9 Ways to Boost Your Creative Thinking

Limit yourself

Research has revealed an insidious problem. It turns out that many choose the path of least psychological resistance”and as a result rely on existing ideas, try to use the resources that are at hand.

Voluntary restrictions greatly enhance creativity. They even help creative people step out of their comfort zone (they have one too).

One of the most famous examples is when Dr. Seuss created his best-selling book, Green Eggs and Ham. He did so after an argument with his editor, who challenged him to write a book using 50 different words.

Working with texts, you probably found that when there are some restrictions, they lead to rather ingenious workarounds. For example, when you were going to create a text of 800 words, and you only need 500.

Try to set a number of restrictions in your work - and you will see how your brain will find creative solutions within the framework that you have set.

Reframe the problem

Usually, creative people have a habit of conceptualizing problems, and they do it more often than their less enthusiastic colleagues. This means that instead of making a quick final decision, such a person sits down and considers the situation from different angles before starting to work on it.

Here's one example: I often need to make an article that will be popular. If I approach writing with the thought “What can I write to get a lot of retweets?”, Then I can hardly come up with something good. But if I take a step back, look at the problem from a different angle and ask myself the question "What articles really resonate with people and attract their interest?"

So, if you get stumped when solving a common problem like “What would be so cool to draw?”, Try to rethink the problem, focusing on its more significant aspect: “What picture will cause those who look at it, familiar to almost everyone feeling of loneliness after breaking up?"

Maintain psychological distance

It has long been known that taking a break from solving a problem for a while can eliminate blocks on the way to solving it. Creating psychological distance also helps. Humans were able to solve twice as many problems when asked to think of the source of a goal as something distant.

Try to imagine your creative task, distancing yourself a little from it, as if being at a certain distance.

Get creative … and then get back to work

While a lot of research talks about the benefits of switching and daydreaming, all of these findings seem to miss one important part.

The less work has been invested in solving a particular problem, the less fantasies and dreams work to achieve the goal. That is, it helps to dream when you have already put a lot of creative effort into solving a problem. Therefore, before using daytime naps and dreams as an excuse for your laziness, be honest with yourself and play around first!

Come up with something absurd

Reading or experiencing absurd experiences helps to recognize images and develops lateral thinking (subjects read Franz Kafka, but researchers have suggested stories such as Alice in Wonderland).

Our brain is always trying to make sense of the things that it perceives. Surrealistic art puts it in an "accelerated" mode of work for that short period of time during which we read or look at such an object. For example, reading the story "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov may help you.

Separate creative thinking and work

The absorption state technique is helpful in the preparation process and is much more effective than trying to combine labor with creative thinking.

For example, if you are a writer, it will be much more productive to do all the necessary research first and only then start working on the text.

Create a Powerful Charged Mood

For a long time, scientists have argued that happiness is ideal for creativity. But a 2007 study on creative processes in the workplace found that thinking is stimulated by both positive emotional peaks and negative ones.

Of course, a bad mood can be a killer of the desire to create, it is not as universal as the positive emotions caused by joy, excitement, love, and so on. No one advises to drive yourself to the negative, but the next time you find yourself under the influence of strong emotions, try to use them to create something useful. The end result may surprise you a lot.

Move

Sports activities also help improve our creativity. Through physical activity, you get adrenaline and a good mood. And as we already know, a positive attitude stimulates creative thinking.

If you have a stupor in solving a problem and you want to rest, then take a break for exercise. As long as your brain continues to work on a subconscious level, training will accelerate the emergence of useful ideas.

Ask yourself what could have happened

According to research on hypothetical thinking processes, looking at past situations with the question "What could have happened?" allows you to increase creativity in a short period.

According to research, it is better to solve analytical, strategic tasks using a subtractive model of thinking, thinking about what could be obtained in the current circumstances. Expansive problems, on the other hand, are best dealt with through counterfactual thinking, thinking about what could be added to the situation.