How to be creative – Basics

How to be creative

Creativity is something which has always come naturally to me, but after a discussion with friends who were both creative and
not so creative, I noticed a startling set of common elements in all of us who considered ourselves creative. I will outline these characteristics below:

There is a time, when I am most creative. That time for me, happens to be in the morning when I am taking a shower. Yes, that’s for real!
Rarely can I sit there and think, now I need an idea, and it comes. Of course sometimes it does come, but I always find the next time I have
a shower the idea becomes even better and exciting.

But, there is some logic to maybe why this happens. Lets analyse:

When I’m in the shower:

1) Im not being distracted by worldly noise (I find showers relaxing and love to dip my head under and stay there) – there is a reason why I share this!
2) Im in my own space, and nobody can come and disturb me.
3) I am free to do whatever I want, sing, dance, stand there without anyone judging me, so I am at peace with myself
4) I am in a place which I’m usually not in again that day, so its special – my special place

Of course, these are the perfect ingredients for allowing creativity: my own clutter free space, freedom to express myself and be protected from
distraction. However there is one key component missing which most of my creative friends share:

We all go to sleep after briefly thinking about the problem and possible solutions. We do not think about it for long, maybe just a few minutes, then
we forget about it and sleep (note we don’t go out partying after thinking about it, we usually go straight to sleep). It seems overnight our brains have already though of the answers, but
it does not present it to us instantly in the morning. Just like dreams we have to relax ourselves, and allow ourselves the piece of mind the brain needs to show us
its overnight work.

Note, none of us ever sit there expecting the answer. I do not go to the shower thinking OK, now it will come to me. No, I usually think of a mediocre solution the night before, and when I simply enjoy my shower, the thoughts present themselves to me. My friends, vary from finding ideas come to them when relaxing on their balconies in the morning, to sitting in a sauna after a morning workout.

But what we have in common is:

1) We assess the problem clearly the night before. What is the problem, what tools can I use to solve it, and what is a quick fix solution.
2) We then go to sleep and enjoy our sleep (we already have a quick fix solution so there is no pressure to find a solution, just possibly a much better one)
3) When we wake in the morning we do something we enjoy, which helps keep us in a relaxed state… and POW ! the answer presents itself.

This is our basic principle for being creative. Naturally, we can also be creative in groups and other situations (which I will discuss in upcoming posts on my blog), but I found, even those who are creative in group situation still follow a similar ritual to the one I described above. Creativity has to embed our whole life, not just present itself for an hour and then dissapear. Perhaps that is why most inventors are/were serial inventors rather then one hit wonders.

Feel free to share your creativity experiences on my blog too.

Tagged as: Creativity, generating ideas, how people are creative, How to be creative, how to be more creativite