13 Ways to Spark Intense Creativity

Ignite the creative spark within you.

One of the things that really sets humans apart from the other animals on this planet is our capacity for creative thought.

Not only is it a necessity for the advancement of the species (after all, someone had to come up with the idea for harnessing the power of fire), but it brings us a lot of enjoyment, too.  Why else would we spend so much of our time and energy reading books, decorating our homes, or listening to music?

It can be argued that creativity is something that is divinely inspired, that some people “have” it and some people don’t.

The fact of the matter is that we all possess the ability to think creatively. Sometimes, however, we need a little spark to get us started.  (Just like the person who decided to bring fire into the cave!)

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.”  Henry David Thoreau

Whether you’re trying to stretch your limits or you’ve just found yourself with a bit of a mental block, here are several exercises that can help get your creative juices flowing.

1. Brainstorm. When faced with a challenge, solutions can seem hard to come by.  Let yourself see that this isn’t truly the case by writing your problem at the top of a piece of paper and then coming up with 30 ways to solve it.  These are just quick, bite-sized ideas, not fully developed plans.  Sure, 30 is a big number, but what you’ll find is that once you’ve covered the obvious stuff, your brain will start coming up with more and more creative approaches.  Some of them will be unrealistic, but don’t censor yourself until your list is complete, and then you can go back and evaluate each item.

2. Change your approach. If you’re sitting in front of the computer trying to write the next Great American Novel but just can’t seem to get a handle on the words, you may find that you’re pushing too hard in one direction.  Look to other forms of expression to motivate yourself.  Trying to write a song? Instead of listening to music, head out to the local art museum for some visual stimulation.  Having trouble with graphic design?  Go to the symphony and let yourself be inspired by a completely different art form.

3. Draw a mind map. Mind maps are a great way to generate new ideas because you start thinking in different directions.  Begin by writing your challenge in the center of a sheet of paper.  (There are several online tools that can help you do this, too.)  Surround this word or phrase with related thoughts.  As you do so, you may find that you want to delve into one or more of them more deeply.  Continue by surrounding the new phrases with related thoughts.  By the end, you’ll often find that you’ve come up with solutions that would never have occurred to you if you hadn’t made these seemingly random connections.

4. Check out other industries. If you keep doing things the way they’ve always been done, then that doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for growth.  Why not see how other businesses/companies/industries do things and determine what ideas you can bring back to your own endeavors?  It’s worked for Amazon and Zappos, so why not for you?

5. Free write. Most of us have an internal editor who constantly critiques our thoughts and ideas.  Shut this guy up by sitting down with a piece of paper and writing stream-of-consciousness style for three minutes.  Don’t take time to fix your grammar or spelling, as those things give that internal editor the opportunity to nay-say.  Just write everything that flows out of your mind on your particular topic.  When three minutes is up, you may discover ideas you never realized were rattling around in your brain.  Another alternative is to do a “brain dump,” where you write everything you’re thinking about on a sheet of paper so you can get it out of your head and move on to focusing on the actual problem.

6. Use an online idea generator. This one from Idea Champions is called “Jump Start.”  You enter your problem or challenge in the form of a question that starts with “How can I?”  Then you click the button, and it generates a list of adjectives to help you answer that question in new ways.  It then helps you to brainstorm ideas, as well as to uncover the “underlying principle.”

7. Ask for suggestions. Do you Twitter?  Facebook?  Blog?  Use a phone?  All of these are great ways to reach out to other creative people in order to tap into some great ideas.  A writer friend of mine recently named a character in her romance novel based on suggestions sent to her via Twitter.

8. Start at the end. We often get so hung up on how to solve our problems that we become paralyzed.  Avoid this by taking a “backwards” approach to problem solving.  Start by imagining what things would look like if the problem was already solved.  Once you have a good mental representation, back up one step and determine what was the very last step that would have needed to happen for you to get to that outcome.  Then, back up again to figure out what you would need to do to reach the step that you just imagined.  Keep going until you’ve backed up to your current point, and you’ll have a step-by-step list of how to get to your desired outcome.

9. Become an idea collector. When you come across quotes, pictures, and other snippets that inspire you, write them down, cut them out, or capture them in some other way.  Compile these ideas where you can browse through them from time to time for inspiration.  Some people put them in binders, some pin them to bulletin boards, and other go all arts-and-crafts and create a scrapbook-style idea book.

10. Be someone else. When you have a challenge that just seems insurmountable, imagine what you would do if you were someone else.  Don’t have enough money for that great new gadget you want to buy?  Consider how your favorite athlete might solve that problem.  What would you do if you were a child?  Heck, how would you solve your dilemma if you were a dog?  This is especially effective if you put yourself into the mindset of someone you really admire and respect.

11. Reword the challenge. Continuing with the earlier example, we can say that the challenge is not having enough money for a new gadget.  Consider changing your perspective to see if there is a different problem you could be solving.  In this case, the problem might be “I want the newest gadget.”  Looking at it from that perspective, you may discover that you can solve your problem by finding a comparable product that costs less or even buying a refurbished one.

12. Cube the challenge. This exercise allows you to come at your challenge from multiple directions.  For each problem or challenge, take the time to do the following:  Describe it, compare it, associate it, analyze it, apply it, and argue for and against it.  This can be extremely helpful in showing you where patterns occur in order to get to the true heart of your challenge so that you can solve it.

13. Carry a notepad. Creativity isn’t just about solving problems and meeting challenges.  Sometimes it is all about capturing a good idea that you can use later on down the road.  Keeping a small notepad or voice recorder gives you a way to preserve those great ideas so that you can pull them out and dust them off at a time when you can give them more attention.

While creativity is certainly a natural ability, it also needs to be nurtured, and occasionally encouraged, in order to develop.  Using these ideas can be a great way, not just to solve a particular problem, but also to open up your mind to allow more creative thoughts to flow through you.

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What methods or secrets do you use to spark creativity in your life?

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