Ideas are like a currency for creatives. The more you have, the more valuable you are to those in your organization, and without ideas, you begin to feel completely out of place. If you don’t want to be a creative nomad, roaming around without any money in your bank account, then take a look at the list of ways to be more creative we’ve put together. By implementing some of these ideas into a regular weekly schedule, you’ll find that you always have a wealth of creative ideas at your disposal. Furthermore, you’ll be recognized by those on your team as the “idea guy” or “idea girl”.
Here are 4 ways to be more creative:
Bad Ideas Aren’t Bad.
When I was growing up I had a neighbor tell me that the first girl I date will not be the person I marry. It was a pretty sad thing to be told when you finally get a chance to take that elementary school crush to the local sonic to grab a soda with your parents, knowing that you won’t marry her. Well it was true. I don’t talk to her today… And it’s also true with the first idea you have in any project. It’s likely that the first idea will never become the final idea. Because ideas always birth ideas. And you have to be okay with a bad idea to get to the good ideas. Once we recognize that bad ideas aren’t bad, we actually open up the floodgates for more ideas to come in, because we train our brain to dream and explore, not analyze or criticizes ourselves. So the first way to become more creative is to be okay with bad ideas.
[bctt tweet=”ideas always birth ideas. And you have to be okay with a bad idea to get to the good ideas.” username=”lukemcelroy”]
Always be Aggregating.
When you get hungry, you don’t usually get in your car, drive to the grocery store and purchase one uncooked chicken breast, one green pepper and a slice of watermelon to have a bar-b-que for one. That would be amazingly inefficient. Instead, people who cook fairly often, go to the grocery store and buy groceries for the whole week, or even longer. This way it’s in their pantry or cabinets when they want to make dinner. The same is true with the most creative people in the world. They don’t wait to find an idea when they need an idea, they store them up in the pantry of other ideas, so they’re ready to share that idea when it matters. The best way to do this is to become an aggregator of ideas. Constantly collecting ideas on a regular basis, sets you up to be creative whenever you need it. The best ways to do this is making sure to capture ideas in an aggregation tool like Evernote, Google Drive, Pinterest, etc. A place where you can organize ideas is essential to being more creative.
A great idea would be to pick up a Mod Notebook (like the special edition SALT one we sell here) where you can jot actual notes down on paper, and when it’s filled up, you can ship it into the company and they’ll digitize it for you. Then you can import those notes, drawings, ideas, etc into your Evernote, One Note, Google drive and more! It’s pretty cool. Grab it today and we’ll ship it for free!
[bctt tweet=”Constantly collecting ideas on a regular basis, sets you up to be creative whenever you need it.” username=”lukemcelroy”]
Hang out With Other Creatives
I’ll never forget going to a Dave Ramsey event on financial planning and he said this phrase: “if you want to become a millionaire, learn from millionaires, not a poor person who wants to be a millionaire.” How amazingly accurate! If you want to become wealthy, learn from those who have already achieved wealth! The same is true in creativity. If you want to become more creative, then hang out with those you believe are more creative. This will do two things. First – it will help you talk about creativity more and befriend more people who can help you dream, brainstorm and ponder an idea when you’re in a dry season of creative ideas. Second – spending more time with other creatives will make you more creative because inspiration breeds inspiration. And whenever you’re able to be inspired by others, the natural outcome is more creativity. So go break that awkward tension and invite that person who’s also creative in your organization out to lunch. And just start hanging out more!
[bctt tweet=”If you want to become more creative, then hang out with those you believe are more creative. ” username=”lukemcelroy”]
Start with a blank page.
My friend Blaine says that creatives must overcome the tension and the fear that exists when they look at a blank page. The fear of having to create actually prevents you from creating. I know that sounds crazy, but how many times have you placed yourself in a situation to have to create from absolute nothing? I’d like to propose that starting with a blank page is a little like going to the creative gym. You always hurt after going to the gym for the first few days or weeks, but eventually it pays off and you find you’ve got muscles you never thought were possible. So this week, and every week after, take out a blank page and try to create something from nothing. For some of you it will be a new set design, others it could be a script for an opening moment in a service. Others – it will just be a series of random doodles that may eventually lead to something. Here’s the trick; just create for you, not a deadline, a project or a purpose. You don’t go to the gym to run the marathon…. you go to the gym to prepare your body to be able to run the marathon later. SO don’t expect the first day with the blank paper to be easy, but keep pushing through and start crating more.
[bctt tweet=”So this week, and every week after, take out a blank page and try to create something from nothing. ” username=”lukemcelroy”]
There you have it, four ways to be more creative. They may not all produce immediate results, but I’m convinced that each of these strategies have allowed me to become more creative over time. As rare as it to win the lottery and become an overnight millionaire, there’s no such thing as the creative lottery. The best way to accomplish creative success is slowing but persistently working on becoming more creative. Every day do something. Challenge yourself and step into the unknown more often.
When you’re okay with bad ideas, you collect ideas when you don’t need them, you befriend other creatives and you overcome the fear of the unknown idea, you’ll begin to unlock the potential of your own creativity.
