How to Use Your Whole Brain as an Engineer to Work Smarter

Anthony Fasano posted 2014-05-22

The following is a summary of Session 19 of my podcast, The Engineering Career Coach (TECC) Podcast with Anthony Fasano, PE. I will summarize the main points in this post here; however, you can also listen to the show through the player below or by subscribing on iTunes. I offer a career-changing tip at the end of each podcast session.

In this session of the TECC Podcast, I interview engineer and author Stu Walesh, PE, and discuss points in his forthcoming book, Introduction to Creativity and Innovation for Engineers.

During the session, Walesh made the following points about utilizing the right side (or creative side) of your brain as an engineer:

  • There are three aspects of working smarter: being effective, being efficient, and being innovative.
  • Engineers always strive to be efficient, but they don’t always stay focused on being effective. For example, Stu references a weekly report that he used to do for an engineering project. He was efficient in getting it done, but no one ever read it. One week he stopped doing it, and no one noticed. He was efficient, but what he was producing wasn’t effective.
  • There are more and more engineers out there in the world today. To differentiate yourself, it is critical to be innovative to separate yourself from other sound technical engineers.
  • Be open to new ways of doing things as an engineer.
  • Take a look at operations and processes and come up with better, more innovative ways to do them.
  • Mind mapping can be a very effective tool for solving engineering problems. It allows you to engage both sides of the brain. If you are faced with a problem, write it down in a circle on a piece of paper. Then write down everything you can think of connected to that topic all around the circle. You will be amazed at what you come up with.
  • Creating new habits is critical to making positive changes in your career and life.

Stu gives several other strategies and tips during this podcast session.

If you have been able to harness your right-brain creativity as an engineer, please leave a comment below explaining how.

This is a guest post by Anthony Fasano, PE, author of Engineer Your Own Success. Anthony found success as an engineer at a very early age and now writes and podcasts to help other engineers do the same. Visit Anthony’s website at EngineeringCareerCoach.com for free engineering career advice and other resources.