Ways to Stimulate Creative Thinking

Discover the power of creative thinking! Break free from conventional methods, and embrace new perspectives. Learn how to stimulate your creativity.

During the Space Race, on September 12, 1962, US President John F. Kennedy spoke before a large crowd at Rice University, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

It took the brainpower of engineers, scientists, mathematicians, pilots, and other specialists to achieve that goal. In 1969, the fruit of all that creativity paid off: we were able to land on the Moon.

Creative thinking brings revolutionary solutions to extraordinary problems. It helps people veer away from their usual methods of thinking, promotes the consideration of new perspectives, and opens up initiatives for new solutions.

Let’s find out how you can develop a great sense---and excitement---for creative thinking.

What is Creative Thinking

Creative thinking refers to the process of developing innovative solutions to problems. These ideas and solutions are often smart, clever, and out-of-the-box. Creative thinking may involve a lot of methodologies, such as fact analysis, interactive brainstorming, research, process evaluations, and more.

Ways of Getting Your Creative Juices Flowing

Check out these simple but practical tips on how to stimulate yourself to think and create imaginative and original solutions.

Stand up while working.

Yes, this may be a weird suggestion. However, medical research has shown that working on your feet drastically improves your focus. It reduces distracting thoughts and allows you to concentrate better on what you’re working on. Deeper, undisturbed concentration makes you think of creative, innovative, or even original solutions.

The Winston Workstation allows you to shift from a sitting to a standing position seamlessly. It raises or lowers your entire setup---monitor, keyboard, and keys easily. It has a small footprint and an integrated cable management system to keep your desk clean, neat, and well-organized.

If you have multiple monitors, the Gold Touch Easy Lift Pro is your best bet. This desktop sit-stand solution is similar to the Winston Workstation, it can lift or lower your entire workstation. However, it can hold up to 66 pounds of counterforce, allowing it to hold two LCD or LED computer monitors.

Set time for creative thinking.

Each employee at Google is required to allocate 20% of their work time to creative thinking and innovation. Here, they daydream, draw, write, play, and list down ideas that will help improve themselves and the company.

Allocate some time in a day---usually around an hour---to exercise creative thinking. Write your ideas, proposals, and solutions in a notebook; don’t rely on your memory to remember them.

Read good books.

Most successful people spend a lot of time reading books on subjects and topics that interest them. You should as well. There’s a wealth of information in books that can be used as a reference to create ground-breaking ideas and solutions. Authors are creative people, after all.

Think about it: have you ever read a business report, research paper, scientific journal, or thesis? You would see that authors of such papers cite books in their footnotes and bibliography. They’re referencing authors as their sources of information and, thus, ideas.

Discuss your idea with others.

Turning creative ideas into realities often involves the contributions and effort of a group of like-minded people. Talking to other innovators like you encourages interactive brainstorming as you share ideas, ask questions, and consider multiple perspectives. Your idea begins to grow, take shape, and even produce more ideas until you arrive at the “eureka” moment.

Take a break.

Sometimes, we are putting all our attention on one task, project, or idea, that we forget to think of other things. Focusing too much on one thing narrows down our thinking, prevents us from being open-minded, and stresses the mind.

At this point, it’s advisable to take a break. Take the weekend off, enjoy a vacation, or indulge in a non-work-related activity that you enjoy. Breaks allow you to rest and reset your mind. You’ll be surprised at how new ideas flow while you’re relaxing.

Take risks.

Conceptualizing, formulating, and analyzing ideas comprise one-half of the creative process. Trying new ideas is the other half. There’s no other way to check if your idea would work if you won’t try it.

Taking risks is part of the creative process. You have to accept that you could fail. But failures, just like successes, are avenues for learning. You will learn from failures, develop creative solutions to address or rectify those mistakes, and try that solution again. Know that the most successful people accept and learn from failure.

Why is Creative Thinking Important

In today’s competitive world, creative thinking is considered an invaluable skill. Honing your creativity helps you look at issues and situations from a new perspective. From this unique perspective, you can create, develop, and nurture revolutionary or unconventional solutions that may be more effective, cost-saving, or simply better than past or present solutions.

Conclusion

Many of the revolutionary products, services, solutions, and methodologies that we use today are the result of creative thinking. Never underestimate the power of your mind; it can change the world.