Fire Up Your Creativity

Fire Up Your Creativity

Ever notice how ideas come to you at the least likely times and places? Like when you are running, in the shower or right before you go to bed? Yet when you are in a time crunch you have to try to get ideas to come to you.

In a workplace study done by the Harvard Business Review, it was found that participants were least creative when on a tight schedule — and especially if deadlines were imminent. However, since creativity stems from the subconscious you have the ability to nudge your thinking in the right direction.

Try these tips:

• Be a Human Sponge. Give your mind plenty of material to work with by going to museums, reading great books, going to an interesting play or movie. A rich mind is an inventive mind. If you give your mind plenty of material, all of it will become possible fodder.
• Two is Company — Three or More is a Crowd. The Harvard study found that brilliant ideas are less likely to happen in-group discussions since they tend to be less focused. In contrast, more original ideas tend to bloom one-on-one.
• Perspiration brings Inspiration. Physical exercise allows the mind to drift during familiar activities like running, walking, swimming or cycling.
• Stop Your Inner Critic. Not every idea is a great one. But, give yourself some leeway on possibilities. Sometimes the wackiest ideas that you have can be tamed into doable ones.