You might wonder how Disney could turn your dreams into reality but the Disney Creativity Planning Strategy is a problem-solving and creative thinking technique developed by Robert Dilts and Todd Epstein based on the process used by Walt Disney and his team. Here is what you need to do.
First of all, come up with a dream. It could be anything you want to achieve, a personal change or a professional goal.
Once you have your dream in mind, set up three locations. Pick three spots in your room or outdoors, and assign a role to each location. For instance, you could use three chairs or put 3 labels on the ground.
The Dreamer Location
The first location is for the dreamer, this is where you let your imagination run wild and visualise the benefits of achieving your dream.
The Planner Location
The second location is for the planner, where you create a plan of action to make your dream a reality.
The Constructive Critic
The third location is for the constructive critic, where you look for weaknesses and loopholes in your plan.
To help you get in the right state of mind for each location, think about moments in your life when you were in the same mindset. For example, in the dreamer location, think of times when you were daydreaming, fantasizing, or allowing your imagination to run free and relive those moments for a few minutes. Then do the same for the other two.
Once you feel ready, it’s time to walk through the Disney Creativity Strategy.
Step One
Start by stepping into the dreamer location and reconnecting with your imagination. Don’t hold back, fully visualise your dream and enjoy the positive feelings that are evoked.
Step Two
Then, move to the planner location and create a practical and realistic plan of action. When you’ve completed it, move to the Constructive Critic location
Step Three
Your job as the constructive critic is to look for weaknesses in the plan but it’s important to know that you are not ever allowed to criticise the dream, this is very important. You may find you need to revise the plan in which case go back to the planning location and make the necessary changes. You keep repeating the process until you have a workable plan. Only as a very last resort should you revise the dream.
This is a very powerful exercise when combined with the positive psychology concept of character strengths. Once you know your top signature strengths you can make the planning process more effective by using them.
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