People think that creativity is not their cup of tea. They believe creativity is solely for the people who belong to the creative industry, which is not true. The case is that we have stopped thinking innovatively and creatively. You just have to simply adopt a change that will add value to your personal as well as professional life. To think innovatively, the first step is to choose innovation over everything and the rest process is easy!
OBSERVE AND TAKE NOTES
In our daily life, we see many things. Beautiful trees, blue sky, tall buildings, spaces, objects, technology, and systems through the lens of familiarity. But what we never do is to take out a minute and focus on these things. We take them for granted, overlooking numerous other possibilities. We think that things only function familiarly. For example; we see the newspaper, a source of providing information. What else can we do with that? Have you ever thought about it?
Innovators are expert noticers, they keep their eyes and mind open. They spot, gather, and utilize those things which other people overlook.
QUESTION EVERYTHING
One of the reasons people don’t think innovatively is thinking that everything is going fine. Question yourself about what could be done better? How could it be done better? And what could you do in this regard? Question the processes around you. When you will start questioning eventually, you will begin to strive for the answers, awakening your innovativeness.
Innovators are expert noticers, they keep their eyes and mind open. They spot, gather, and utilize those things which other people overlook.
SET AND ENJOY THE CONSTRAINTS
All our life we hear that innovation is endless, limitless, and has no boundaries. This is indeed true but does set constraints for yourself. Embracing limitations is the best incubator for innovative thinking. It is very hard to think creatively when you have a blank sheet of paper with no rules and boundaries. Constraints can increase the creative output, maybe because removing the overwhelm of having too many choices.
You have to create the boundaries of space and then you have to create boundaries of time.
Innovators are expert noticers, they keep their eyes and mind open. They spot, gather, and utilize those things which other people overlook.
USE YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND
When a problem hits you off course you will try hard to find a solution. When you are unable to do so, leave it for a while. Try to divert your attention to some other project, go for a walk, or take a nap. Leave time for ideas to emerge. Our unconscious mind is an excellent creative thinker and problem solver, it produces results at the least expected time.
TRY TO DRAW CONNECTIONS
Steve Jobs said:
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a bit guilty because they didn’t do it, they just saw something.”
Steve, when launching the iPhone shared that people use different devices to access different things; music, internet connection, to make calls. Thus, he is introducing all of these things in one device and is calling it an iPhone. Look, how he connected things innovatively to make one of the world’s best technological designs. We have to do the same!
BE AN ANTHROPOLOGIST
An anthropologist is one who studies about different cultures, their people, lifestyles, and religions. Religion is the way that humans organize their relationships not only with divine power but also with other fellow human beings. Studying other religions develops mental flexibility. When you see people have the same issues and mysteries yet they are surviving, it opens your mind to a valley of ideas.
OPEN YOUR HORIZONS
You cannot be close-minded. You have to be open to new experiences and challenges. Effective innovators are always those people who have read widely and have a broad range of interests. Innovation requires empathy, creativity, and openness to experience. People learn a lot from teaching, marketing because it constantly involves meeting new people. You could go to a library, if you are from the tech industry, grab a magazine from the trade industry. You may find that many of the problems people face in their industry are similar to yours and they have developed different strategies to coop with them.
EXERCISE BOOSTS INNOVATION
Now by exercise, people immediately think about heavy machines and weights. Stanford University found out that just by walking outdoors or even indoors, creative thinking gets boosted. It doesn’t mean that you have to change the environment or the scenery in which you are working. The study shows that the act of walking does something to your body that it positively affects the thinking system.
BRAINSTORM
For centuries, people have been using brainstorming techniques to find the best possible solution to their problem. You can brainstorm individually, not following any rules, and eventually, you will come up with a creative idea to save you!
BUILD A CREATIVE NETWORK
Innovativeness often comes from the people who would want to be alone. But sometimes it is better to collaborate. You have to acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers and working with others will relieve your pressure. Meet people to sit around and to talk about innovative ideas. You can also join social media communities where people talk about new ideas and problem-solving.
BELIEVE COLORS
It’s a proven fact that performance on creative tasks multiplies when you see soothing colors. A brief glimpse of green can boost your innovation. Red helps us with detailed oriented tasks while blue also enhances creative performance.
