What is Creative Thinking and Why is it Important?
Creative thinking is the ability to develop the most innovative solutions to problems. Creative thinkers brainstorm not only a considerable quantity of ideas but also a wide variety of them. Once creative thinkers have their hands on an appropriate number and type of ideas, they start to experiment with them, looking at them from all different perspectives and angles to see how well they work with the problems at hand. They’re not afraid of taking risks and going the extra mile, which is why having this ability will make you wanted in any sort of workplace. With creativity, we can view and solve problems in a more innovative way.
A creative mind opens up new possibilities. An imprisoned society may have generations of closed-minded people because of the lack of contact with its creative side. We can overcome prejudices by broadening our perspectives. In addition to that, creative thinking sets you free from that box of old-fashioned ideas and limits and takes you to a world where the only limit is your imagination. Therefore, the world grows and flourishes because of creative thinkers. How amazing would it be to be one of them?! And that’s your motivation right there.
How to Improve Your Creative Thinking?
Nurturing your creative side isn’t that hard; you just have to want it enough to commit. Below is a list of things you can try to help improve and grow the creative thinker inside of you.
1. Always Be Curios:
Usually, the things that seem the most complicated to you are a good starting point to start practicing this method. The thing about complex things is that it all comes down to your perspective and approach to them. Anything can be interesting and easy enough if you approach it the right way. To motivate yourself, try to focus on the positive side of being curious. It’s a practice that keeps providing you with knowledge and new, interesting information every day.
2. Keep Your Mind Open at All Times:
Having an open mind that’s always happy to receive and study new ideas is a great way to give your creative thinking a boost. For example, looking at problems from other people’s perspectives can help you relate to others’ experiences with the problem at hand. This way, you could learn to solve problems in a completely new way that’s more effective than your own approach.
3. Observe and Absorb:
Watching how others approach their problems and the methods and mindsets they use to solve them is more than just helpful to gain some new insight into problem-solving and improve your creative thinking. Practicing this will unlock a lot of new sides of your creative mind over time.
4. Allow Your Mind to Go Far:
You should challenge yourself to come up with several ideas at once about a topic or problem. Be careful not to self-police when you write down your ideas, and don't write off some of them before you even get started. An idea is always good until proven otherwise. One other thing you could do is practice daydreaming. Let your mind wander, get lost, and go places it wouldn’t go normally. This could be inspiring, and it would train your mind to unlock new places to go and search for solutions and ideas when trouble arises.
5. Study Things You’re Not Usually Interested in:
It sounds boring, but it is very helpful for you to consume ideas you wouldn’t normally choose. It’s a great way to widen your horizons and even find new ones along the way. Plus, you might find out that you’re interested in all the things you thought you weren’t because you’re approaching them in a new way now. It’s definitely something you should consider doing on a weekly basis.
6. Limit Yourself to be Unlimited:
Sounds complicated, right? Allow me to explain. Let’s say someone asked you to write an article about whatever you wanted without any word count limit. Chances are, your article is going to be so bad even if you spend days on it because there weren’t any limits to the task. This way, your mind will be buzzing with ideas without enough focus on which one is the best or on the appropriate word count for this article. But if that person asked you to write an article with a specific topic and a specific word count, you would have more freedom to get creative because now you have all the requirements that limit your article to a certain box of creativity. It’s exactly as if you asked a chef to invent a new dish without giving them any specifications; it would be so confusing to them. But if you asked the chef to invent a new dish using ingredients of your choosing, chances are, the chef is going to surprise you with the greatest dish you could ever have. Because now the chef has a healthy amount of space for their creative mind, which will make them more focused and more oriented on the current task. So, in short, in order to think outside the box, you would have to find a box of your own.
7. Ask for Professional Help:
Asking professional, experienced people to give you some advice that’s tailored to you specifically is always a great shortcut to unlocking your creative thinking because the focus will be on you particularly and you won’t get generalized information and advice. You will be in the professional’s box, which will make them more creative in helping you. See how it all ties together?!
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