Set Yourself Up for Creativity
We all know someone we consider to be creative. You may even consider yourself to be creative. What about the rest of us? The ones who don’t think they have a creative bone in their bodies? There are ways you can generate ideas that lead to creativity. In the YouTube video, “How To Generate Ideas,” five ways are given for you create an atmosphere where ideas flourish and creativity flows.
1. Set aside time to brainstorm. The fact is, we are all busy, but we need to unplug and allow ourselves time to ponder something without being pulled into our phones, a text, social media or family responsibilities. Figure out a time when you can get away to just think.
2. Create a setting that is conducive to the creative part of your brain. Get out of your normal space where you use the executive part of your brain that gets things done. Get away from your desk and go outside. Go somewhere that doesn’t fill your mind with thoughts of your calendar or your to do list. (They will be there when you get back.)
3. Utilize a capture method to later organize ideas. You could use post it notes or index cards. If you feel writing bogs down the process, you can record your voice and extract the information later into an editable format. Try different methods and find what works for you.
4. Any and every idea is fair game, don’t reject anything on the surface. In generation mode, there are no filters.
5. Michael Michalko, creator of “Thinker Toys,” uses an acronym SCAMPER to get us to think differently. Find out what SCAMPER stands for by viewing the video.
Can creativity be forced? Creativity comes to people in different ways. Set yourself up to be more creative by generating ideas.
“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” ~John Maynard Keynes