Creativity Techniques
Let’s face it - we don’t always feel creative.
CREATIVITY TECHNIQUES 1) You are not the best judge of your
work. It’s good to strive for
satisfaction in your creative endeavors.
But remember you are often your own worst critic and you are too close
to your creative works. Have you ever
written something and read over it so many times that the words start blurring
together. You’ve run spell check several
times and it’s come out clean. Then you
have a friend look at it and instead of “He crossed the room”, you have “He
crossed he room”. And you never
noticed? You know what you meant to
write or say, and you think you’ve said it. 2) You’re friends, family and teachers may
not be the best judge of your work. I’m
not saying don’t show your work to these people. Depending on your relationships you may get
some well earned support to continue in the process or some constructive
criticism. Occasionally, someone close
to you might be unduly critical of you for numerous reasons, jealousy, envy or
competition being among them. 3) Turn off the inner critic. This technique is very important. Focus on the process and less on the
result. Focus less on judging your work
and more on producing. Ultimately, your
work will be judged, fairly and unfairly by many people. There’s an old like “Opinions are like assholes,
everyone has them”. And whatever you do
don’t compare yourself to others. You
have your own unique journey and you are exactly where you need to be at this
moment. I know that can be difficult to
swallow, especially if where you are right now stinks but if you can - just
relax, it’s all going to change anyway.
And you can take steps to go in the direction you want. 4) Fail and be willing to fail again. Did you know that most billionaires have
declared bankruptcy at least once? Or
that for every sales call that a salesman makes, they usually get 40 Nos before
they get a Yes. If you’re not will to
fail, look stupid, feel embarrassed or slip and fall it’s unlikely you’ll end
up an Olympic skater. Babies don’t come
out of the womb making whole sentences, they start with gibberish - do we yell
at them when they say duhduh instead of dada?
No, so allow yourself to fail, you’ll never win or get any better if you
don’t. 5) Take Risks. Move out of your comfort zone. Closely related to being willing to fail is
being willing to take risks. Obviously,
you’ll never fail if you don’t take risks.
And on top of it, if you don’t take risks, there will be times you won’t
meet new people, won’t take that new job or even look for that new job or even
think about changing your hairstyle or trying Ethiopian food. The world can be scary or exciting or a mix
of both. Challenge yourself to take
small risks and as you do you may widen your comfort zone and then you can take
smaller risks outside of that. 6) Dream Big. It’s the most energizing. If what you are seeing in your minds eye
doesn’t excite you than you aren’t dreaming big enough. If it excites you but you think “Oh that’s
too big, I’ll never get there. Make that
dream the one you use. Infuse it with all
your imagination and it will in turn get those creative juices flowing. Work towards it - trust it. If what you really want is a Ferrari and you
don’t have the money for it or any car, but you think well I can eventually
make enough to buy a Toyota, trust me you won’t be motivated enough to get the
Toyota or the Ferrari. Dream BIG. 7) Cut things up into manageable bites. Sometimes when you have a big dream and you
have no idea how to get there it’s helpful to dream about the various ways you
could get there. Create some action
steps that will take you towards it if not all the way there. This creative technique keeps you from being
overwhelmed and at the same time allows you to see progress towards something
that you desire. 8) Take Action. We can all fantasize about being famous,
creating that wonderful poem/song/story, buying that dream car (or house) or
______________ you fill in the blank.
But then we go home, sit on the couch and watch TV. I’m all for relaxing and watching TV, but if
that’s all you ever do, you’re dream should be changed to being a couch
potato. I have a friend who is a best
selling novelist. She’s very prolific
and has her own process, it starts will writing a few pages every day. Some of these she keeps, some of these she
edits out but no matter what she writes every day, it’s a creative technique
that helps her get towards her ultimate goal, the novel. What if you hate what you write? See #’s 1, 4 & 5. 9) Finish something. I’m not saying you have to finish every project
you start but ff you never finish any project or you abandon them half way,
just take the risk and take something toward completion. Sometimes, when you got back to a project you
stopped along the way, you will have new insight into it and can then finish it
in a way you never dreamed when you started.
It may end up better than you thought, whether or not it does
completion, in itself, is a good end. It
creates a void where there once was clutter and allows you and the universe to
work together to fill this empty space with something new. 10) Have fun and enjoy yourself. Don’t work all the time. Strive for balance. This one is the most difficult for people
like me, I’m a workaholic. I like to be
busy, create lists and check things off.
Even when I’m home watching TV, I’m generally working on some
project. So don’t underestimate the
value of goofing off, laughing and being silly.
If you allow yourself those times, you’ll find yourself having more to
offer when you start your creative project. 11) Surround Yourself with other creative
people. Even if you’re the loner and
the most introverted hermit there is.
Find a group that has a forum online, or meets four times a year where
other people that do what you do get together, to bitch and share their
triumphs and defeats and stories. Just
as work breeds work. Creativity energy
feeds itself. 12) Break the rules. This is the most important rule of all. I had a teacher who once said, “You can break the rules - once you know how to use the rules first.” Think of the above creativity techniques as rules or guidelines if you prefer. Try them, use them, get good at them and then if a rule doesn’t serve you, throw it out the window and don’t use it. But experiment with them first before you dismiss them with “they don’t work”. Good Article On Other Creativity Techniques
|
