Stuck for an idea?

Truly creative ideas often seem very simple - once somebody has thought of them. But how do you get a truly creative idea? Here are some ways to generate your creativity:

• Put the problem into words. Clearly defining a problem is probably nine-tenths of its solution. Putting the problem into works is a discipline that clearly engages and focuses your left brain to find a creative solution. What are the problems? What are the conflicting demands? What, exactly, is the barrier that is keeping you from doing what you want to do?

• Write it down, and tell someone important to you. Don’t keep the problem floating around in your own brain. When you write, or when you tell the problem to another person, the words are encoded in your left brain in a logical, linear fashion.

• Approach the problem from all angles. Try many different approaches to describing the problem and describing the solution needed. Think about it from reasonable, logical, straightforward points of view. Think about it from unreasonable, backward, low probability points of view.

• Describe the solution. You don’t know what the solution is, but you know what it’s supposed to do. What does it look like? How does it work? Who will use it? How will it operate?

• Describe what you would do if there wasn’t a problem. What would your ideal solution be if barriers didn’t exist? If you could do anything you wanted to about this problem, what would you do?

• Come at it repeatedly. Work on it for awhile, then put it aside and work on somehting else. Come back to it the next day. For particularily comples and involved problems, purchase a notebook and write down your thoughts. Puts yourself to return to it often.

These points help your left brain to fully set up the problem and understand its dynamics. These are tasks the left brain does well. Your left brain can’t come up with creative insight, one that is not logical and linear. Until you fully engage your left brain and push it to work on solutions, your right brain can't tap the creativity within.

Stuck for an idea? - To learn more about this author, visit Cheryl Leitschuh's Website.

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