Creativeness

Work gets in the way of Bogging... It sure does! I have been among the missing and have been teased for my lack of posts of late... So to that end I am going to work at posting at least once a week. I'm also going to try to find fellow bloggers with inspirational creative thoughts to share with you. If you see one, please feel free to shot me an email about it. To this end I saw the great post today that I had to share... 7 WAYS TO BE MORE CREATIVE IN 7 DAYS. Posted May 21st, 2012 As a creative professional, people often ask me how they can be more creative. I even regularly find myself wondering the same thing, because even creativity experts can grow and improve. So how do you become more creative? Here are seven ways you can start today and see results within seven days. 1. Be curious When he was alive, Albert Einstein proclaimed that he had no special talents, that he was “only passionately curious.” Curiosity is by far one of the most important aspects of growing creatively. If you aren’t curious, you’re missing opportunities to fix what’s not broken, to see what others are overlooking, and to see connections that nobody else has made. 2. Watch your time We all have certain times of the day when we’re most productive. For some, early morning is when they feel energized and ready to dive into work, for other people it’s late at night. Whenever you are most productive is the ideal time to work on solving problems or working on projects, so start to track when you’re feeling most productive. Doing so allows you to hold off on ideation until your perfect time. 3. Challenge yourself daily It’s easy to get into a routine these days. Many of us wake up, head to school or work, do what we’re told to do, then end up watching TV or some other menial task. If you haven’t heard: your brain is a muscle. The more you challenge your thinking daily, the more creative connections will build in your brain. Michael Michalko has a great list of creative experiments you can use to challenge yourself daily. 4. Be adventurous Your experiences every day impact how your brain formulates ideas. Give yourself new experiences – ones that scare and challenge you at least a little – and you’re essentially giving yourself fuel for creativity. When you experience something new, your brain stores everything from the experience for connecting later on. As Steve Jobs once explained: “creativity is just connecting things.” 5. Give up on perfection Many of us are taught to pursue perfection, but that’s a wall for creativity. If you’re always seeking out one specific outcome to a problem or situation, you’re likely to overlook the millions of other functional solutions. It’s a hard habit to break, but giving up perfection is a great way to open yourself up to new ideas. 6. Listen to other’s ideas If you make an effort to hear somebody else’s thoughts or ideas at least once a day, you’re guaranteed to find some insight. This goes back to point 4 above: by exposing yourself to ideas that you otherwise may not have, you’re giving your brain fuel for connecting ideas down the road. Who knows, maybe you’ll hear something one day that changes your entire future. 7. Find time to relax Hustling is important if you want to be a creative success. You have to work hard and be diligent in coming up with ideas. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take a break at least once in a while. The important thing is to identify when and how much of a break to take. This is a personal preference that you’ll have to spend a few days getting right, but once you find the right mix of working hard and giving your brain a break, you’re bound for creative greatness. Thanks for stopping by! Ciao for now! J :)