How do you challenge yourself to greater creativity? What do you do to push yourself, not just to achieve more but to master your business/art/relationships/self? In an effort to push my creative levels, I decided to sit down and write out 7 ways to push your creative levels to the max. I decided to do this without any prior googling (research) or in any particular order of importance. Here goes:
1. Challenge Yourself. Do something you have never done before. Take a new class in an area drastically different then what you are used to.
2. Limit Yourself. I do this when I paint. I try to limit myself to just a few colors or bits of ephemera in my collages. Otherwise, I get overwhelmed and eventually blocked. If you do #1, do it in a set about of time, be it one hour, one week, one month, etc.
3. Don't think. This doesn't mean don't use your brain but we can over analyze everything. Do what I am doing with this 7 things exercise and just be spontaneous. You might be surprised how much you really do know.
4. Break the rules. If you try to be creative and color inside the lines you might get stuck and/or be completely bored. New discoveries come when you do what is not supposed to be done.
5. Stick to the rules. OK, this goes against #4 but I can break my own rule not to follow the rules by following them can't I? This is similar to #2 where you limit yourself. Instead of limiting your resources, pick the a few rules in a certain areas and apply new ideas to them.
6. Be random. Explore new thoughts in diverse fields and apply them to your field or area of interest. I like to go to a magazine rack and pick a few random magazines and read random articles to see what this can spark for me. You can do this online with sites like popurl.com and alltop.com.
7. Be disciplined. The best thinkers on creativity seem to advocate that you do whatever it is you do every day! Start early. Work at a specific time everyday. This technique seems easier when you don't insist on an outcome. This always stymies me. Trust the process and let your creativity flow but allow it do so on a schedule too.
As I sat down to write these 7 ways to push your creativity levels to the maximum, I was a bit worried I would get stuck halfway through. I didn't. Whew. Actually, I could have written more or broken up various points into smaller chunks and so on. Put my goal was 7 so here they are. Share with me your thoughts or additional creativity maximizers by clicking the comment link or sending me a tweet at http://www.twitter.com/thirstyfishinfo
