Photo: Juan Marin/Unsplash
Being a strong creative thinker is essential for advancing virtually any career, regardless of what role you do.
But solving deep-rooted business problems or conjuring up great ideas for a new project is never easy.
Original thinking can be painfully hard.
As a writer and business owner, thinking creatively is a daily necessity. Like most people, I don’t have the genetic advantage of Albert Einstein, Salvador Dali or Justin ‘Mr Tumble’ Fletcher.
So I have to work at it.
Over the years, I’ve developed a few ways to turn my brain from inspiration vacuum into a relatively free-flowing ideas factory.
Here are five suggestions for getting your creative juices flowing, without having to mainline caffeine!
1. Get away from the problem
My brain is my enemy, most of the time. If I need it to sleep, it stubbornly does all it can to keep me awake. If I need to solve a creative problem, it will think about tidying the house or making dinner instead.
How do I beat it? By doing what it’s not expecting.
My best ideas come when I focus on a different activity – whether that’s gardening, decorating, running or playing on the trampoline with the kids. It’s like the problem sits in my subconscious, then when I’m fully distracted, my brain throws me a bolt of inspiration.
So get away from your desk, find an activity that requires a shift in attention, and your brain will often filter through the problem behind the scenes and throw up a solution. Don’t forget to make a note of it when it does happen!
Why not take the example of doing new and surprising things even further? If you want a coffee, have a glass of water instead. When you go for a walk, take a different route. Because when you do something unexpected, adventurous, and out of your normal comfort zone, you open up your mind to think differently – and creatively.
2. Don’t grow up
When I ask my five-year-old daughter what she’d do with a derelict building that we pass in the car, or to make up a joke on the spot for me, she always has an answer right away (if you’re wondering, her answers here were a) a hairdresser school and b) what do dinosaurs drink? Roar-ter).
Why can she generate ideas so fast? Because she’s playful in her thinking and isn’t inhibited by what other people will think of her ideas.
Much of the reason why we, as adults, suffer creative block is because – let’s be honest – we take life too seriously. We’re worried about what our colleagues or boss will think of our ideas, so our creativity gets suffocated.
How do you beat this? By trying to put yourself in the same mindset as a child. In other words, free your mind to be adventurous, fascinated by everything and unrestrained.
Work with joy and ignore the noise, fear and distraction around you. Genuinely ask yourself the question… how would a 5yo child tackle this problem? It’s a great way to generate more playful, creative, left-of-field solutions. And it really works.
3. Think about where you had your best idea
Analysing how you think is a great way to supercharge your creativity. Here’s how to start. Think about the best idea that you ever had. Or at least a good one. Now ask yourself where you had that idea, what you were doing at the time, when in the day or night it happened and what steps you took to develop it?
Write your answers down, analyse all of them for their significance in your creative process, and see if there’s a process that you can repeat the next time you need to generate creative ideas fast.
4. Doubt yourself
Impostor syndrome’s become a bit of a cliché, because so many of us recognise that feeling of believing we’re not as competent as others think we are. If that sounds like you, there’s good news.
When it comes to creativity, feeling slightly inadequate can be a good thing. When I work in high-performing creative agencies, the best ideas often come from people who suffer from self-doubt. Their insecurities actually drive them forward in a positive way, impel them to have high standards, and work harder to find the best solutions and ideas.
Self-doubt gets the heart pumping and bolsters creativity. So use it to your advantage.
5. Never wait for inspiration
Waiting for a creative epiphany is like waiting to win the lottery. It’ll never happen.
So don’t sit in silence waiting for something earth-shattering to strike. The way to make your creativity come alive, is to do something.
Forget about coming up with a mind-blowing idea. Instead, just put a few words down on paper or screen – however dull, uninspiring, or empty they might feel. Now let your mind wander in different directions, keep writing your thoughts down – good and bad – and actively watch how they develop.
Before long, you will have an exciting spark, the juicy root of something worth developing. The dark clouds will part, ideas will radiate your brain like sunshine – and you’ll make the breakthrough you need.