I've written a number of articles about creativity. To me, creativity can be taught. It's not something that only the gods have bestowed on a handful of artists, writers, composers, or rock n' roll CEOs--it's in everyone, and can be harnessed and learned and actualized in many different contexts. If you're reading this article right now, and you don't feel creativity, or you have been told your whole life you aren't, or don't believe creativity is for everyone, then you're wrong--plain and simple!
Here are a few things to get your creativity fuelled up. They're simple, and perhaps even ridiculous--that's precisely the point. People these days take themselves way too seriously--just step into most offices these days, and the stale air alone, like anti-bacterial gel, will kill any ounce of creative spirit.
1. Be playful: Creativity is play; life is play; and work ought to be play. That's right--play. A serious jest as the great Goethe called it. You need to think about playing more and not being so serious all the time. Yes, you need to make serious and sober decisions, but you can play to get to that point. What do I mean by play? Find ways to make your work fun. You know, hard work for creatives is often playful work. That's because creatives--those hired to perform tasks considered 'creative', namely designing stuff or writing jingles or designing buildings or apps, etc.--usually incorporate playful activities that most people wouldn't consider work. What do you find fun? Incorporate that into your work. If playing video games at work gets your juices going, then do it. If reading Wired Magazine and MIT Tech Review give you more ideas, then clip or print out articles and stick them all over your office wall as a collage--and not just a small one, but a big one. Get some legos, bricolage, and other toys in your work space and encourage your team and colleagues to play with them.
2. Don't clean your desk: Are you a neat-freak by nature or nurture? If by nurture, lurking under that stapled down attire and polished office space is clutter-bug who thinks better in the midst of a mess than in neatness. Take a week, and don't clean your desk--let all kinds of stuff pile all over it, including the Chinese food take-out boxes and chopsticks. You see, ideas need to congeal with other ideas--that requires diversity. What better way to get your ideas flowing than to create divergence on your very desk! Lifehacker has a wonderful article about this, showing how Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and other big thinkers worked on messy desks.
3. Nap: Yup--you'll probably fear being fired for even thinking about doing this, but it's one of the most important things you can do in your day for your brain. You need 10-15 minutes--no less, no more. You can do it in your office space--if you have covers for your windows and a lock on your door, or in your car. You can do it on your lunch break or any other assigned break. I've written about the wonders of this before, including the names of great thinkers and inventors who swore by it.
4. Fail: You know when you're playing a challenging video game or some other game, and you do better when you just don't care how well or poorly you're playing? You tend to take more risks, which at times--but not all the time--lead to openings in the game and new insights. This is the same with creating new ideas. When you think of your work as play, then you don't worry so much about failing, which enhances your performance. Don't fear failure.
5. Stay up late: Sometimes you have to shake up the social order of your life. You know when you're on that business trip or weekend get-away, and you suddenly feel more creative and alive? You feel like you've got more ideas and insights? Look at your schedule: chances are you're staying up later, most likely at a watering hole or restaurant somewhere, and you're eating at different times of day, and working longer hours. Staying up late can be a great way to get your brain into a different pattern. In fact, when you're tired, your using different areas of your brain to cognize and interpret your experiences, which is often why you sometimes get clearer insights or better ideas. Try staying up late at least once per week, and reap the creative benefits.
We are all creative. The problem is we live in a society that imposes structures and rules and conventions that conflict with, and even thwart, ways of living and being that enhance creativity. And yet, our bosses, jobs, and industries are demanding more and more creativity. To perform in this conflict requires that you change some of your habits and long-held practices--to shake up your life. It may seem scary at first, but you'll see the results.
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