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Many people struggle when it comes to creativity.  Its not a huge surprise.  Our educational system is tailored towards short-term memory and regurgitation.  We are rarely given creative tasks.  When a creative task is assigned it almost always an “extra credit” assignment of secondary importance.

Being creative isn’t “difficult”, its just foreign.  Fortunately, I’ve come up with several ways to combat the training that you and I have previously received.  With that in mind I’ll share 3 ways to Dramatically Enhance Your Creativity.

1. Think Outside the Box (Literally)

The phrase “think outside the box” is thrown around with reckless abandon.  Few people stop to define it, and a number even smaller than that think about it in practical terms.

Thinking outside the box is easy.  Especially, if you take the phrase literally.  It’s a simple process that works like this:

1. Take a sheet of paper and write your topic near the top.
2. Draw a box that takes up 40 – 50% of the space on the page.
3. Take 2 0r 3 minutes to write down everything you know, assume, or believe about the topic at hand.
4. Spend 20 to 30 minutes filling in the remaining 50-60% of the page with ideas, assumptions, and beliefs that you have never considered in the past.

Take note of the time allocations in this exercise.  It is easy to write down the things you already know about a given topic (hence the 2 to 3 minute time span).  Creative thought is necessary to fill a page with information that you have never thought of (hence the 20 to 30 minute time span).

2. Develop a Healthy Disregard for Common Opinion

Commonly held opinions can quickly douse creative energy.  People are creatures of habit who find it easy to disregard anything that is not “normal”.  Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are exempt.  There is no shortage of people ready to pick you apart.

To fully embrace your creativity you must accept this fact and move on. No one thinks of things like you and no one can apply them like you.  If you are constantly seeking the approval of others then your creativity will never flourish.

Let’s think about this in a practical application.

We’ve all been in a situation in which we’ve created something and passed it to someone else for review.  We’ve all received feedback on our creations.  We’ve all been disgusted and disappointed with feedback.  We all know that everyone has their own opinion.

Seldom will you receive the thumbs up from 10 different people on a truly creative endeavor.  My advice is to accept this fact and continue down the road you’ve come down.

If all else fails remember the wise words of H.G. Wells:

“No passion exists like the passion to alter another man’s draft”.

3.  Think in fours

Thinking in fours is another of my favorite tactics to get my creative juices flowing.  Thinking in fours is the simple task of writing down 4 solutions to any question, task, assignment, or project.

In early 2009 I decided that I would have a theme for each calendar month.  The theme for January is…creativity (surprise). This is how I used thinking in fours to come up with my article titles for 2009.

I took out a sheet of paper and wrote down the word “creativity”.  I set out to create 4 articles that directly tied to the theme of creativity.  I thought aloud to myself on the idea of creativity and what I needed to share.  After 5 minutes my ideas had all arrived on the paper.  By focusing specifically on creativity I was able to come up with :

1. 3 Ways to Dramatically Enhance Your Creativity
2. Finding Sources of Creativity
3. Extemporaneous Creativity
4. Creative Speakers always excel

Try this the next time you need to get your juices flowing.  Start with the general topic and work your way through all the problems facing you.  Before you know it you will have 4, 5, or 100 solutions.

Conclusion

As I’ve shown you in this compact article it is incredibly easy to get your creative juices flowing.  Feel free to use this information when you need a quick creativity boost.

written by Marcus A Smith