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We are glad to welcome you, dear readers of the blog! Creative thinking is essential to generate new ideas and find solutions to problems if there is a feeling that a dead end has arisen. Ideally, you need to start developing it in childhood, but there are methods thanks to which you can start training at any time, regardless of age.
Methods and exercises
1. Non-standard approach
Given that gaining experience, we have a strong opinion about something, which subsequently turns into a template. And thinking in patterns greatly limits your options. Therefore, let’s try to move away from them and experiment, looking at ordinary things from a completely different angle. After all, let’s say, with the word «bed» in front of your eyes, an object consisting of four legs, a mattress and, possibly, a back will definitely appear.
But by asking yourself the question “What if?” and allowing you to dream up, without devaluing yourself for the ideas that have arisen, then it is quite possible to invent a new type of furniture. Usually children love this method, tormenting adults with difficult questions that seem to have no answers.
In general, the main point — the formation of creative thinking directly depends on your permission to yourself to be non-standard, at times even stupid and extremely curious. If you allow yourself to «play» — then you will be surprised how sometimes everything turns out to be simple, and the limitations themselves exist only in our head.
Ways to play:
- Opposites. It is necessary to replace the habitual, stable property of an object with a completely opposite one. For example, we are used to the fact that the TV has a rectangular screen. What happens if you make it round? This method opens up new possibilities and allows you to reinvent the wheel.
- disappearance. And what happens if some thing is no longer produced in the form familiar to everyone? For example, canned food will not be sold in cans, how then?
- Distortion. We come up with a completely new application for some subject, or we change a completely established order and rules. For example, what if teaching at the university will be conducted by the students themselves, without the inclusion of teachers?
- fantasizing on the topic: «It would be great if …». For example, lemonade poured from a water tap at certain hours, or in general, any drink on order.
2. “Relax”
When you have a difficult task in front of you, you think hard about its solution, but as a matter of fact, not a single good idea arises — distraction and relaxation will be the best method. You know that in order to relax, you need not just fall on the sofa, but change one activity for another, the opposite, so you don’t fall out of the work process.
If you had to think a lot, distract yourself with the help of physical labor, and vice versa, in the case of the opposite situation. Because our brain, no matter what we do, is always looking for ways to solve a problem. Have you noticed that insight usually occurs at such moments when we are busy with completely different things?
We are just chatting with a friend, walking in the park, and then we suddenly realize that everything is simple and clear. This is called passive concentration, and when there seems to be no more thought, use this method. Just in no case do not switch the focus of attention to social networks, otherwise you will simply lose time.
3. Filling in the squares
Take a sheet of A4, or draw 49 cells in electronic form. Then think about your difficult and yet unsolvable situation. Let’s say you want to save money for a car, but so far it doesn’t work out. Now relax and let your creative mind begin to suggest ways to earn extra money. That is, the task is to fill each square with an idea.
Even if it seems crazy, let the brainstorming happen, this is a very effective method, because, if you look closely, sometimes there is a “share of reason” in the most ridiculous decisions, and these are the ideas that are called genius. It is only necessary to limit the time, this will stimulate the process.
For 49 squares, 15 minutes will be enough. By the way, you can even periodically monitor how the speed of your thinking changes by empty squares that you didn’t have time to fill in the allotted time. You can learn more about brainstorming from the article at this link.
4. Exaggeration
Try to deliberately come up with the worst possible solutions without trying to be right and smart. When you give yourself permission to think «not logical» and make mistakes, a miracle will happen — in the stream of stupid options, a few worthwhile thoughts are sure to slip through. Then the development of creativity will take on a light and cheerful tone, and will not look like serious work.
So you put a stain on your favorite shirt that cannot be removed. And what if you take it and get it all dirty? Then, after all, the stain will not be visible, and in this way you even manage to update your wardrobe without buying a new thing.
5. Table
Look carefully at the table below, what was the first word you noticed in it? Now come up with 5 definitions for this word that characterize it. Then think of some difficulty that is relevant at this moment in your life and apply your answers to it. For example, back to the topic “make money for a car”, you saw the word “horse”. What is he? Hardy, fast, etc.
Over time, you can choose other options for tables on the Internet, or even better — come up with your own.
6. Unusual application
It is necessary to come up with at least 20 areas of application, and unusual ones, for any household item. Let’s say scissors. Through their rings you can weave bracelets by stretching ropes, cut spaghetti while eating or use it as a hair decoration … Practice every day to expand the boundaries of consciousness, and then various solutions will flow like a stream.
7. Improvement method
And this technique is also useful. Think about how to improve some item or process. What would you add to make it even better and easier? For example, in an article about amazing and real stories of people who changed their lives dramatically, we talked about Sheri Schmeltzer, a woman who came up with decorations for the famous Crocks shoes and earned millions from it.
Therefore, you are always in search of options on how to change at least some small thing in this world, even if it is a toaster or a stapler.
8. Creativity
For the development of creativity, any existing types of creativity are suitable. Try to draw something, even if you do not have the talent of an artist at all, let your hand depict what fantasy “shows”. Write a story or a poem, go to exhibitions, museums and art galleries more often. People are different, and perhaps someone’s ideas will inspire you to create something of your own, unique.
9. Unusual activities
Use a creative device in everyday life, that is, performing some actions in an unusual and unusual way. It seems that a banal brushing of teeth can turn into a whole adventure if you try to complete the whole process with the help of only one hand, which, moreover, is not the leading one. And then in practice there will be a lot of options, how to open the tube and hold the brush, how to put everything in place, etc.
10. Abbreviations
Come up with a decoding for any word, deciding that it is just an abbreviation. For example, a mole — a painstaking hard worker organizes trails. Yes, you have to “break your head”, but on the other hand, you, in addition, replenish your vocabulary and strengthen your memory.
11. «Back to front»
Read signs, advertising slogans and other texts that you meet on the way to work, while walking, and so on «back to front.» Try to make a shifter on your own at first short words, eventually moving on to longer and more complex ones. And the pinnacle of skill will be when you can freely speak «back to front.» By the way, if you connect close people to this process, it will become more fun and easier to practice. Yes, and in a public place you can discuss something confidential, because not every passer-by has such a skill.
12. Courses
Recommended Wikium service, there is a separate course on the development of creative thinking.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today, dear readers! I recommend reading the article about the right hemisphere of the brain, where you will also find methods for developing the creative part, which is called creativity. Good luck and inspiration!