How To Be Creative

Published on Monday, November 26, 2007 – 12:40 am

Creative Juices

Do you ever get asked ‘Where did you get that idea from?’ in any of your projects or pieces of work and you couldn’t answer the question? Well, I have actually come across that a few times and it made me think to myself, where do I get my creativity? How do I get my creative juices flowing? How do I boost my creativity?

I made a short list of where I usually got my ideas from and came down to two things I always did to get my creative juices flowing, that being mindmapping and finding inspiration. I then compared my ways to other creative individuals on the net but we will get to that in a bit.

Mindmapping

So what? Everyone has heard of mindmapping but are you doing it in the best possible way – the way that suits you best? The key to perfecting mind-mapping is creating your own personal style.

Do you use keywords? Images? Both?
Do you use a variety of colours?
Do you use a hierarchy system? A number system? Outlines? Circles?
Do you use random words for inspiration or do you relate words? Both?
Are all lines & thoughts connected? Or do you loiter off into new mind maps?

You must find the best method that suits you, as the key to getting great ideas and getting your creative juices flowing is by perfecting your own personal style, as not everyone has the same way of doing things.

Finding Inspiration

If you are really stuck for ideas (even after mindmapping), I have always found that by getting an idea of what other people have done and what has succeeded (or failed) is a great way to get your feet off the ground again.

Try looking in books, magazines, newspapers, on then internet, journals, and any where else you can think of! Check this post on where to find design inspiration.

Although mindmapping and inspiration are two great ways of getting creative, there are many other ways to help you out. For example, a creative blog by the name of Think Simple Now outlines in an article how to get to your inner creativity. See below.

Other Creative Methods

Have you ever tried practicing any of the methods below? Give it a try, you’ll be surprised.

Get Relaxed – Take a moment to do something that makes you happy; that brings you joy; that you love; that centers you. Meditate, take a walk, go for a swim, read something that puts you in a good mood, write a diary – writing down your thoughts.
Give Gratitude - Thinking about all things you are grateful for produces a positive energy flow and vibration. As you feel the love in your heart for all the wonderful blessings and gifts in your life, you will instantly relax and feel all warm-and-fuzzy inside. In that moment of warmth and love, you are open to creative energy.
Tickle Your Imagination – Imagination is highly visual. Try closing your eyes, and imagine that you are in a scene, any scene. Okay – pick your ideal scene, practice seeing the details of your environment in this scene. See the colours, the textures, touch something. What does it feel like? What do you hear? What do you smell? What is the temperature like? Etc. This makes you more relaxed and gives you gratitude also.
Be In the Moment - Every outstanding musician or artist will tell you that when they are creating great music or art, there are no thoughts, they are completely in the moment, and experiencing flow. Athletes call this ‘being in the zone‘. You can practice present moment awareness by giving full attention to whatever you are doing: eating, washing dishes, making your bed, etc. Meditation helps tremendously. The book “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle is also highly recommended.
Be Inspired - Practice seeing beautiful things that moves you emotionally. Flip through a book containing thought provoking images, go to an art gallery, read something inspirational, talk to someone who calms you.
Draw - This may sounds funny, but one of the effective ways to practice getting in touch with your creative side is to start drawing. Drawing forces you to see things differently.
See Alternatives - Be curious. Practice asking yourself how to do something differently. When seeing the solution to a problem, ask yourself, “What are some alternative ways to doing this?“. Develop the mental attitude that “there is always another way” even when alternatives seem ‘impossible’.
Be Open - Never shut down any idea that comes your way, do not make judgments about it. Appreciate any idea that comes to you, even ones that seem “stupid” or “obvious”. This way, you encourage more creative ideas to surface from your being.
Think on Paper - With a bunch of loose paper, start jotting ideas down. Write everything down that comes to your head: random words, phrases, ideas, thoughts: sometimes you might want to circle things and draw lines to connect ideas. When an inspiration hits, follow it. If you suddenly have a different idea, jot it down somewhere on the page or in a new page.

What other methods do you use to be creative?

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Tags: Blog, Creative, Creativity, Inspiration
Posted in: Creativity 25 Comments »

25 Responses to “How To Be Creative”

Tina Su Think Simple Now on Nov 28, 2007 said:

Thanks for mentioning our post. Much appreciated.

Love & Gratitude,
Tina
Think Simple Now. ~ Clarity & Happiness
LaurenMarie - Creative Curio on Dec 6, 2007 said:

I don’t usually use Mindmapping, but I did to come up with the title for my blog. I created a spider diagram, associating words and concepts and trying to find more accurate words to describe things.

On finding inspiration: I always had a professor in school tell us “Don’t reinvent the wheel.” In other words, exactly what you said — do research and see what’s worked for other people.

One more to add: sometimes you just have to walk away. Truly give up on a project and somehow the ideas just start coming so fast you can’t even write them all down. Somehow, going to be early helps too (I never fall asleep right away and end up staying up even later than usual because I’ve started thinking so much! I guess that goes along with the relaxing part you mentioned). Writing down thoughts is very helpful, too.

Good list!!
Jacob Cass Twitter: @justcreative on Dec 7, 2007 said:

@LaurenMarie

Same with me, I originally was just going to name it jacobcass (my name) then i went on a tangent of using my initials J & C, ie. JaySeeDesign, but then after a while I stuck with justcreativedesign (and it still uses my initials J & C) not that any one else would notice but still for me.

I always write down ideas as well, helps alot. I also do that idea thing in bed, but not on purpose, its just im always working just before I go to bed and that happens.
Lakshmi Mareddy on Mar 20, 2008 said:

I used to call this kind of associative thinking “HTML thought”. As only in the web, you can wander off in any direction, by clicking on links.. Now I have a good term to use (mindmaps)! Thanks!
Min Thu on Aug 12, 2008 said:

Look at the nature, there are a lot of things to get inspired for creativity.
Christopher Jamero on Oct 8, 2008 said:

On my ways, it often happens when I’m in bed ready to sleep after working some images in Photoshop or Illustrator, ideas just pop out, that is when my eyes are already closed. And I get really inspired by the great works of artists in deviantArt, comments and appreciation on my works adds too.

Thanks for this article Jacob it helps a lot.
Lucie K. on Nov 13, 2008 said:

Chris, that is exactly what I was gonna write! The exact same thing has been happening to me lately. It is the moment of complete relaxation and as you go over things you did that day images and ideas just pop up…fully in color and shapes for me. Its quite amazing and I advise anyone to try this.
ri on Jan 18, 2009 said:

The Stages of Creativity.

1. Preparation (reading a book, looking at other work, anaylizing)
2. Incubation (like a bird sits on the egg)
3. Sudden Insight (The flash of creativity
?? on Apr 7, 2009 said:

Get inspired from the nature.
xozan Twitter: @xozan on Jul 27, 2009 said:

1.I keep my mind relax.
2.Then i’ll visualize the core concept and think it without any bound or rules no matter how crap the idea might be .
3. Then i’ll slidly try to modify it.
4. After that, i jump to related different concept.
5.Then, i’ll merge those two ideas and bring ‘em into new and unique one!

-xozan
Lasitha on Oct 20, 2009 said:

Thanks jacob,

I really appreciate sharing these valuable things in this field. Really thanks for sharing. Looking forward for some interesting stuff…