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By Scott Ginsberg
1.
Eliminate the following sentences from your vocabulary:
*But I’ve never been creative!
*I’m a left-brain person…
*Creativity doesn’t run in my family!
*I work in a job that doesn’t require creativity…
Sure, they may be true. But they’re
blocking your creativity!
One of the first steps to enhancing creativity is changing
your attitude. Eliminating negative past programming.
Removing counterproductive thoughts that obstruct creative
thinking.
2. The moment you get a
new idea, start making a list. Don’t worry about order.
Order comes later. Just puke everything out in movable bits
of content so that way when it self-organizes, you can
easily categorize it. Consider using brightly colored index
note cards. One idea per card.
3. It’s impossible to be
too creative.
4. Ask yourself (or your
group) the same question over and over again for an hour.
Come up with as many answers as possible.
5. Read one book about
creativity (at least) once a month.
6. Hang out with as many
creative people as often as you can. And don’t just watch
them - OBSERVE them. Study the way they think. Learn not
only from their content, but also from their craniums.
Remember, creativity is musical. Be sure to listen between
the notes.
7. Combine your senses:
light candles, listen to music and make your office bright,
colorful and visual. It helps.
8. “If at first your
idea does not sound absurd, there is no hope for it.”
Thanks, Albert Einstein.
9. If you get a great
idea and have to stay up all night until 7 AM the next day
working on it, do it. Recognize when the world’s giving you
a gift. Pay the price. In five years you’ll look back and
say, “Boy am I glad I stayed up all night working on that
idea!”
10. If you’re stuck,
stop. Try coming up with the stupidest, most ridiculous and
horrible idea possible. First of all, it’s fun. Secondly,
it’s counterintuitive which means it’s effective for
breaking your thought patterns. Lastly, you never know what
gems might come out of it.
11. Speaking of
brainstorming, brainstorming mean NO CRITICISM.
12. Three words: DRY.
ERASE. BOARDS. Cover your walls with them!
13. Go for more walks.
(Be sure to take a notepad with you!)
14. Read The Artist’s
Way by Julia Cameron. It will not only change your life,
it will change your mind.
15. Speaking of Julia
Cameron, here’s six cool things I learned from her:
16. Some people might
find your creative, artistic recovery disturbing. Their
doubts will reactivate your own. They are attempts to
leverage us back into our old ways for the sake of someone
else’s comfort, not our own.
17. Creativity is
blocked by our falling in with other people’s plans for us.
18. Footwork doesn’t pay
off in a linear fashion. You shake the apple tree and the
universe delivers oranges.
19. Money will come when
you are doing the right thing.
20. Art is not about
thinking something up; it’s about getting something down.
21. The creative life is
grounded on many, many small steps and very, very few large
leaps. (Thanks Julia!)
22. Read weird, unusual
and unrelated magazines. Scramble your brain a little.
23. Study the minds of
creative thinkers. Read everything ever written by Michael
Gelb.
24. Find a way to
introduce yourself to Don the Idea Guy. (He’s my homeboy.)
Now, I know there are a lot of people out there who claim to
be “Idea Guys,” but I GUARANTEE you Don is the real deal.
25. Speaking of creative
thinkers, Maya Angelou once said, “The more creativity you
use, the more you have.” Cool.
26. After you’ve been
working on a new idea, STOP. Go exercise for at least 30
minutes. Let the endorphins kick in. You’ll get (legally)
high and your creativity will flow like a waterfall. Plus, I
hear exercise is also “good for your body,” apparently.
27. Go onto Google and
type in “Creativity Exercises.” Do a few each week, one
every morning, or with your crew before a brainstorming
session. After all, if you went to play 18 holes, you’d go
hit a bucket of balls first, right? Same thing, different
organ. Don’t neglect MENTAL warm-ups.
28. Make a sticky note
by your desk that says: “Is the idea you’re working on RIGHT
NOW solving your #1 problem?”
29. Spend a day in a
kindergarten classroom. Five year olds are among the most
creative people in the world. Plus they’re freaking
hysterical.
30. Give yourself - or
your team – regular idea quotas. WITH A GROUP: say, “OK
gang, nobody leaves this conference room until we get 30
ideas!” BY YOURSELF: start a blank document. At the top
write, “50 Ideas for My New Project.” Then start cranking.
The cool thing is, when you give your brain a quota, it
works extra hard to meet it!
31. Do yoga, pilates,
meditation, breathing exercises or any other kind of
mind-calming, spiritual practice. Clear all the crap out of
your mind. Get in touch with your intuition, your gut, your
inner voice, you spirit. There’s bound to be some good stuff
in there!
32. Go to Sedona once a
year.
33. Start keeping a
notepad in your pocket, car, purse, in your office and by
your bed. Every time you get an idea, jot it down. Keep a
running list. But be sure to always have it with you –
inspiration comes unannounced. And if you don’t write it
down, it NEVER happened.
34. Thomas Edison
carried a 200-page notebook wherever he went, just for his
ideas. At the end of his life, he’d filled up more than
3,400 of them. He also obtained more patents than any person
in history. What does THAT tell you?
35. Just for a minute,
pretend you’re Dr. Seuss. Don’t hang your creativity on a
noose. Instead, consider adopting a goose! Let loose, my
beloved moose! You’ll feel happier, and of course, more
chartreuse!
36. OK. So that last
example was like, the silliest poem ever written. But it was
fun. And childlike. And cool. And good for the soul. Are you
doing stuff like that regularly?
37. You know, that’s
actually not a bad idea. Tomorrow, go to Borders and read a
few children’s books to get your mind cooking.
38. Make a list of 100
questions. About anything. It doesn’t matter. Just do it.
And don’t stop until you’re done. THE BEST PART: questions
80-100 will end up being the most interesting.
39. Learn which big
businesses started from small ideas.
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© 2007 All Rights Reserved.
Scott Ginsberg, aka "The Nametag Guy," is the internationally recognized author of four books, including "The Power of Approachability" and "How to be That Guy." He delivers speeches and publishes online learning tools that help businesspeople make a name for themselves - one conversation at a time. He can be reached at or email scott@hellomynameisscott.com.
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