Legend has it that ancient Greek intellectual Archimedes shouted “Eureka!” when he sat in his bathtub and realised that he could measure the volume of an object by measuring the volume of water displaced as that object was immersed. Eureka moments or moments of great insight and surges of creative thinking are rare and difficult to come by but perhaps they can be induced.
The Brainsparker app attempts to get the creative juices flowing by introducing virtual cards that are shuffled by shaking your device: the card unveiled acts as a starting point for your writer’s, artist’s or innovator’s block. Begin with a free starter pack and there are specialised bundles for blogging, writing a novel, creative problem solving, motivational quotes and more.
Cards have short sentences like “change just one thing” or “find the gap”, which will prompt you to look at a problem from a different perspective if you’re stuck tackling it head on. There’s also a “daily brainsparker” feature for receiving regular notifications. I’ve set mine for 2pm when the postprandial slump hits.
