Creativity helps us to see the world differently, come up with ideas, and visualize new ways of living and working. Without creativity, you probably wouldn't be able to see yourself switching careers, taking risks, living in another country, and definitely not traveling around the world as a location independent entrepreneur. In other words, creativity is often the first step towards doing something new and great.

But how do you become creative? Are you just born that way and if not, are you out of luck? Not so, according to the literature. Here are just a few of the things you can do to make yourself more creative.

• Practice creativity. This may seem odd, but the more you work at it, the easier it is to be creative. I once attended a business meeting where they held a session on increasing creativity. The assignment was to list 100 things you could do with a paperclip. I struggled with it, only coming up with a fraction of the number. But once we went around the room and talked about our ideas, it somehow freed up my brain, and I was much more creative during the subsequent exercises. Creative people tend to work at being creative.
• Think laterally. If you are having trouble coming up with a creative solution to a problem, change your perception and think about it from another's point of view.
• Think inside/outside the box. The catch phrase for many years was to “think outside the box” and challenge assumptions to come up with new ideas. But now, “thinking inside the box” has caught on. The idea is that sometimes you are more creative when you have certain parameters.
• Exercise. Exercise to get your creative juices flowing. Some of my best ideas have come to me while swimming in the pool.
• Brainstorm and collaborate. Two, three, four, or five heads are often better than one.
• Spell out your problem on paper and come back to it. Define your problem so you know what you are dealing with. Think about it, toss it around in your head, put it in your desk drawer and come back to it a day or so later. Sleep on it. The ideas may start flowing.
• Doodle.
• Read whenever you can.
• Listen to Bach and Mozart or other classical music.
• Always be bad at something you are passionate about. This one comes from Bill Buxton, principal scientist at Microsoft Research, in his article “How to Keep Innovating,” (Bloomberg Businessweek, February 18, 2009). He suggests that as you gain expertise in your worklife to always have a hobby or pursuit in which you are a beginner, to help keep your passion, curiosity, delight, energy, and enthusiasm alive.
• Travel to faraway places. Saving the best for last, traveling to faraway places or just thinking about doing so, can increase your creativity, according to an article titled “An Easy Way to Increase Creativity,” that appeared in Scientific American, July 21, 2009. Real distance, or psychological/spatial distance (including thinking about future events) can spur creativity, say authors Oren Shapira and Nira Liberman. Such distance encourages abstract thinking, which increases ability to form connections between unrelated concepts.

  Bon Voyage!

-by Beth