Here are 7 ways you can instantly access your natural creativity and create anything you like.
1. Think Like A Child.
As adults, we tend to think in a conditioned way aimed at showing how clever we are. However, when we were kids, we were simply spontaneous and more creative. To re-capture your childhood curiosity, let yourself just wonder at things, to be totally present in the here and now, and to let go of what you thought was true.
2. Make New Connections.
You don’t need a college degree to be innovative; just connect existing ideas. Did you know that ice cream was invented in 2000 BC, but it took another 3900 years for someone to come up with the idea of a cone? Genius happens when you take two seemingly unrelated things and add a spark of creativity.
3. Be A Little Illogical.
Having a tendency to tie things up neatly is a peculiar Western trait. We like to find solutions to problems, and answers to questions. To be creative, you have to be comfortable with things that don’t fit. Incongruence is more acceptable in the Eastern tradition. For example, look at this Zen koan: what is the sound of one hand clapping?
4. Laugh More.
The creativity of a workplace can be measured by a laughometer, or how much it laughs. One of the best creative tools is humor. It jolts us out of our normal patterns and puts ideas together that shouldn’t go together. It’s been found that students’ problem-solving abilities rise 60% after listening to comedy tapes.
5. Think Outside Your Limits.
There are many products that we take for granted today because people have thought outside the box. At a computer conference in the 1980s, someone joked that computerized doors would be the next thing on their minds. Twenty years later, he returned to the same hotel with computer-programmed key cards on all the doors.
6. Adopt and Adapt.
A creative mind does not have to think outside the box. It is possible to be creative by adapting what works elsewhere. For example, a company that wanted a faster turnaround on its flights adopted Formula One pit crew techniques. Nature can also provide ideas. Velcro was invented by Georges de Mestral after he adapted the way certain seeds stick to clothing.
7. Remember Your Dreams.
The subconscious mind works by itself when we relax and dream, which creates a rich seam of ideas. Roffey Park Management Institute calls this “washing-up creativity,” because most flashes of inspiration occur when we are walking the dog, sitting Archimedes-like in the bath, or doing the dishes.
Apply these 7 creative thinking techniques and make them part of your daily thinking and I guarantee that new solutions to your problems will open up to you with ease and speed.
