7 Tips and Exercises to Boost Your Creativity: Follow a Few Steps & Strategies to Solve Any Problem

1.Gather Information: you might not have got adequate information about your project/problem to come up up with a great originative solution.

Exercise: Go to a beginning of information you don't typically use. When is the last time you went to a library? Are there a authorities agency that have related information? How about a local community college, is there an teacher that learns something connected to your subject? Clerks at bookshops are often very helpful. There may be trade magazines addressing your country of interest.

2. Be Active: yes, you read correctly. Your encephalon utilizes a batch of oxygen and makes not work well when undernourished.

Exercise: Go make something active and FUN! This volition get the blood flowing and when you have got fun, your originative juices start flowing. Bash something that you haven't done in long time: dance, roller skate, hike, drive horseback, garden, or drive a bike.

3. Change your viewpoint: As Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: "We can't work out problems by using the same sort of thinking we used when we created them." Your perceptual experience determines the way to a problem's solution.

Exercise: Look at your problem from another point of view. What would your problem expression like if you were a different person? Imagine…from the viewpoint of a child, a co-worker, your dog, a gambler, a professional athlete, etc. This may sound silly, the point is to agitate up your normal modus operandi and assist your encephalon make new nerve pathways of thought.

4. Compare and Contrast: Compare your problem/issue/project to something very different; an physical object or a concept. Through juxtaposition, you may happen combinations you never saw before.

Exercise: Catch a blank sheet of paper. Write your problem at the top. Next to it compose an unrelated thought such as as "shoe", "the national highway system", "a candy bar", "cat litter"….you get the idea! Underneath compose every manner you can believe that these two things are alike. Remember to have got fun. This is simply another method of changing your viewpoint as well as generating more ideas.

5. Be Visual: Thinking is very unstable and visual, making usage of symbols and images instead of words. Give your problem A color…even a smell! What determine is it? What makes it experience like to the touch?

Exercise: This is best done with a large sheet of paper or a achromatic board. Use a regular piece of paper if that's all you have. Draw a rectangle in the centre and label it with your problem/project. Draw at least 5-6 radiating lines coming out from the box. Label these lines as different facets of your project. For instance, if the problem is Planning a Wedding on a Tight Budget, some of the radiating lines could be Food, Entertainment, and Wedding Dress. If the problem is Building a Team at work, some of the lines could be Collaboration, Productivity, and Communication. At the end of each line compose whatever you believe needs to go on with that area. This exercising can assist you see the large image as well as prioritize all the parts of your project.

6. Generate tons of ideas: You have got gathered information, pumped up your enthusiasm and reviewed your problem from many angles. It's time to really allow loose with ideas.

Exercise: Brainstorm! I intend REALLY brainstorm. Don't just flip out a smattering of ideas and phone call it quits. Put some energy into it. Collaboration is good for this as everyone will get some different ideas. Hand everyone a piece of paper (preferably large, that you can lodge to the wall). Set a time limit. Allow adequate time to get plentifulness of ideas but not so much time that you judge the ideas coming out of you (5-10 minutes). Also put a end for the number ideas, a end that volition military unit you to work fast. Speed is of import as well as reserving any judgment.

7. Give it to your subconscious: Let you subconscious head have got another cleft at it. You have got plenty of information and ideas. It may be ambitious to pick the best course of action.

Exercise: Sleep on it! Let your head have got it while you are resting. For this to really work you must make a review just before going to bed and place a notebook by your bed so you can jotting down ideas if you wake up during the nighttime and first thing in the morning. Intend that you will have got some replies when you wake up. As you wake up, you may have got to catch the ideas in the half-awake state. The notebook is right beside you so you won't lose any good thoughts.

Congratulations! You came up with some very originative solutions to your project. You can reiterate this procedure with any subject.

How to Use Brainstorming to Solve Problems

Have you heard the term "brainstorming"?

Now, the word brainstorming doesn't really mean you have a storm in your brain.

Brainstorming is a technique that was invented about seventy years ago to help people think more creatively when they needed to solve problems.

Brainstorming is used in a variety of ways by many different organizations to try come up with a variety of different types of new solutions to existing problems. Brainstorming techniques are used by many different sorts of organizations, from large corporations to tiny neighborhood groups, and even families.

The types of problems that people use brainstorming for can range from how to get humans to other planets, to how to be more profitable, or how to have more enjoyment in life.

The essence of brainstorming is that a group of people meets to come up with ideas to solve a particular problem. While they create and write down their ideas, no one in the group is allowed to criticize or judge the concepts they come up with.

Even if you think of yourself as a person who is not particularly creative, brainstorming can help you find innovative ways of thinking that might not have occurred to you before.

The size of the group matters. It's best not to have more than ten people involved, but there should be more than three. One person should be the leader, and one person should take down notes about the ideas generated. It's a good idea to involve some people who have used brainstorming before, because you can get better at it the more often you do it.

Before you start, it's very important to clearly define the problem you are trying to solve. For example, a business might want to brainstorm ideas such as "how can our business save money in the coming year". A group of city planners might want to brainstorm ideas about "how do we cut down on crime in our inner city neighborhoods" or "how can we attract more people to live in our city". A family might want to brainstorm "what sort of vacation would we all enjoy this summer".

Before you start brainstorming, make certain that everyone in the group is very clear on the exact nature of the problem they are trying to solve. Remember to have one person designated to keep order and focus in the group, and have someone write down all ideas as they are presented.

The leader should try to encourage the participation of everyone present. No matter how wild or how ordinary the ideas might be, no one in the group is allowed to criticize or judge any idea or person.

When the group seems to run out of steam, the leader can suggest new questions to encourage everyone to think about the problem from a different angle.

Here's a list of questions that can help the group look at the problem in a new way.

• What if we did this backwards?


• What if we change the order we do things?


• What if we spend no money?


• What if we have a lot of money to spend?


• How else can the same products be used?


• What can be totally eliminated?


• What can we add?


• What can we combine?

Try random combinations of ideas, and see if they trigger new solutions.

Only after all reasonable ideas have been presented does the group move on to the next step of evaluating, discussing, and choosing the best ideas.

Instead of moving into the evaluation stage immediately, it's best to let the group take a break of several hours.

This will help the information to sink in and get sorted better. Remember that the process of generating creative thoughts is quite different from the process of analyzing them rationally. These two processes use the brain in very different ways.

If at all possible, schedule the analytical sessions to take place the day after the idea generating sessions. Very often, the process of sleep will help a person see solutions in a new light. During sleep our brains sort through the thoughts, impulses, and data of the day, and consolidate information.

Why does brainstorming work? The technique provides a safe way to imagine and express creative thoughts, which encourages the flow of even more creativity. When the critical faculty of the mind is suspended, our inner creativity can surface without fear of judgment or ridicule. The rational part of the brain wants to analyze and classify as soon as it comes across any new idea. It starts to think, " Is this idea good or bad? Will it work or not? What will other people think of my ideas? What will they think of me?"

Although both the analytical and the creative components of your mind are important, your brain cannot do both activities effectively at the same time. Concentrate on one of these tasks first, and then do the other. When you need to be creative, send your inner critic out for a walk.

If you would like to know more ways to use brainstorming effectively, simply type in the word "brainstorming" into your favorite search engine.

You can also use other variations of the word, such as "how to brainstorm effectively" or "improve your brainstorming."