Time management - Divergent thinking
Divergent thinking
General
Another trait of individuals is ‘divergent’ or ‘convergent’ thinking.
Here we discuss Divergent thinkers, for Convergent thinkers see 'convergent thinking'.
These characteristics have close relationships with ‘monochronic’ and ‘polychronic’ personalities, see 'monochronic time' and 'polychronic time'.
Sees the big picture
Divergent thinkers are naturally creative generating plenty of ideas but may not indicate a clear way forward. They like to multitask.
Flexibility
Although they may well start with a clear plan they are quite happy to listen to their feelings and change if necessary to complete jobs in hand.
Free space
The divergent thinker naturally embraces the idea of thinking time. They will give them selves the time to relax and think. It is not unusual for problem solutions to appear during such a process, apparently from no where. There is the famous example of Archimedes crying out, ‘eureka!’ (I have found it) when he realised that the up thrust on a body is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. Another is the train of thought between a dream of serpents linking their tails and the structure of benzene that was proposed by Kekule.
This ‘browsing’ of thoughts and ideas can be applied elsewhere. For example, the divergent thinker may be happy to browse a magazine or book as a way of assessing relevance before focussing on a particular area. This would be seen as an efficient use of time compared to the convergent thinker who may approach a book or magazine via the index and read articles in and orderly manner.