Oblique Strategies

Today, 8am - Tim Irving

Yesterday's weather forecast promised snow, I woke up to mist! If I cared I would go crazy. All my photographs look like Christmas cards, so it's time to stop trying and do something else.

Coming up with new ideas is difficult, but I'm not happy if I continue to plough the same field even it it's making money. I know of several techniques to change track, one worth mentioning that I've used with some success is Oblique Strategies. It sometimes comes up trumps.

Oblique Strategies is a set of cards (subtitled over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas). They were created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt during the seventies. The cards are mostly used by musicians to generate new ideas, to break free of cliches. I can assure you that Phil Collins has never used Oblique Strategies, but David Bowie, David Byrne and Bryan Ferry are adepts. It's a bit like I Ching for musicians. Thinking about it, I Ching would be very useful too!

I have an original pack of Oblique Strategies, but there's an on-line version with same dilemmas that you can try here. Just pick a random card and think about it, within the context of your work. If it doesn't work, pick another card. If it does work, let me know.