Increase your creativity

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This quick course in creativity is designed to give you a platform to stand on as we look at the various ways you can handle home, social and workplace situations, job-search details and career-path decisions. Let's examine what creativity might look like. Here are some of the ways in which creativity expresses itself. Perhaps the creative idea is one that mixes and matches items or ideas that haven't been combined in just this way before. A wonderful example of this comes from Anita Roddick, who founded the Body Shop, a chain of personal care products and stores. She combined the need to help underdeveloped countries earn income with the need to avoid destroying their resources and environment. She built her business by using natural products produced by these countries. Or, perhaps the same item could be used in a different way. Which came first, the ballpoint pen or roll-on deodorant? Both use the same idea - a rolling ball that applies liquid to a surface. Perhaps you can take a new approach that works. This was the case, for instance, with Arm & Hammer Baking Soda when it was discovered that putting an open box into the refrigerator would soak up odors. Finally, you might use your creative powers to develop special mastery in areas that can contribute to workplace effectiveness. For example, you might try opening yourself to new ways of experiencing life, increasing flexibility and open-mindedness. There are lots of ways in which creativity can be fostered to produce really great outcomes. And all it takes is practice. We all have the abilities...what we need to develop are the skills, the methods, the focus. 1. Look after yourself. Sleep well/Eat well/meditate/do what you enjoy and do it more often (if it is life enhancing!). Creativity is reduced when your senses are dulled. 2. Do something different. We do so much on auto - the route we take to work, newspaper we read, TV programmes we routinely watch. Vary one element of your regular routine for a while. If feasible, take a different route to work, read a different newspaper (especially one you would never read!). 3. Be curious about your world around you. It always amazes me when people don't see what's around them. See the area you live/work in as a tourist would. How would you explore it if you were a tourist? 4. Read a book on something you previously had no interest in. ...and see if you can create interest whilst reading it. It is my belief that no topic is boring or uninteresting if it is enthusiastically and creatively presented. You know what you like - or you like what you know? 5. Do something childlike once in a while. ...and you don't have to have the children there as an 'excuse' to do it. Sit and play on swings/draw/paint 'silly' pictures - have fun. Children are incredibly creative and as adults we could learn a lot about how they view the world. 6. Create/prepare quiet time for yourself every day. Not to do anything (unless it relaxes you), but just to clear and refresh your mind. We are human beings, not doings. There are times when our crowded schedule and minds don't allow space and time for the creative to be welcomed in. Einstein liked to go sailing in the afternoons after working in the morning. Okay, most of us don't have this opportunity, but you get the point. 7. Ask 'what if' questions. Just for fun and see where the answers take you. What if that building could talk, what would it say, what stories would it tell? 8. We often make assumptions. ...about the people we work with (especially if we don't like them!) Try treating someone you don't particularly like at work as if you liked them (yeah I know...) What would you say, how would you act towards them? 9. Write and storyboard your life. ...as if it were a script you had to sell to a film company. 10. Talk to people you routinely ignore or dismiss. Imagine their lives from their point of view, they often have viewpoints which you may never have considered before and ... carry a small notebook with you to jot down new ideas / sensations / feelings as they come to mind 11. Surprise Your Mind. List laughable, ridiculous, outrageous and bizarre ideas. Don't limit yourself to ideas that other people consider "sane," "reasonable" or "logical." The best and most creative ideas stem from silly ones. When you're in a creative mode, you're suspending judgment on ideas you generate. You simply list them all down and never worry whether they make sense or not. Allow yourself the freedom to think outside the box. 12. Aim for Quantity. Generate loads of ideas for you to go through later. It's normal that your first few ideas won't really be fresh. The gems will come out later so it's important to keep going. With a large list of ideas, you'll have more to choose from, adapt or combine. Creativity is not coming up with something new from nothing; creativity is the ability to create something novel from ideas/things that already exist by combining, improving or refining them. 13. Be Playful. A relaxed and playful attitude fosters creativity. Those creative juices flow best when you're not restrained by your logical, left brain. Toy with ideas and forget about being too careful. Be a child again and play. 14. Believe that Everything has a Solution. An optimistic outlook always leads to solutions, no matter how impossible a problem or task may be. Often when a solution can't be found, all that's needed is for the problem to be redefined. Or when you think you're stumped, surprise your mind with silly solutions then work backwards, leading to the original problem. Cultivate an attitude of continuing search for solutions. 15. Let Go of Your Fear of Failure. Don't expect to do something perfectly for the first time. Thomas Edison tried about 1800 things for the perfect filament for the incandescent lamp. Fear of failure is one of the major factors that can hinder your creativity. Instead of looking at failed attempts negatively, look at your failures as learning opportunities. Failing isn't fun, but neither is doing nothing.