16/01/2021
Many people are convinced that you’re either born creative or you’re not — but that’s not exactly true. Even something as mundane as cooking can be very inventive. Instead of telling yourself you’re not creative, try to accept and embrace the fact that you are creative, and develop your creative habits intentionally.
Research published by the American Psychological Association confirms this, and suggests the following tactics:
Record your ideas: Even if you have to use a napkin. Doing so stimulates the subconscious to keep providing new ones.
Challenge yourself: Take on impossible, imaginary challenges to get out of mental ruts. Imagine how to make skyscrapers fly, or to make suitcases pack themselves, for example.
Sleep on it: Very often new solutions and ideas occur to us in dreams, or in the hypnogogic state between sleep and waking.
Get happy: Depression kills creativity, whereas positive emotions encourage a more loose-knit approach to problem-solving and innovation.