A Creative Thinking Workout
The expression, "trying to put a round peg in a square hole" usually means that something isn't a good fit.
But sometimes it's exactly what's needed for a creative spark.
To begin with, write up a list of five creative ideas you admire. Doesn't matter what context they come from.
For example, here are five from the world of business:
Toms Shoes — buy-a-pair, donate-a-pair
Amazon — Prime membership
IKEA — build-your-own furniture
Duolingo — gamifying language learning
Casper — mattress-in-a-box
Next, pick a challenge you're working on. If you don't have anything specific, you can always think generally about your company or a client.
Try to FORCE your list of ideas onto your own challenge and see what new ideas spring forth. It might feel like some won't work in the new context, but keep forcing it until you get something. If it's too easy to copy the original, it's probably not a very good idea anyway.
For instance, my company runs High-ROI Off-sites and Creative Solution Sprints for leadership teams. By forcing the "buy a pair, donate a pair" concept onto what I do — I came up with this:
For every leadership session I'm hired for, I could include one for junior / mid-level employees at the same company — so every investment in the leadership team is also an investment in the next generation.