, even for brief periods of time, you’ll be opening those windows in your mind to the fresh breeze of opportunity.

Try deferring judgement. For your creativity’s sake. Open the windows to your brain and let more ideas in.

*****

PS: If you want to start into more advanced practice, you might consider my book — Jack’s Notebook, a business novel about creative problem solving.

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