Open Brainstorms
100 Tips For Improving Your Creativity
I thought it would be interesting to ask BR Tool users for their creativity tips. Any input is welcome - be it favourite techniques, authors, websites, attitudes you think are essential for creative thinking, etc.
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Brainstorm Info
| Creator: | UKJohn |
|---|---|
| Created: | about 1 year ago |
| Activity: | 4 months ago |
| Users: | 25 |
| Ideas: | 96 |
Top Brainstormers
| Username | Ideas |
|---|---|
| djeich | 14 |
| ThoughtOffice | 13 |
| graham | 12 |
| FreshThinker | 9 |
| ThinkCubologist | 5 |
| dlock | 5 |
| UKJohn | 5 |
| stormer | 5 |
| ranencarmel | 4 |
| anandvc | 3 |
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96.
talk to yourself in the mirror; act out a scene from a movie in front of the mirror; do a commercial in front of the mirror; put shaving cream in the lid of your hair spray bottle and pretend it's an ice cream cone
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95.
Talk to your pets. Ask them what they think and how they would handle the situation.
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94.
Ask a child how he or she would solve your problem. If the problem is too complicated to explain, simplify it first and then ask the child. Very often, chidren come up with very unusual, unexpected but doable solutions.
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93.
Spend some time in the company of individuals who you would otherwise never associate with: persons of a different race, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, educational background, religious background, etc.
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92.
Use a thesaurus to generate new words and ideas
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91.
Many people are most creative in the middle of the night when everyone else is sleeping.
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90.
Write backwards or upside-down and backwards like Leonardo DaVinci did to use both sides of your brain
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89.
Practice writing or drawing with both hands at the same time
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88.
Use your non-dominant hand and become ambidextrious
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87.
Go to a University library and do a literature search about improving creativity, integrate the interesting findings into a paper that you write...then practice them!
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86.
Sleep in. Many of my best insights or craziest dreams happen after the 8th hour of sleep.
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85.
Mindmap your concepts...it is amazing to see all of the little ideas that relate together to make a big idea. This helps to integrate your ideas and helps you develop more robust concepts in the future
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84.
Mark Reeves told me: "Never say never." There are many reasons for this, but I'll leave the advice to stand on its own.
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83.
Look for the Ideal Final Result (this is a technique from TRIZ, but can be used without any others.) What is the benefit that you are trying to achieve? What is the cost of doing it now? What harmful side effects are generated? How could you achieve the benefit with NO cost or harm? Are you willing to work on that? Or do you want to work on an improvement (today's idea with more benefits or less cost or less harm?) Going all the way to the ideal stimulates lots of creativity.
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82.
Keep a dream journal. I have woken in the morning with product ideas stuck in my head - a new shape for a wrench; a whole new song; something new to do with LEDs. A dream journal will help you capture wild ideas that may either be practical, or - if not too practical - may lead you to a new concept that works.
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81.
Try using outrageous similes to spark your imagination. Think up some, or read some fiction - either good or bad - to see what kinds of "word pictures" authors have crafted. Two I wrote last night: "ditched them like an empty pack of Marlboros" and "parted out like so many broken down Chevy Citations". Play off the imagery that is inspired and try making some "like a" phrases of your own.
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80.
Ditch the mental baggage. If you have some letters you've been meaning to write, a project you've been meaning to complete, whatever - that takes up mental real-estate. Take a day or a week, and clear the decks, making room for your mind to run in Super-Chief Streamliner mode.
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79.
Meditate. Clear your mind, and watch what happens with the things that come into your head. You may find some new associations you hadn't thought of before.
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78.
Adding to #6, take a look at how people in other countries solve your current problem, or maybe how they solve a common problem. I took a walk through an Oxfordshire neighborhood in 2001, and came away with many fresh perspectives that influence me even today.
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77.
L-Pyroglutamic Acid and L-Tyrosine. Take the former with Vitamin B (a good multi is great) at night before bed. Then L-Tyrosine during the day (take both with water, away from protein-based foods). Those two provide phenomenal neurochemical activity, making it easier to be creative for longer periods of time, and to increase your associative thinking capability. When you are operating with excellent biochemistry, creativity flows naturally.
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76.
Work to a soundtrack: Find a song that resonates with you, and one that drives you. Momentum is critical to idea generation. There's a song I have played in my mind since my road racing days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbxswV2a6l0. It's called 'Los Endos' (The End). The genius in the song is that it's made of the key melody in each of the songs on the album. As a result, it's all hooks and a number of different rhythms (9:8 time is my fave... always playing catchup). A ThoughtOffice Fave.
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75.
Humor. A successful joke is most often based on associative thinking. So connect with some humor, and "riff" on it. My key employees and I make sure to riff at least a few times a week... it's a great way to get into a new mindset. More often than not, we arrive at an "a-HA!" moment that gets us to a new level in our innovation process. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8kThoZpF_U and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHI-foSNccA are great examples. (thanks to Brian Regan).
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74.
Watch this video: http://www.gofish.com/player.gfp?gfid=30-1025863. This is the classic Eames "Powers of 10" video, expanding to the mega-universe level, then to the subatomic level. Now, watch for the noise level at each phase. See that? There appear to be sequences in nature that move from quiet to noisy in a rhythmic pattern. Look for those patterns in your work and idea exploration, and you can often tap the noise (or the whitespace) for the next big breakthrough.
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73.
Read the free newsletter from Roy Williams of the WIzard Academy at http://www.MondayMorningMemo.com. This one weekly insight has provided more powerful insights and is a great way to start your week.
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72.
Go to a nice and new environment where you feel happy and excited, and synergize with interesting people there;this gets the creative cells sparkling. Feeling good and sharing your thoughts open many windows of opportunities. The impossible becomes possible.
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71.
Think about similar situations and learn from them. This is usually a difficult task, but guarantees creative inputs.
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70.
view the situation as if you knew nothing about it whatsoever.
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69.
train yourself to exaggerate the parameters of the problem: increase a number; make some aspect shorter, heavier, more colourful, deeper, etc.
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68.
who has already achieved what you are trying to do? what approach would they take?
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67.
use the secret service technique: "our agents report that the enemy has invented a vastly superior model." in what way has the enemy's model been improved?
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66.
think like a science fiction author: "what if we had anti-gravity suits?" "what if everyone were telepathic?" ...
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65.
always ask yourself the question: "what is obviously true about this situation?" and then see what happens when you dispose of this axiom.
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64.
choose a random concept (such as "chocolate ice-cream") and train yourself to be able to use it as inspiration in any situation.
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63.
choose someone who is totally unrelated and put yourself in their shoes: if you have an academic problem, ask yourself what a businessperson would do.
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62.
exaggerate the problem: how would you solve a problem twice the size?
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61.
mix and match concepts. in the kitchen, what would a cooling-spoon, a spice-mat, a recipe-pan be?
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60.
ask yourself what your favourite hero would do.
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59.
Consider the opposite: Turn the problem upside down; imagine trying to achieve the opposite; reverse the relationships
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58.
Look at the problem from a different perspective....literally. If a written statement, turn the page upside down and read. If a sketch, picture or even a physical model do the same. Helps you to see what was always there but unseen.
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57.
Go Random. Where ever you are think of at least seven things... anything, no rules. Write those things down without judgingor sensoring. You may use visual, auditory, musical or personal reference, For example, the next thing someone says or the next thing you hear on the radio, song or talk show subject. List those seven things and relate them to you end result. How, Why is it related to your issue. Why? This process opens fresh new pathways to success.
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56.
Act like Bowfinger: (Google that one if you missed the reference). Take sticky notes and imagine you are writing a movie. Take each "scene" (or problem, or list of issues) as a separate sticky note. Then craft solutions, expansions, contractions, corrections, etc... one each per note. Then put them all on a whiteboard and rearrange as they make sense. Arrange vertically for "Scenes", and horizontally for either Time, company division to handle, or person/personality to handle. Amazing results.
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55.
Cross-pollinate Ideas: Read. Everything. I read 31 print magazines a month, 100 email newsletters and 4+ books. By reading diverse text covering every field, you develop threads that help expand the mind and discover creative solutions across ever field. There may be "no new ideas", but the combinations of existing ideas is limitless.
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54.
Gmail. Yes, get your free Gmail account (that's Google Mail, FYI). Then send email to yourself with random words, phrases and posts. On the right edge of your email you'll see Google AdWords that are a result of keywords within your emails. Many times you'll find some very interesting phrasing, associations, and other fun explorations to play with (these AdWords are slightly different than the ones on a typical search on Google, because they are AdSense versions).
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53.
http://unboxing.gearlive.com. There is a certain combination of thrill, anticipation and "Scooby Do" moments when you open a well-designed product package. UnBoxing does it well, with pictures and descriptions for all kinds of products. And if you haven't opened an Apple product box, do so immediately. It is a study in user experience and innovation.
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52.
http://shopliftwindchimes.com/videos.html. This is the video portion of poet Rives. Brilliant. If you can't find creative inspiration in his "Def Poetry Jam" video, you need work. Also: http://www.virtualpoetryslam.net/main/contests/2007/all. Some great inspiration in their words, cadence, rhymes and rhythm.
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51.
www.TED.com. Watch a video a day, and take notes. We do it in the office daily, and I get more creative improvements and positive feedback from our crew by watching a 5-30 minute TED video than almost any other single source.
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50.
Go wide. Once you have a clear idea of the situation, do a "stream of consciousness" brainstorming session, using words, images, objects and music/lyrics to expand the idea. Think of it as "6 degrees of separation", knowing that you can get to any solution through a short series of associations.
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49.
Ask every question you can think of related to the task at hand, problem or opportunity. This "drilling-down" will ALWAYS produce high-quality possibilities and answers – and crystallize your idea, problem or opportunity so you can produce very clear responses.
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48.
Build a rough prototype. It will help focus your goal and serve as a platform for generating more ideas in creating and extending.
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47.
when brainstorming, think of all the things that will not work. This can sometimes lead you to a very creative result.
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46.
Focus on finding good in every idea, no matter how bad it initially sounds to you. As yourself, how can we build on this.
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45.
Stop evaluating ideas critically as soon as they occur. Generate ideas first, and then come back to look at them later.
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44.
Celebrate crazy ideas for their ability to open up new possibilities. There's a great NY Times article about how the Japanese encourage innovation this way: 1350http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/world/asia/20japan.html?ex=619200&en=052c0d849fa3663c&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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43.
Bring together people who are used to thinking about a problem with people who have never encountered it before. The fresh thinkers will open up new possibilities because they won't be constrained by "what has been done before".
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42.
A widely documented approach involves reversing a challenge: instead of asking "How can I improve service to customers?" you ask "How can I make the service so bad that it scares customers away for life?". It's also great fun and keeps the ideas flowing!
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41.
Take a break. do something else. Incubation, as mentioned here before, is a powerful tool. stop trying to find a solutions and solutions will come.
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40.
backwards script-writing: imagine the result of your idea. how will it look? how it will influence on your market? then, go backwards and look for more ideas to make it happen.
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39.
ideal competitor: imagine a powerful competitor that can defeat you. study him, get to know him - then BE him.
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37.
Write down every idea you have to completely drain your brain. Then, take a short break and walk while looking around your surroundings. Then, force yourself to write down at least 10 more ideas. Since the easy ones are already gone, your brain will be forced to be more creative.
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36.
Make impossible and radical statements on purpose. E.g. People should get paid for not working. Then continue on that line of thought until your brain comes up with an idea that makes it possible.
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35.
Don't try to innovate in a vacuum. Look around at similar problems in different fields, and see what elements apply. Often, parts of a solution can be found.
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34.
Open a book and point randomly to a word. Force your mind to make a connection between the problem you were trying to solve and this completely unrelated random word. Sounds completely illogical, but works.
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33.
Sit in a public place and watch people try to do a common task. Take notes about what they're doing, especially problems or snags they encounter. Think of ways to fix those issues.
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32.
Switch to unlined paper for all of your meetings, brainstorming sessions, and notebook idea entries. It will subconsciously - and consciously - free you to think differently and more expansively. Also, it facilitates more visual drawing of ideas - not just linear verbal descriptions - which is particularly useful for novel, emergent ideas that are still in the process of forming. Once people experience unlined, they don't go back :-)
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31.
Check out some of the work of Edward De Bono - father of lateral thinking: http://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Edward+De+Bono&ots=7TbdTqWe1Q&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title
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30.
Use an innovation process like 'ThinkCubation'(http://www.metamemes.com/downloads/QuickStart.pdf). It gathers together some of the best techniques and methods that can be followed to generate lots of new ideas and through this iterative process the likelihood of discovering a breakthrough are greatly increased.
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29.
Leverage the 4 fundamentals of Innovation: FUNDAMENTAL 1 - Innovation happens at the intersection of domains and fields, FUNDAMENTAL 2 - Breakthrough ideas come from playing with ideas and forming new connections, FUNDAMENTAL 3 - Incubation is a powerful and important part of any innovation process, FUNDAMENTAL 4 – Brainstorming is a skill to be practiced and perfected - these are described in this blog post: http://metamemes.typepad.com/beyond_brainstorming/2007/06/what-is-an-inno.html
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28.
Use creative tools like the WhackPack (http://www.creativewhack.com/product.php?productid=64&cat=1&page=1), Knowbrainer (http://www.solutionpeople.com/kbtool.htm) and ThinkCube (www.metamemes.com)
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27.
Use creative techniques like SCAMPER
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26.
ideas are always a combination of two or more ideas. if we can understand that, then we can generate more ideas
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25.
have a time limit, say by 10th of this month i should generate 10 ideas. this competitive thinking will enable you to be focussed and will help generate more ideas.
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24.
ask "why?" and find wonder in everything - creative connections will soon materialise. What is "normal" anyway?
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23.
Keep a record of ideas, problems and thought experiments. Refer to the record regularly and sometimes memorise the items so that you can think about them at any time at any place.
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22.
If you are working on a problem then think about it last thing at night before sleeping. In the morning you may find that you either have a solution to the problem or are able to think about it in new ways or from a different perspective.
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21.
Smoke some pot.
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20.
Try to have new experiences so often, that enhances your creative thinking.
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19.
Do things that make you think, like play games, read, watch a movie, listen to music, or whatever makes you tick.
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18.
Try using your left hand more if you are right handed and vice-versa.
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17.
Be around kindergartners.
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16.
Read biographies of high achievers in any field any emulate their thought-process.
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15.
Apply tools to force good ideas out of you
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14.
Ask others for their ideas, this will inform your own universe of ideas.
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13.
Practice generating new ideas on a variety of different questions...not just your specialty
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12.
Practice generating new ideas often
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11.
Understand what your individual strengths and skills are to utilize for creation
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10.
Create your own creativity system
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9.
Undertake a new hobby every few months to see what it feels like to learn something from scratch and create
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8.
Surround yourself with creative people
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7.
Actually intentionally study creativity
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6.
Visit different countries
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5.
Live in new places often
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4.
Make a group of people with similar interests, share thoughts and improvize
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3.
Brainstorming
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2.
Be comfortable with a high "failure rate".
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1.
Get into the habit of creating thought experiments - ask "what if?"