Be Creative
Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
— Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
Being creative is as much about using your imagination as it is about challenging the ways things are done, and then finding a new and better approach.
Think Creatively
When you were a child, you probably used your imagination to come up with lots of ideas for playing games with particular friends or in specific locations, as well as variations on games you’d played before. This creative ability is still within you, although it might take some effort to switch it back on after a long period of disuse. Once you have, you can use it to help you find different solutions for any problems that need solving.
Recondition Yourself
One of the biggest obstacles to creative thinking is your conditioning. Schools have become aware of this and now use more whole brain learning techniques when teaching children. However, if your education did not follow this approach to learning and thinking, there’s a good chance that you will have a left- or right-brain preference, the left being more logical and the right more creative. You may have been told that it is not appropriate to challenge an established view and, over time, you will have become conditioned to accept the way things are done. This type of conditioning removes any real likelihood that you will think “outside the box” and come up with a level of thinking that could transform how you do things in the future. It’s never too late to change the way you think about things.
What if…? Thinking
To unlock your creativity and get rid of any roadblocks that prevent you from coming up with different options it is helpful to ask “What if…?” when faced with a problem.
Suppose there is a problem in your department that is preventing your organization from making millions.
You are trying to come up with some options but have become stuck because of budget constraints, insufficient staff, the wrong machinery, or shortage of time.
Turn your thinking around and ask what if you had an adequate budget, enough staff, the right machinery, or sufficient time?
Asking “What if…?” removes any roadblocks that might be stopping you from coming up with answers. It opens up your creative thinking, allowing it to flow without restrictions. Using “What if…?” thinking lets you go anywhere with your thinking.
Creative Thinking
High Impact
Childlike thinking
Thinking without restriction
Thinking your way out of the box
Thinking big
Overcoming any roadblocks
Negative Impact
Closing down opportunities
Getting stuck at the first hurdle
Reinforcing your belief that it’s not possible
Thinking small
Accept Change
If a new level of thinking is required for you to come up with a creative solution, you will need to recognize the importance of change as part of the process. You will have to learn how to think differently if you are attempting to change a system that has been in place for a number of years, especially if that system is still working well.
Think Outside the Box
How to look at the bigger picture, or think outside the box, is demonstrated by this exercise known as the Nine Dots.
Copy the pattern of nine dots on to a sheet of paper. Now, join the nine dots with four straight lines without taking your pen off the paper or repeating any lines. Put into the context of performance, you could say that this is what the business expected from you 12 months ago – to be able to connect all of the dots with four straight lines in order to remain competitive in the marketplace.
Now change the business context. To stay ahead of the competition you need to join the dots with three straight lines.
Finally, for the business to stay ahead of the competition and be the industry leader you need to join the dots using only one straight line.
What you learn from doing this exercise is that in order to go from joining the dots with four lines to joining them with one, you have to look at all the critical variables that influence the outcome. These variables are the paper, the pen, and the dots. To come up with the solutions you need to look at how you can manipulate each of these variables: cut the paper, fold the paper, use a fatter pen, make the dots bigger, move the dots. Once you look at the critical variables in any situation, you can apply this thinking to help you come up with solutions to the problem.
Use the least number of lines to connect the dots: thinking critically, there is no reason why the lines have to go through the centre of each dot or, more radically, why the dots themselves cannot move.
Think Smart
Looking at ways to manipulate the critical variables of a given situation also works for day-to-day decision-making in your personal life.
Suppose you are thinking about booking the holiday of a lifetime. Variables can include location, mode of transport, type (activity or relaxation), and cost. If you want to visit an exotic location but the cost is too high, think outside the box to see if there is another way to achieve your dream. If time is not an issue could you travel by train instead of by air? Have you considered a working holiday or taking part in a charity event at your chosen destination to make the trip more affordable?