Strategies for Enhancing Creativity
 

by Rick Saldan

Have you seen a toddler cry for food and what happens when the mother turns a deaf ear to his plea for food? The child tries to drop a thing on the floor to draw attention. Soon the mother or another family member rushes to the child who is then comforted and given something to satiate his hunger. What did the child do? He practiced his creative skills to draw attention and achieved his immediate goals. This initial strategy of being creative which most of us have put to work, reveals the fundamental truth about creativity: we have it in us except that the skill has to be further honed to achieve bigger things in life.

Being creative is not just learning to paint a good picture or writing a novel. The need for creativity lurks at every corner of our lives. Without being creative we can hardly solve the plethora of problems which plague our daily lives. Even when we wish to better ourselves we need to put our creative skills to use. Albert Einstein once said, “If you always do things the same way, you will always get the same results.” Nothing can be truer than this statement. Creativity can take much of the boredom from our lives rendering us more productive both at home and at office. But how can one put in conscious efforts to open up the mental blocks which stop us from being creative?

Try these tips:

• Start to think of different ways in which the same job can be done. Change the route to reach office. You would be surprised how energized you feel passing a stretch of green en route.

• Change your perspective about many things which surround you. For instance, you have always perceived a particular restaurant to be expensive. Call them up and ask for the prices of some of the dishes which they serve. You might be in for a surprise which leads you to treat your family to this place on your next dining out day.

• Look at problems as challenges. A new boss has replaced the old one and you fear that the new superior may not like the processes followed in your department. Stop fretting about it and think of this problem as an opportunity to display your creative skills and develop another way to do the same thing. It is possible that the new and creative solution could save the company time and money.

• If you devote some time in thinking about ways of improving the look of your home you would soon find that you are living in a much more value-added home rather than feeling depressed in the old surrounding. Even in your career, coming up with innovative solutions can take you higher in your career path.

• Even designing a career path can require your creative skills. Planning for the future and working hard for achieving your goals in the present is part of any success corporate story. But if you work hard and aimlessly, what awaits you is frustration and hopelessness. However, if you can concentrate on self-development, for example to enhance your existing talents, you are creatively opening up fresh channels of career change and subsequent growth.

• Creativity knows no boundaries and the areas where you can be creative are equally endless. Creativity can take you places and can save you from many pitfalls of life too. For instance, imagine the company that you are working for faces a major marketing challenge. The way to take the challenge in the stride would be with a creative solution like a change in pack size, launching economy packs, changing the perfume of the product, outsourcing advertising and promotion, stricter management of financial resources and so on. If you along with your colleagues build a ‘creative' brain storming group, your joint effort could result in a financial turnaround for the company which can change fortunes for many within the company!

In conclusion, the more curious you become about being more creative, the more would be the revelation of your own unique creativity which right now lie latent within you.