10 Strategies for Increasing Your Creativity

Are you a creative person? Most people like to think they are, and they are right. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, nor does it truly matter if you’re a renowned musician or a painter, a programmer or an engineer, or even an entrepreneur; if you’re using your intellect to solve a problem in an innovative way, to build something new, to create something, you’re a creative person. And viewing yourself as such can be incredibly helpful for your work.

The fact is, however, that no matter how creative we are, we could all use a boost to get those creative juices flowing. Writer’s block is real — entrepreneur’s block is just as real too. But at the end of the day, everyone can benefit not only from inspiration, but from tips on how to best utilize their skills and various talents.

So, would you like to be more creative than you are right now? (And really, who wouldn’t?) Here are 10 essential strategies for increasing your level of creativity:

1. Develop your senses

Truly creative people have developed their ability to observe and use all of their senses. Everyone’s senses can dull over time; it’s only natural, as we grow and experience more of the world and the colorful array of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations it offers, to invariably become more desensitized, to miss things we used to notice and perhaps fixate on. Take time to “sharpen the blade” and really take everything in.

2. Read deeply and widely

Innovation often comes from knowledge. Therefore, you need to continually expand your knowledge base. Challenge and stimulate yourself intellectually by going to unexplored places. Read things you wouldn’t ordinarily read; take in forms of art and culture you wouldn’t usually go out of your way to experience; check out the work of those in your industry whom you don’t often consider.

3. Defer judgment

Your perceptions may limit your reasoning. Be careful about how you’re perceiving things. In other words, defer judgment. Your initial judgment may lead you to pass up considering something that could have been a critical addition to your concept.

4. “See” the concept

Practice guided imagery so you can “see” a concept come to life. Higher level concepts are visual. For example, if you have not seen in your minds eye what E=MC2 means, you can’t fully understand the concept.

5. Step away from a project

Let your ideas “incubate” by taking a break from them. For example, when I’m working on an innovative business project, one of the best things I can do to take a break from it is to play my guitar or flute for a few minutes, or take a ride on my motorcycle, or a short walk. It shifts my brain into another place and helps me be more innovative and creative. Sometimes, these kinds of breaks can even inspire more creativity. That’s why our best ideas come to us while we are driving a car, mowing the lawn, or in the shower.

6. Don’t narrow your focus

Experience as much as you can. Exposure puts more ideas into your subconscious. Actively seek out new experiences to broaden your “experience portfolio.” It’s important to diversify your portfolio of experiences and creative endeavors.

7. Identify patterns

Treat patterns as part of the problem. Recognizing a new pattern is very useful, but take caution not to become part of it. You don’t want to get stuck using the same modes and conventions; repetition can keep you stuck in a rut when you’re trying to innovate.

8. Redefine the problem completely

One of the lines I’ve been sharing for the past few decades is: “Your problem is not the problem; there is another problem. When you define the real problem, you can solve it and move on.” After all, if you had correctly defined the real problem, you would have solved it long ago because all problems have solutions.

9. See what is not seen

Look where others aren’t looking to see what others aren’t seeing. I often advise people to look in the opposite direction of a trend or development to ascertain every possible aspect of whatever you’re working on or thinking about.

10. Commit to the idea

Come up with ideas at the beginning of the innovation process — and then stop. Many times, we come up with several ideas and start innovating, and then we come up with more ideas and never get any single idea done. At some point, you have to turn off the idea generation part of the process and really work on the innovation and execution part in order to bring a project to life.  

No matter what your expertise or what industry you’re in, you can become a lot more creative in what you do. In fact, when you apply creativity to every aspect of your business, you are able to stay ahead of a changing marketplace and your competition leading you to long-term success.

©2015 Burrus Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

DANIEL BURRUS is considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and innovation experts, and is the founder and CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology driven trends to help clients understand how technological, social and business forces are converging to create enormous untapped opportunities. He is the author of six books including The New York Times best seller Flash Foresight.