We talk a lot about creativity around these parts, but what exactly is it and how the heck do you harness it?
While creativity is often thought of in terms of artistic output, it truly encompasses all facets of innovation. Anytime something new is brought into the world - whether it’s a thought, a joke, finding a solution to a problem, whatever - the process that brings it into existence is inherently ‘creative’.
And here’s a little secret: EVERYONE is creative. If you are alive and breathing, we guarantee that you are creative. Everyone has their own process for creativity, but we could all be doing creativity a little better. And like any skill, it only gets stronger the more you do it.
With that in mind, we would like to offer a couple tips for how to best harness your creativity and quick techniques for turbo-charging your creative brainstorming process!
Prepare to get creative
Creativity does not exist in a vacuum. You cannot lock yourself away in a room and expect ideas to come to you. You need to experience the world and meet new people in order to make new mental connections.
Give yourself space to be creative. If your schedule is jam-packed with to-dos, pencil in some time for creative activities like the exercises below or other activities like drawing, solving a jigsaw puzzle, or listening to live music.
Understand the problem you’re trying to solve for. Try to absorb as much information as you can around the task at hand. Explore it from every angle possible, be inquisitive and ask questions.
Step away from your creative project/problem. Once you’ve gathered all the info you need, allow your subconscious the freedom to roam. Go do something else (might we suggest a shower? Lots of good ideas happen there!) and then come back to the problem later.
Just do it already, jeez! You have to start somewhere, but it doesn’t need to be perfect. The quicker you get through all your bad ideas, the quicker you can get to the gold, so free yourself from your internal judgment and go for it.
Now that we’re all primed to be our most creative selves, here are some concrete exercises you can do to flex your creative muscle AKA your brain.
Creative Exercises
See the world through fresh eyes. Pick an everyday object and make a list of all the possible uses it could have outside of its intended use. A fork? In another world, it’s a backscratcher, a garden tool or a musical instrument.
Try on some alter-egos! Imagine that you are anyone but yourself in order to solve your problem. How would your mother approach the task you need to accomplish? How would Superman? How about your favorite artist?
Make a connection. So many solutions are really just a slight variation on ideas that already exist. Try this: On scraps of paper, write out seemingly random nouns (people, places, things). Put them in a bowl and draw two scraps at random. Then, come up with another word that bridges the two disparate words you just drew. For a specific problem, try words related to the issue and see if this sparks something new.
What’s old is new again. Rummage through your recycling bin and build something new with the old cereal boxes, bottles, and cans you have. By repurposing these objects, you’re forcing yourself to tilt the axis on how you view them.
Creative Telephone. Remember the game Telephone? For this exercise, instead of passing a phrase along from person-to-person, try passing an idea through a couple different people. Tell your idea to someone, and ask them to rephrase it or improve upon it in some way. Then pass that new idea to someone else and ask them to do the same. After a couple rounds, look at what comes back to you. Does this solve your problem or lead you to new ways of thinking?
By now, your brain should be tingling and you ought to have the urge to start creating! Might we suggest applying this energy to the latest Tongal projects?
If you’ve got other great tips for being creative, we’d love to hear them in the comments below.
