6 ways to become more creative

creativity 1024x767 6 ways to become more creative

Creative thinking is neither simple nor easy.

Even though our minds are full with brilliant ideas its difficult to get them out on demand without the proper mental attitude and approach.

Last week I have mentioned several brainstorming techniques.

Today I would like to discuss methods to encourage your creativity and get the most from brainstorming.

Don’t mix idea generation with evaluation

Creative problem solving requires both a divergent and convergent mindset. Generating ideas is divergent, and the more ideas you can get the merrier. Evaluating them is convergent. You need to narrow down the options and select the best possible solutions to your problem.

Effective problem solving requires these to activities to be separated. First generate as many ideas as you can and then evaluate and analyse them. Mixing those two processes together, in most cases, will yield you a few overanalyzed ideas, and will also create a negative climate that will restrict your creativity. Save the analysis for after all the possible ideas have been generated.

Test your assumptions

Its natural for people to see what we think we see. And most of times people act without realising or thinking of the consequences. Testing your assumptions is important because it can lead to new horizons and breakthroughs. To do that simply keep up questioning even things you take for granted, till you can no longer find questions. The more questions you ask, the better you will understand the problem. More importantly you’d be sure you try to solve the real problem!!

Avoid thinking with patterns or by habit

Most people have our own secure and comfortable way of doing things. Creative thinking though isn’t about being comfortable. To break out our patterns and habits we need to make a concious effort first to become aware of them and then try to practice changing them.

Create new perspectives

To produce something new, we must first see something new. That could be a previously overlooked element or a combination of previously unconnected elements. Becoming deeply involved with a problem even though gives you in some cases a better understanding of it. It can also narrow your perspective and cause you to lose sight of the big picture. Such times is always a good idea to take a big break and revisit later the problem with a renewed perspective and mindset.

Minimize negative thinking

At the evaluation stage its not uncommon to reject some ideas out right. Be sure it’s for the right reasons and not an automatic rejection response. Think first and criticize later. And while this sounds reasonable we are conditioned to the exact opposite. Try to view your ideas as a raw material, and see how it could evolve. Always try to think at least one positive aspect even on ideas that appear completely useless.

Take prudent risks

Not all risks are equal. For example implementing an idea is much more risky than suggesting it. A bad idea might cost an organization much more than embarassment. So always remember that ideas are raw material for a solution and not the final product. Not all your ideas have to be good, so don’t be afraid to examine them in different perspectives. A breakthrough might be hidden in seamingly stupid idea.

Hope you enjoyed this article! I am looking forward to hear your ideas and suggestions on the topic. See you next time!

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About the Author

Spyros Thalassinos is a former Developer deeply fallen in love with Graphic arts. He has been freelancing as a professional Designer since 2007. And now is utilizing his past programming expertise, along with web oriented languages and technologies, to develop dynamic and responsive websites and mobile applications for Extend Graphics. When he is not busy designing Logos and Websites or referring to himself in the 3rd person, you can find him reading books and watching video tutorials to expand his knowledge. He is also the founder and editor of Make your ideas art .

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http://www.proservicesks.com Frank Woodman Jr

A very good and insightful article on how to approach both the creation and the development of ideas. And as you rightly point out they are very different activities.

For creating or thinking of an idea or concept is to try to break free and think in new and different ways while to work on the implementation of an idea or concept is to deal with the everyday activities that are required to make an idea a functioning activity. So the creative discovery part is free to float in a world of unlimited possibilities and is limited only by the imagination while the implementation plan is tethered to the realities of the limits of concrete realities like budgets, production, marketing, manpower available, and other such real world limits.

So as you rightly point out these two halves of creating and implementing ideas are on opposite ends of the spectrum and as such must be handled differently or each will interfere with the other.

That means that the fanciful flights of creative dreaming that bring ideas and concepts to mind must in the end be tethered to some concrete plan that’s based on methods anchored in the reality of the limits of the resources available.

As long as these concepts are kept in mind both the free flow of ideas and concepts as well as the implementation of those ideas will thrive within an organization or business. But like matter anti-matter being them too close together and they totally annihilate each other. So the key is to dream big and base your plan for realizing these dreams on the reality of the assets and tools that are available.
- http://makeyourideasart.com/ Spyros Thalassinos
  
  Thank you Frank. Glad you enjoyed the article! Indeed, I completely agree with you.
  
  During the evaluation process many ideas will end up being unrealistic or impossible to implement due to our restricted budget, technology limitations etc. So yes we’ll discard them as far as the current problem is concerned after considering all the factors you rightly point out.
  
  Still at that point my advice is not to be so quick to throw them in the basket can permanently. And generating them in the first place, wasn’t necessarily a waste time. True, they might not be feasible now, but they can be a potential breakthrough or a building block for a future problems solution.
  
  So it’s not a bad idea, to keep a database with such “bad” ideas, and reference them from time to time. I have found, it is worth the small time investment in the long run.
  - http://www.proservicesks.com Frank Woodman Jr
    
    Oh I never like to throw out ideas for a number of reasons.
    
    First one idea often leads to another… thoughts are connected in the mind like a spiders web and you never know when the revisiting of a thought or concept will awaken other ideas, concepts, or thoughts. So I never throw out anything. As you suggest I make a data base of all brains storm sessions. And I try to put all the ideas into a data base we develop in any brain storming session. But I go one step further and also create a card file of all my brain storming sessions.
    
    And I do that because working from a computer screen using a data base is different than going over a set of cards and re-reading previous sessions. Both work different parts of the mind somehow and so tug on different areas and produce different reactions. Besides I can grab a handful of note cards and take them with me to study or read in off times like plane trips and such. It’s better use of my time reading them and finding what might be the next great idea than watching some sorry movie.
    
    Second while an idea might not work for you or in the end inspire you to try it you never know when you may find someone else that loves it and often they do just fine with what you would have thrown out. Ideas are things that may only come once to someone and never again to anyone else. So don’t horde your ideas share them and watch the magic spread. Don’t let that moment of inspiration be not only lost to you but possibly to the world.
    
    And third your thoughts and feelings about an ideas or concept may change and what seemed not such a good idea suddenly seems masterful. Plus the resources and tools available to implement and idea or concept are constantly changing as the world of technology and new products make once seemingly useless or impossible dreams realities today. Just think how sad it would be if you had an idea today that events and processes weren’t ready for yet only to be forgotten by the time you could implement it.
    
    Remember ideas are made of gossamer and are easily lost and forgotten so treat them as the marvelous things they are but trust me without great care they will be gone with the slightest breeze possibly never to be seen or thought of again.
    - http://makeyourideasart.com/ Spyros Thalassinos
      
      Well said Frank! That’s a very solid advice indeed!
http://twitter.com/jorge_pirelam Jorge Pirelam

Excellent article, congratulations
- http://makeyourideasart.com/ Spyros Thalassinos
  
  Thank you Jorge! Glad you enjoyed the article

6 ways to become more creative