How to Boost Creativity

Image Copyright: Creativity by German 'gerbenher' Benito [deviantART]

Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with books on algebra etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the creative bug is just a wee voice telling you, "I'd like my crayons back, please."

New Space for Ideas

A change in the environment will keep your creative juices flowing. Redecorate your workspace. If you can, get a room dedicated for creativity and a comfortable space for ideas to help generate ideas. International feng shui doctor, Paul Darby, suggests having a specific room in the west side of a building – in feng shui the west is symbolic of creativity, new ideas and new beginnings. Use colours such as white, cream and silvery grey. Have food and drinks readily available to create a relaxed atmosphere. Have flowers and plants. Research has shown that it can help to produce 15% more ideas in a workplace. (The Impact of Flowers and Plants on Workplace Productivity Study was conducted by Roger Ulrich, Ph.D., Behavioural Scientist, Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Design, Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, 2004)

Ask Questions

Ask ‘Why?’ several times until you explore undiscovered parts of the problem you’re working on. Let's say you're creating an advertisement. Why are you creating an advertisement? Because they need one. Why do they need one? Because they’ve got this interesting product to show off. Why is the product interesting? It glows in the dark. Why does it glow in the dark? Because... Suddenly, you’ll find yourself with more information to spin around.

If you’re stuck half-way in a design, let your mind wander with the What If? Technique. What if this was seen mirrored? What if these two switched positions? What if I inverted the whole thing? What if it was (put in whatever adjective you can think of)? It may sound more like an acid trip but it works.

Apply Osborn's Checklist and see if it generates any new ideas or perspectives. Try to avoid being held back by assumptions of how things should be done.

Put to other uses? As it is?… If modified?..
Adapt? Is there anything else like this? What does this tell you? Is the past comparable?
Modify? Give it a new angle? Alter the colour, sound, odour, meaning, motion, and shape?
Magnify? Can anything be added, time, frequency, height, length, strength? Can it be duplicated, multiplied or exaggerated?
Minify? Can anything be taken away? Made smaller? Lowered? Shortened? Lightened? Omitted? Broken up?
Substitute? Different ingredients used? Other material? Other processes? Other place? Other approach? Other tone of voice? Someone else?
Rearrange? Swap components? Alter the pattern, sequence or layout? Change the pace or schedule? Transpose cause and effect?
Reverse? Opposites? Backwards? Reverse roles? Change shoes? Turn tables? Turn other cheek? Transpose ‘+/-‘?
Combine? Combine units, purposes, appeals or ideas? A blend, alloy, or an ensemble?

Brainstorming and Mind Maps

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. Combined with Brainstorming, is a very effective way to generate sacks of ideas on a specific issue and then determine which idea – or ideas – is the best solution.

To brainstorm by yourself, start by writing down the problem to be solved. Then write it down several more times, restating it each time. "We need to save money for a down payment on a house," may be restated as "We need to buy a house," and "We need to get out of this place." Now just spend thirty minutes writing down all the elements of the problem, and everything that comes to mind. Try several creative problem-solving techniques also, writing down the solutions and ideas that are produced. As with brainstorming in a group, it is important at this point that you don't stifle the creative process by judging your ideas. When you are done with this part, you should have a mess. Only now should you look at that mess with a critical eye. Pick through for the ideas with the most potential. If you are lucky, the best solution may jump out at you. More often you'll have a few decent possibilities that you have to evaluate further. Brainstorm again if you have to.

Wait! There's more..

Go for a walk when you can't think. The break will prime your brain into another way of thinking and will surely bring an idea with you when you get back.

When you're not putting you're creativity to work, feed your mind. Read as much as you can about everything possible. Books exercise your brain, provide inspiration and fill you with information that allows you to make creative connections easily.

Oh, and don't do drugs. People on drugs think they are creative. To everyone else, they seem like people on drugs.