Say you’ve been asked to come up with the most spectacular idea of your career and your mind decides to go AWOL right when you need it most. Sound familiar? Even if it’s not the most critical idea you’ve ever had to come up with, developing ideas is a struggle for everyone at one time or another. In a time where new technologies and inventions are popping up by the second, there must be ways to get those creative juices flowing. Regardless of the industry or task, developing ideas is essential in driving creativity both personally, and for your business.
Especially in the business sector, the expectation is usually to work harder versus working more imaginatively. There is also an expectation to continuously deliver bigger and better ideas, but routinely sitting at your desk staring at a computer screen is probably not the best way to generate the creativity necessary.
Some well-known businesses such as 3M recognize the importance of creativity in business and encourage employees to spend 15% of their time working on personal projects, allowing employees to exercise creativity through the freedom of a self-lead project. There are a multitude of innovative approaches being suggested by top companies, such as Bloomberg, that also suggest increasing physical movement throughout your workday.
If you’ve hit that brick wall separating you from that pot of gold containing brilliant ideas, it could be that all you need is to alter your approach a little. Here are a few ways quick and easy steps to take to inspire personal creativity:
1) Healthy stimulation – Go for a walk, take the stairs, step away from the screen for a few minutes and stop to chat with building employees. Help yourself avoid monotony.
2) Try something new – It could be that you need to rethink your approach to coming up with new ideas. Be creative in your brainstorming by using drawings to outline your thought process or by allocating a new space, like next to a window, where you can go specifically to develop new ideas.
3) Keep a thought journal – Good ideas all too often come to us when we are not trying to think of them. Carry a journal around to write those ideas down no matter where you are.
4) Talk it out – Whether out loud with yourself or with someone else, express what is going on in your head about a certain topic or idea. Sometimes just simply saying it out loud helps put ideas into perspective or see them differently.
5) HAVE FUN – Here at Sustainable Business Consulting, “fun” is one of our four guiding principles. While we take our work seriously, we believe that enjoyment and great work are not mutually exclusive. In fact, allowing the room to have a little fun can work a different side of the brain and help bring us out of any “idea lulls.”
These few, swift changes could completely recharge your creative potential. Make these steps a routine in your day to boost your creativity – as Fastcompany’s Jane Porter points out, creativity is a learned habit that needs to be continually practiced. Now, let those ideas roll.