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Start by ignoring articles that tell you how to think.
Your statement is a paradox!
How does one learn to think, if not through education? And academic article-based education is the primary way of learning in academia.

I very much agree with the post's point about the first step. In order to make a significantly disruptive breakthrough, it's necessary that one knows where the outer edges of that domain lie.

I'm not too sure about the left/right brain aspect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_hemisphere#Hemisphere_...) but I agree with switching between logical and intuitive ways of looking at a problem, and immersing then allowing insight to come of its own accord.

It is by logic we prove, it is by intuition that we invent http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Poincare.html

Thank you for the link on Poincare. It was much more interesting than the original article.
Robert Weisberg's book "Creativity: Beyond the Myth of Genius" revolutionized my understanding of creativity. Now I see the mainstream view of the Genius creator struck by the muse as over-romanticized, whereas people who history has called genius work in a more structured fashion.

I recommend his book to anyone who creates or wants to create more. He doesn't tell you how to think, but you can figure it out. He reveal how myths confuse things and could send you down unproductive paths.

I talk about it more here -- http://joshuaspodek.com/creativity