Don’t Pressure Your Creative Mind
You’re very dedicated to becoming more creative. This may lead you to feel like you’re overly pressured to make it happen. That’s the wrong way to go about it. If you take nothing else away from this book, take away you need to relax and just let the ideas come to you.
Feed your mind with the information you need to form new ideas, and it will happen on its own. Take the pressure off, relax, and let the ideas come in. Do not reject any ideas or censor yourself, or the ideas will feel the rejection and float away (don’t laugh—you get the picture). Let them in–some will be good, some will be bad, and some will surprise you with how they change and grow.
Don’t Try to be Someone You’re Not
If you feel like you have to be a certain way, and you’re really jealous that other people have the traits you wish you had, you’re setting yourself up for distraction and disappointment.
Don’t try to be someone you’re not. You were born with a certain set of traits and a certain personality for a reason. There’s something special you’re meant to do–you’re meant to come up with creative ideas that change the face of your business, your industry, and the entire world. There are unique and special things about you, so stop trying to get away from your nature. Work with your nature, and you’ll be able to generate unlimited, wonderful, ideas.
Listen to Music
Music reaches in and touches your soul. It can bring you up, and it can bring you down. It can bring you to a particular moment in your history. It can spark amazing new ideas and get the juices flowing for you to be more creative than ever before.
Albert Einstein listened to Mozart–why shouldn’t you? Mozart, Beethoven, and other classical artists can enhance your brain’s performance and help you become more creative than ever before.
Listen to new, exciting music all the time–that’s something really cool about Pandora radio and Spotify, they choose music for you based on what you like.
Binaural Beats
Binaural beats make use of certain frequencies of sound that can help your brain perform better. Some binaural beats can help you become more creative, more focused, and less stressed.
In this case, you should seek out binaural beats that enhance your creativity. You need to listen to these beats with headphones on each ear so they reach maximum effectiveness. Don’t dismiss this, because I can tell you from personal experience that binaural beats really help.
Ask Questions
Sometimes, you feel really stuck, like you can’t possibly move forward. It happens to everyone, but there’s no reason you should feel stuck forever. Simply ask other people for their input. You’ll be surprised at how they instantly give you the right answer you’ve been stewing over for hours. It’s just because they’re in a different mind space at that exact moment. Ask the question, and you’ll get the answers you need to jumpstart your creativity.
Do Something Scary
Have you ever seen those YouTube videos posted by skydivers? The people in the videos clearly feel happier and more alive than they’ve ever felt.
You need to do something similar. No, I’m not telling you that you should jump out of an airplane. But you should do things that put you out of your comfort zone–things that are a little scary.
Maybe it’s taking a cooking class or an art class. Or, maybe it is skydiving or rock climbing. Do something that makes you at least a little bit afraid-- you’ll be amazed at what it does to rejuvenate you and get your creative juices flowing.
Eat Right
The standard Western diet is pretty dismal these days. As a whole, we eat processed foods and foods of convenience nearly all the time. Gone are the days where we had fresh eggs, fresh milk, and home-cooked food instead.
It’s time to get back to those days. Buy fresh fruits and vegetables and try to stay away from anything packaged. If you plan ahead, it’s not that much more work to eat right. Don’t worry about following fad diets, just eat whole foods and you’ll notice your energy and health start to improve dramatically.
The Alcohol Debate
I’m absolutely not advocating that you become a regular drinker in order to become creative. But, I should mention that having a beer after work or during a relaxing cookout on the weekends can loosen your mind and get those creative juices flowing. It has a lot to do with relaxation and removal of inhibitions. Make your own choices about alcohol, but know that some do find very moderate amounts to be helpful for creative purposes.
You can also relax with a warm glass of milk, hot tea, lemonade, or whatever makes you feel good.
Bend Your Mind
Logic puzzles and brain twisters can take your mind in new directions. It can help your mind make new connections it wouldn’t have made before. It can strengthen the processes of your mind, leading to better, more creative thoughts. The Lumosity.com membership has been very popular among people who are trying to strengthen their brain.
Learn How to Sing or Play an Instrument
If you’re musical already, then you know just how much music can help your creativity. Singing or playing an instrument can be very relaxing. It also uses your mind in new and different ways. Learning the notes, melodies, and beautiful sounds can open your mind and put you in the zone.
Write Every Day
As a businessperson, you may or may not be a writer. If you are, then write something every single day. Whether it’s a blog post, technical report, research project, or short fiction story–just write, write, write. Writing and reading constantly is a fantastic way to take your mind in new directions.
Make it Clear That You Are a Creative Person
There’s no one who can tell you that you’re not creative. You are as creative as you want to be. Declare that you are now a creative person–a great thinker in your industry. You now have the skills to become a great idea person–and your colleagues, competitors, and friends will start to see that in you.
The fact that you know you’re a creative person will help the people see it. Declare it, and it will be so. It’s amazing how beliefs about one’s talents sharpen them.
Save the Things You Love
There are going to be certain articles, business models, ideas, blog posts, tweets, Facebook posts, photographs, graphics, GIFs, marketing e-mails, commercials, YouTube videos, and other artifacts of life that really grab your attention. Take note of these things and save them in the form of a swipe file. Whenever you need inspiration, you can pull from these items to become inspired.
Sketch It Out
Sometimes, it seems completely impossible to see the shape of an idea as it will look as a whole. That’s why it can be useful to outline and create mind maps. Break the idea down into its smallest parts so you understand it completely and can add to it. This is how good ideas grow into wonderful, awe-inspiring ideas. Outline, mind map, and brainstorm your ideas, and they will become better than ever.
Start from the End and Work Your Way Back
What is the goal of the idea you’re trying to brainstorm? Start from where you want to end up with your idea and work your way backwards. Sometimes, seeing the result of something can help you figure out ways to get there.
I like to encourage people to find their “Point B” before starting to chart their path. So if you’re standing at Point A now, it’s essential to know your destination, where you want to end up, not just where you are now. It will help you visualize your journey just as surely as having a GPS in your automobile helps you get from home to a far away destination that you haven’t been to before.
Practice Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation really only has to take 15 minutes per day. There are CDs, MP3s, and online videos that can guide you. Or, you can do this on your own if you don’t need any guidance. Be mindful, take away all distractions, and live in the moment.
Access Your Spiritual Side
Whether you’re religious or not, there’s a special feeling that comes from sacred spaces like ancient ruins, buildings that are centuries old, churches, temples, and other unique spaces that just have a different feeling than anything else. Visit these places and learn more about them. Feel the power of what they represent in this world. This connection with the rest of the world will help you become more creative.
Soak up the Energy of Other Creatives
Visit an art gallery, go to a drama production, or go to the ballet. Go somewhere where artists have poured their heart and soul into something. You may not be an artsy person yourself, but you sure can learn a lot by observing the work others have worked so hard to create. There is a creative energy in these things, and you can absorb and learn from this energy to apply to your own work–even if you do something that is totally the opposite of artsy in your job.
Take These Ideas…
Hopefully, you’ve found some great creativity boosters among these ideas. You should be able to generate ideas whenever you want to by picking one of these strategies and following through with it.
Next, I want to give you some ideas for how you can generate product ideas, ideas to get out of a rut, ideas to earn more this month, ideas to solve problems in business, and ideas to solve problems of any type. Use these as a guideline for creating your own methods to solve problems and come up with creative solutions for whatever you need.
Start with the general idea, change the way you approach creativity, and then follow through with the ideas you’ll see in each of these sections. Whenever you find yourself struggling, return to these ideas so you can move forward.
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