I love to take baths as home. But the water never seemed deep enough. When I would fill the tub up with 9 inches of water, the overflow plate would prevent more water from entering the bath.
I tried a number of ways to cover the drain hole, including Saran wrap, duct tape, and plastic bags. But none of these approaches worked exceptionally well. I looked at drain hole covers for sale on Amazon.com, but they all seemed clunky and unreliable.
Then I had an idea.
I simply unscrewed the drain plate, turned it upside down, and refastened it. Voila! The hole is now on the top of the plate. I have an extra 3 inches of water in the tub. This is an extra 33%! And I still have the benefit of the drain hole just in case I forget to turn off the water.
This got me thinking: Where else can you turn things upside down to develop new solutions?
Of course conditioner and ketchup bottles have been literally doing this for a while now.
But how might you turns things upside down figuratively?
Here are some useful questions to help you look at a problem, or your company, differently:
- What do you always do? Do the opposite.
- What is your competition doing? Do the opposite.
- What have you never done? Do it.
- What is no one else doing? Do that!
- What do you always do last? Do it first. (or vice versa)
- What is the least important thing you do? What if it was now the most important? (or vice versa)