1. lLife&HappinessYouYouYou
“I just wash
and hoe!”
GROW YOUR OWN IDEASUnlock your inner creative side – trust us, you do have one
D
o the words
‘breakfast
brainstorm’
fill you with
dread? A recent study by
Adobe found that only 39%
of respondents described
themselves as creative.
“There’s a misconception
that innovative people
have an in-built wellspring
of ideas, but creativity is
a skill – a mental muscle
that needs to be exercised
to get stronger,” says
Paul Collard, who runs
Creativity, Culture
& Education, The
International Foundation
For Creative Learning. “It’s
just a question of allowing
the ideas to flow: giving your
mind permission to freestyle.”
Easy when you know how…
SWAP TALKING
FOR LISTENING
The workplace brainstorm might bill
itself as a more ‘relaxed’ way to kick
around ideas, but for many it can have
an inhibiting effect. Research in the
US found that better-quality ideas
were generated in a ‘silent brainstorm’
session, or ‘brainswarm’, where
employees think up ideas alone. The
reason? In a public brainstorm, people
are more likely to self-censor. Suggest
a silent brainstorm to your boss, but
if you do find yourself being forced to
free-think on the spot, Professor John
Adair, author of The Art Of Creative
Thinking, suggests being ‘an active
listener’. “Which means being open
and receptive to other people’s ideas,
and using them as the raw material
for your own thinking.”
HAVE SOME FUN
Creative thinking is playful. And in
order to fuel it, it’s important to
prioritise creative ‘play’ in your free
time. “A great way to reignite original
thinking is to take yourself on a weekly
‘artist date’,” says creativity guru Julia
Cameron, the author of The Artist’s
Way. “Pick something that fascinates
you. It could be a painting you’ve
never seen up close, a ruined building
or a walk with an inspiring view.
Go alone and really feel it. Regular
experiences like this are essential
for enriching your imagination.”
EMBRACE DUFF IDEAS
It’s a myth that creative people
generate endless brilliant ideas. What
sets highly creative people apart,
according to researchers at Harvard,
is that they have less ‘latent
inhibition’, so their brains allow more
extraneous information in, where it’s
free to fuse with other thoughts to
create fresh ideas. The result?
More outside-the-box
thinking. In his book Calm,
entrepreneur Michael Acton
Smith says that drawing
a mind map (a visual
brainstorm, where you
use different colours,
doodles and short
notes) is a great way
to unlock ideas. “Mind
mapping has been
shown to be a far more
effective way to unleash
original thinking than
writing a list. Plus, if you
use a combination of words
and images, you’ll be six times
more likely to remember your ideas.”
LAUGH YOURSELF
CREATIVE
A mental warm-up is a great way
to relax yourself into a state where
creative ideas are more likely to flow.
Acton Smith says that when he has
corporate brainstorms, he begins by
encouraging everyone in the team
to share something personal and
fun. Laughter relaxes people.
THINK THE IMPOSSIBLE
Whether you’re looking for solutions
to a personal rut or trying to solve
a work problem, before you get into
the whys and what-ifs, shake things up
with some unlikely thought mash-ups,
suggests Michael Michalko from
creativethinking.net. “One way is to
imagine ‘impossible hybrids’: a piece
of furniture that’s also a fruit; a vehicle
that’s also a fish; a flavouring that’s
a tool. The discipline of combining
impossible objects forces you to
stretch your imagination. Creativity
involves the synthesis of unlikely
concepts, so this is a great way to
prime your brain for creative thought.”
ByZoeMcDonald.Illustration:ElsaMora
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