As a creative agency, you could say we’re big on creativity. And—not to get too personal—but we’re not only big on our own creativity, but on yours too, whether you’re our client, a church or nonprofit leader, our best friend in the whole world, or just a friendly Googler who stumbled across our blog. Today is all about teaching you—yes, you, even if you’re the self-proclaimed “uncreative one”—how to foster creativity in yourself.
But first, let’s make sure we’re on the same page. Maybe you spend all day at work sending monotonous emails, maybe you dread the thought of trying to decorate your home, or maybe you’ve been banned from holding a paintbrush in 17 countries. But you’re more creative than you think. Don’t believe us? Anna went on the TeenPact Podcast to talk about just that. You can catch the full episode here or check out our blog post The Importance of Creativity: Thinking Outside the Box to see what all this creativity talk is all about. When you’re learning how to foster creativity in yourself, the first step is not ruling yourself out. You buckled? Let’s go.
Whether you’re hitting the dance floor or hitting the excel sheet, you’ve already got it. But at the same time, there are ways to systematically train yourself (or your team) in your creative capacities. Call it creativity, call it problem-solving, or call it getting stuff done—we’ve got tips for you.
Let’s get practical for a second. When you’re looking for creative solutions to a problem, you don’t need inspiration—you need time.
Want a real life example? I’m a writer who has been recently learning how to build time into my creative process. You see, I’m actually a master procrastinator by nature. Working up against a deadline gives me a certain kind of energy that has proven helpful in some capacities, but not in creative capacities. Even though I’ve always had a leaning toward stereotypically “creative” things, it wasn’t until the past few years that I was ever able to translate these ideas into something tangible. The luxury of being able to take your time during your creative process comes down to the discipline of creating that space for yourself.
Ever wonder why your best ideas come to you in the shower? Scientists call it the “creative pause.” Taking a step back from focused brain power on one particular problem gives your mind a chance to rest. When you rest, your mind can shift from an analytical way of solving problems to an intuitive way. In the heat of intense problem solving, it’s almost as if your mind “forgets” there’s more than one way to find solutions. By stepping away from your work, you wake that part of your mind up, so to speak. Feeling stuck? Go take a shower.
Now that we’ve covered the practical part, it’s time to get existential. If you’re wondering how to foster creativity in yourself over the long run—in a career or a lifelong project, for example—you also need time. It’s easy to try to connect creativity to a sense of passion that’s all-encompassing. For example, if you realize you like taking pictures, you might be tempted to go out and buy fancy gear and pricey software tomorrow morning to start your lifelong travel photography business. Want a better approach? Follow your curiosity over your passion. It’s way more fun and way less pressure. Ask questions. Dabble. Do things for fun. Following your curiosity is like a lifesize creative pause, and maybe that’s what it takes to get the juices flowing.
As a writer, this one gets me. Halfway into the first sentence, I’m already hitting “delete.” Whether you’re solving a problem, building an argument, designing a customer experience, or whatever else it may be, try to hold your own criticism back. There’s a time for criticism, but it’s not while you’re generating ideas. Designers call this divergent thinking. It starts with throwing out as many ideas as you can. Believe it or not, we’re talking quantity, not quality.
There’s a time and place for editing your own ideas, don’t get us wrong. But convergent thinking happens after you diverge. And that’s good news because some of your ideas are probably…bad. (If not, please let us know how you hacked the system.) But if you criticize or even filter them from the start, it’ll only hold you back. Your strange little idea—the one you were embarrassed you even thought of—might help you get to the big one you needed all along.
If you want to grow into your creativity, start with bringing other people in. Why? More brains equals more brain power—more ways to diverge and expand as well as more ways to converge and refine. Sharing your killer ideas with other people is pretty fun, right? But let’s be honest—most people don’t have the guts to share the wild or far-fetched or downright weird ones. Why? The criticism can be brutal. When Steve Jobs acquired Pixar in the 80’s, he saw this problem, so he introduced a method of collaboration called “plussing.” The rules are simple—If you want to critique an idea, you have to add to it or offer an alternative. With plussing, teams get to be teams instead of putting the weight of ideation on one person. Feeling stuck? Have some bad ideas? Aren’t quite there yet? Collaboration might be the answer.
Bringing new people in will create fresh ideas and offbeat perspectives for whatever solution you’re looking for. But over time, you’ll also learn new ways to think, see, and connect. Watch out, it’s pretty contagious.
If you want to learn how to foster creativity in yourself, the good news is that you’re already on the right track. It can take time to train your mind to think in new ways, but remember—you’re more creative than you think.
