creativity Archives - Paul Duxbury

Whether you have a job that requires you to be creative, or you want to see just how creative you could be, there are many reasons why you might be thinking about unlocking your creative genius. There are several ways that have been shown to help promote creative thinking, but remember that not everything works for everyone and you may have to experiment to find out what works for you.

Have a nap

Taking a nap or just sleeping on it for the night can work wonders on your brain and creativity. Some people spend hours in one day thinking about a problem or considering ways to be more creative with a certain project. By going to sleep, resting your mind and body and then waking up the next day, you can magically unlock some extra creativity and solve your problems.

Talk to other people

This isn’t necessarily stealing other people’s ideas, but just talking to others can help you to think of new and creative ideas. You don’t have to speak to people you spend a lot of time with – in fact, it can be more useful to connect with those you wouldn’t otherwise chat to. At work, spend time in the kitchen during your lunch break trying to chat with other colleagues about their work or the projects they have been working on. Outside of work, chat to others whenever you can – you never know what may spark some creativity!

Read

The more you read, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more your mind will be stimulated and able to think more clearly. You don’t have to read books about creativity in order to promote creative thinking. Even by reading newspapers and magazines, you can find inspiration where you never guessed it.

Keep working

You don’t have to work non-stop all the time, but it’s not such a great idea to stop doing everything altogether. When you’re taking time off work, don’t allow yourself to sit at home doing nothing at all as this can soon stifle your creativity before long.

Stay healthy

Keep yourself hydrated, eat good foods and exercise on a regular basis. Not only will this keep you happy, but you might start to notice yourself becoming more creative or taking on creative projects with more ease. Start small and build your way into a healthier lifestyle.

Would you like to be more creative? I have been talking to a few people of late about bringing creativity and creative thinking into the work environment and using it to support change processes. As I have discussed with them there are so many ways in both our personal and professional lives where we can be more creative.

We Can All Be More Creative

Who knows when that creative spark will strike? It can happen at any time. It often happens in a place where you can’t capture it. However, it is possible to set up yourself for optimal creativity.

You need to find what works for you. That may seem obvious, but too many people disregard it. For instance, if you do your best writing work on Monday in the morning, why aren’t you writing more on Monday mornings? That is the right time for you, use it to your advantage. Many people ignore this.

Look at what others have created for a source of inspiration. It’s easy to spend some time on the internet and discover some great ideas. One website dedicated to this is StumbleUpon.com. It randomly selects pages, and you can further refine your searches by category. Wikipedia and Reddit are other websites that offer up random pages. Using resources like this can be a great way to generate new inspiration.

Most ideas are not truly original, they stem from past creations. For instance, songwriters often use the structure of their favorite songs as the base for their work. Every so often an idea comes along that seems unique. However, when you peel back the layers of how the idea developed, you will often see inspiration from somewhere else.

One important point is never to copy ideas. It’s okay to use other peoples’ ideas to generate new ideas. But, if you simply copy what others have done, people will pick up on that. You will be looked on as a fraud. Besides, it’s an illegal practice that can get you into trouble. Don’t do it. It’s not worth the risk.

To help you to be more creative when you work, listen to music. That can help a lot. Choose music that is easy to listen to without distracting you too much. Many people find classical music is a good fit here as the music contains no lyrics. However, if you find that you do well with another style, don’t limit yourself.

Give something a try that falls outside your normal activity. For instance, try reading magazines that you typically wouldn’t read to get different perspectives. Try browsing websites that you wouldn’t typically browse, etc. The idea is to use a pattern interrupt within your brain which makes it use different pathways. Doing that can generate ideas you would have never had before. The results will likely surprise you as you discover you can be more creative!

Tag: creativity

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