“Creativity,” according to Albert Einstein,” is intelligence having fun.” Just like your brain, creativity is a muscle that must be used…exercised, trained, improved upon, boosted…in order to flourish or else, it will just wither away.
Creativity is a part of everyone, not just reserved for the chosen few. Your “brand” of creativity may look or be expressed differently than someone else’s creativity. But make no mistake. Everyone has creative muscles.
Similarly, creativity is inherent in every thing, every topic, every content area, not just the arts, not just science. Whether you are a real estate agent, a tech developer, a politician, a negotiator, a baker, a manager, creativity is required to move things along, to enable advancement, to connect the dots in unique and more effective ways.
Here are some tips, some do’s and some don’t, that may help you tap into your creative juices and flex your creative muscles.
- First of all, see your self as a creative person. Then remind yourself that you are a creative person…continuously.
- Keep an “Idea Notebook” with you all the time so that each and every time you have an idea, you’ll be able to write it down in one place so you don’t forget it or lose that slip of paper you’ve written it on. Ideas happen any time, any where so be ready to write it down. Whether or not the idea is “good” or “bad,” “funny” or “sad,” write it down. Don’t edit it out before you write it down in your Idea Notebook. You’ll decide later, whether or not you want to pursue that idea.
- Data indicates that you are more creative when you’re tired. True! You don’t have to be bright eyed and bushy tailed to be creative. Creativity mostly occurs during non-optimal times when you’re doing “other” things or nothing at all, not when you’re dialed into your daily, regular work routine.
- Creativity needs sound to spark new, “out of the box” ideas and soft, unfocused lighting. Forget bright, stark lighting and silence.
- Experiment by taking two ideas and making them one. By dissecting two separate ideas, extracting the key elements of each idea and blending and/or merging the two together, you may “discover” a more effective, more inclusive, more well rounded single idea that may be more workable.
- Force your self to look beyond what you already “know.” Getting out of your comfort zone is a prerequisite for breakthrough ideas.
- Become your own devil’s advocate. Instead of simply jumping into execution mode by doing things the same way you’ve been doing them just to “get it done,” take some time to argue against yourself, to restructure the content elements, to leave no stone unturned.
- Creativity and your ability to be creative are fluid. Know that your creative “quotient” changes all the time. Sometimes that quotient feels dry and empty and sometimes that quotient is bubbling over with ideas. When it’s empty, take a hike. When it’s bubbling over, jot down your ideas in your Idea Notebook.
