How to Think Creatively

Creativity is one of the most important elements of innovation and problem-solving skills. However, sometimes we have a hard time being creative. Without creativity, things will get messy, and sometimes, you can’t reach your full potential in work and life. But don’t worry, with a little effort and a few small tactics, your creativity will be unleashed to find new directions of development, as well as solve problems.

Table of Contents

Open minded

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Read books a lot. An important part of being creative is knowing a lot of things and understanding how things work. Also, the more you know, the more points of view you’ll understand, and you’ll be able to connect ideas that you weren’t able to before. Reading is one of the best ways to broaden your knowledge and perspective. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Enjoy variety. Read on for a variety of topics. This way, when it is necessary to apply your knowledge and creativity, you will be able to apply your knowledge across disciplines and fields.
Read with imagination. Don’t just focus on monographs or academic literature. Spend some time reading fantasy, science fiction, or other genres to expand your imagination.
Read about the things you don’t know.
Make reading a habit. Avoid forcing yourself to read one book per week or one book per month. Instead, find books and other materials you like and place them everywhere. Use your free time to explore the world of knowledge.

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Collaborate with others, especially if you work well with someone. Sometimes, talking or brainstorming about an issue with others will help you develop an idea that has been stuck in your head for a long time. In this case, find someone who understands what you’re dealing with. They may have other perspectives to help you solve problems in a more creative way.

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Talk to everyone. Take every opportunity to broaden your horizons by making new friends. There are many interesting people around us. It is impossible to know how they will affect our creativity. Take advantage of opportunities like:

Parties.
Meetings.
Community events.

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Avoid activities that aren’t enjoyable or just repeat what you already know. Many people have formed the habit and spend a lot of time doing the same activities. Those activities won’t stimulate you to think more creatively, and oftentimes, they won’t help you grow. Look for ways to reduce the amount of time you spend on the following activities:

Watch TV, especially those that you watch regularly.
Play games or sports that you already master. If you are already good at chess, you always beat the computer or your friends, then this game cannot help you to develop further. Choose a different game or sport.
Socialize with people who bore you, or engage in social activities that stifle your creativity. ^{[2] X Research Source}

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Visit places that stimulate your creativity. Sometimes we need a stimulus for creativity to flourish. There are lots of ways to find those elements, and oftentimes they’re fun, exciting, and engaging. Try going to:

Art exhibitions, fairs or festivals. You will see a lot of interesting things that you normally don’t have a chance to come into contact with, and that will help you come up with new things.
Attend concerts, symphonies or music festivals.
Go to the theater, opera, or visit a museum.
Attend a lecture, seminar or presentation.

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Take time to enjoy nature. Whether it’s a walk on the beach or a bike ride along a tree-lined path, the power and beauty of nature can help people relax and have a broader view. Once you’re in a positive state, you can see connections that you didn’t see before.

Brain Training

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Accept failures. Failure is an important part of the creative and learning process. Accept them and learn from your failures and mistakes. In this way, you will grow and see that every failure is an opportunity to grow and innovate. Failure is not an obstacle or barrier on the road to success.

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Create a mind map to help you visualize your thoughts. Sometimes, our ideas disappear before we can put them on paper. There are quite random and disjointed thoughts. Create a mind map on paper. Once you see your ideas, you can better understand them and their interrelationships.

List ideas that appear randomly.
Pick a few of the most interesting ideas and write them down in different places on the paper. Position them in the direction of the connection that you think is correct.
Draw lines between ideas.
Draw sub-branches of important ideas and connect them to less important ideas. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

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Be alone to think about those ideas. Taking a little time to see the world or feel things will open your mind. When you’re alone, you can think about existing problems and find new solutions that you haven’t thought of before.

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Always keep an open mind. When you have an open mind, you will be able to think of problems that you did not notice before. You’ll also be able to connect ideas and problem-solving solutions that you might otherwise have overlooked in the past.

Part of this is realizing that there are many ways to solve a problem or achieve a goal.
Accept that there are many ways to see the world. Then you may find that there are also many ways to be creative and problem solve.
Understand that you can’t know everything, and that every activity brings new knowledge.
Consider other “weird” ways of seeing or solving problems. Unusual ideas or perspectives can help you get creative. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

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Use your hands or your mind to create new things. Working on creative things is the best way to exercise creativity. There are a lot of things you can do to train your brain in this way:

Draw. Draw if you like to draw. It doesn’t matter if you draw well or not.
Write. Write if you like to write. Writing (science or fiction) is also a great way to sharpen and develop your thoughts and creativity.
Build. If you love construction, whether abstract art or just basic carpentry, you should pursue it. This will stimulate creativity and you can create an interesting work. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

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Reconceptualize the problem. Try stepping out of your comfort zone and the “patterns” you are familiar with. Think about your problem from different perspectives. Acknowledge different points of view, and try to see the problem as an opportunity. For example:

If your goal is to fence, think about the purpose of fencing. Then focus on what you want to achieve by fencing. If you are looking to protect your flower bed from rats, you can choose other ways like spraying organic soap on your flowers to keep mice away.
If you want to deal with your car’s fuel efficiency problem, you might want to think about transportation. Instead of finding a way to build a more fuel-efficient engine, you can shrink the size of a car or find another means of transportation for everyone.
Don’t be afraid to start over if you see a criterion or something fails. Let’s start over and re-conceptualize everything. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

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Distinguish between creativity and productivity. Remember: productivity and creativity are two different things. You just have to decide when to be creative and when to be productive, or both.

A person can be very productive but not creative at all.
Creativity requires you to find new ways to solve problems and create unique things.
Productivity requires you to create something, but it doesn’t have to be creative and can be cliché.

Find Your Own Time and Space to Be Creative

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Take time to think. You can do this before and during work. A private “thinking time” will help, especially if you are struggling to find creative solutions to long-standing problems.

Take a moment to think before you start working.
Take a break between work to think about what you’re doing.
Whenever you have a problem, take a moment to think about it. You may be looking at a solution you haven’t thought of before. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

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Work at the best time. Many studies show that each person’s optimal working time is different. Find the best time to work and create. Many other studies show that people are most creative at times when they are least productive. You can experiment and find out when you are most creative. That time will be different for each person. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

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Create a work environment that promotes creativity Usually, pre-ordered and highly orderly work environments will not stimulate creativity. Create a place that inspires you to be creative.

Hang creative photos or posters.
Create an out-of-the-ordinary work area, such as bringing a sofa into the office.
Travel while working. Many people like to work at a desk. Others prefer to take a slow walk on the treadmill and read, write, or think. ^{[9] X Research Sources}^{[10] X Trusted Source Greater Good Magazine Go to Source}

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Take the time to be creative, but don’t try to “plan” to be creative. Sometimes new and creative ideas will appear when you are busy doing other things, but you should still take some time to brainstorm and explore new ideas.

Spend half an hour before bed thinking about everything, if that helps.
Take your lunch break to think about the problems.
Whenever you feel your creativity “surging”, stop what you’re doing (if possible) and focus on the ideas that just popped up.

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Avoid organizing and planning. Organizing and planning are great for boosting productivity, but they stifle creativity if you let them dominate your life. Instead, save those plans for when you need to be productive, and allow yourself the freedom at other times to foster creativity. ^{[11] X Research Source}^{[12] X Research Source}

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Take advantage of the limits of creativity. Time and material constraints can help you find creative ways to solve problems. When it comes to solving a problem or creating something, take advantage of time and/or material constraints to get to work. Think of other ways to achieve your goals while saving time and money. ^{[13] X Research Source}

Advice

Don’t be afraid to fail. Many people who are famous for their creativity have failed many times. Failure is part of the creative process, and will give you valuable experience to grow.
Do not give up. Let’s continue to work. A creative solution might just be out there somewhere.
In creative thinking, there is no right or wrong. There are just different ideas, all of which are worth considering, and certain ideas will be selected based on strengths for certain uses. Brainstorming and writing freely without concern for mistakes is an important thing that you need to do, so that “crazy” and possible ideas can emerge for you to perfect them.

Steps

Open minded

Brain Training

Find Your Own Time and Space to Be Creative

Advice

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