9 ways to spark your creativity

 

1. Freewriting
Just sit down in front of a computer or piece of paper and start writing. You cannot imagine how much unpredictable a flood of filled text can take out of your subconscious.

2. Play with words
Try to rhyme and compose poems or songs. For example, I often spent my free minutes making up combinations of two, three or four words.
I have word-directions in which I regularly think: productivity, creativity, awareness, joy, success. You can play with them. Come up with your own definitions of these concepts each time. If you write them down, you can find a lot of useful information and tips.
On trips, waiting time or the flight itself hides the following exercise well. I write down the phrases “creative productivity” and “productive creativity” and start writing descriptions of the two definitions. Or I add any random word and begin to consider a completely different phrase.

3. What if?
It is also useful to think about the possible development of the situation, under the assumption of certain conditions. We simply do not notice many things, considering their existence impossible.
A fairly common technique in coaching, which, according to my observations, is rarely used independently. I usually formulate a problem or a problem that I would like to solve. Then I identify the main obstacle to their implementation and imagine that it has disappeared.

4. Mind maps
The advantage of mind maps is that you can see connections between ideas and often they literally point to new ideas.

5. Look at the situation through the eyes of another person
I have used this approach many times. I have only used it in business-related situations. My favorite characters that I “asked for advice” are Steve Jobs, Ruppert Murdoch, Warren Buffett, Richard Branson. You need to introduce the desired “interlocutor”, ask him a question and hear what he will answer or advise you to solve your problem.

6. Flight of fantasy
Sometimes in a warm-up company, I suggest jotting down 10-20, it is better to indicate in advance the required number of fantastic, unusual ideas to solve a well-known problem.
From what employees generate during brainstorming, a list of ideas is compiled. In the future, these ideas can lead to original thoughts when looking for solutions to a real problem.

7. I call this method structuring
I write out a problem or a task, and then I begin to decompose it into its components. Often the solution to a whole problem comes by analogy or by suggesting a solution to one of its components.

8. Quota for ideas
In Michael Mikalko’s book, I adopted the idea quota exercise. Every day, and at the beginning of a discussion or brainstorming, I make sure to name the number of ideas and proposals that we should receive as a result. Having a specific number greatly improves the productivity of the discussion.

9. Ask questions
Train your curiosity by asking questions about the origin, purpose and possible development of everything that comes into your field of vision.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of all kinds of techniques similar to those described. The main thing is interest in life, curiosity and confidence that there are always different ways to solve problems.