Comments on: Creatively Creative: A Book Giveaway for Creative Thinking

By: Eight Life Hacks for Creative Thinking

Eight Life Hacks for Creative Thinking — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 05:42:48 +0000

[...] So the overriding themes for me are variety, curiosity, and health. What works for you? Tell us and win a book! [...]

By: kadavy

kadavy — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:49:16 +0000

Thanks everyone for the great tips – I’ve posted the finalists. Vote for your favorites, and get your friends to vote for you: http://www.kadavy.net/blog/posts/creatively-creative-10-great-tips-to-stay-creative/

Feel free to keep submitting tips though, for conversation’s sake.

By: Tatoosh

Tatoosh — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:40:07 +0000

Everyone has little things they like to do to inspire creativity. I really believe in cross fertilization. Bringing in ideas from outside your normal field of expertise. But how do you go about looking for new inspiration? – GO OUTSIDE YOUR ROUTINE.

If you like to walk, walk somewhere different. If you like read, read something different. Talk to new people. Break your personal boundaries, do some things you might fear, keep an opened mind and stay curious. Those new experiences will fuel new sparks for your creative fire.

By: Patty

Patty — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:04:10 +0000

Stop thinking about yourself and think about how to help others…

I find giving back to others is the best way for me to stay creative. I direct my thoughts and energy towards other people and other initiatives. By taking the focus away from myself and seeking to serve another person, I am freed from the stalemate and creative blocks that I experience when thinking only of myself. The energy that is being used for this external purpose in a new way helps me develop fresh ideas and a new perspective that enhance my ability to be creative.

Some ways to switch the focus from ourselves to others…

Volunteer
Help a friend
Commit a random act of kindness
Make art for others to enjoy
Post a blog with helpful information
Plant flowers in a public space

By: Mark McGuinness

Mark McGuinness — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:36:56 +0000

Hi David,

I’d like to propose Deborah Frances-White of http://www.the-spontaneity-shop.com/, whose advice on ‘doing the obvious’ was the basis of my latest post at Lateral Action: http://lateralaction.com/articles/be-original/

All the best with your competition.

By: vinnie

vinnie — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:35:45 +0000

Has their really been no mention of pot yet? To some, maybe it’s just a cheap fix of creativity, to others, it can be a flashlight.

By: Jame

Jame — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:52:25 +0000

Finding creativity? I walk outside. I like in Oakland, and the streets in Oakland and Berkeley are a never-ending source of amusements. And sparks. Broken, beheaded parking meters turn into herb gardens or planters. There is the free bike phenom where you pick up a bike on a corner, and leave it on another corner. At the farmers market, and interesting ice cream shops flavors like saffron and jalepeno inspire my creativity. Back to the street: typical examples, seen on stop signs (via stickers or graffiti) –
1. (stop) war
2. (stop) pollution
3. (stop) driving
4. (stop) hate

And my new fave replacing stop driving?
(stop) hammertime

Each street sign let’s me connect with either memories, or just fun new types of expression.

Just saw this post so I didn’t get to retweet. (@jameane)

By: Abraham

Abraham — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:46:07 +0000

To me the trick is to pun pencil to paper (or pen to paper, or brush to canvas, or fingers to keyboard, or hand to mouse, etc, etc) and just do stuff until I have something of merit that will solve the design problem at hand. I think inherently everyone is creative, the problem for me often is that I have a lot of discordant ideas in my head. Once a multitude of different ideas and iterations are committed to a more tangible medium (if these ideas are completely unrelated to each other), then one can sit down and edit to come up with a solution to the problem at hand. So I guess to quote the shoe ads “just do it”.

PS. It also helps to be either highly caffeinated or slightly drunk when this is happening.

By: Tom Nemitz

Tom Nemitz — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:31:40 +0000

To stay creative, I employ several methods because none of them are 100% fail-safe:

I talk with people whose personalities I connect with. Notice I didn’t use the word “creative” there — it doesn’t have to be creative people who spur ideas and get one’s mind rolling, just people that one connects with and can verbally jive with. Several of the people I routinely rely on for these convo’s are the furthest thing from creative as you can get, but their different perspective combined with shared experiences can lead to interesting places creatively.

I watch movies from my childhood like Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, Back to the Future or Beverly Hills Cop. Its silly, I know, but I’ve seen these movies so many dozens of times that its almost like hitting the “reboot” button on my subconscious. Like I said, silly. But it works.

I keep a notebook handy where I write down funny things people have said to or around me, sketch things I encounter, etc. Reading and looking at those notebooks is a real source of energy.

When all else fails, drink Pabst Blue Ribbon. PBR me ASAP!

By: Gordon

Gordon — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:45:55 +0000

Part of the way I stay creative…is to keep a notebook handy and jot down ideas. (Or, if I’m online, open up backpackit or Google Docs and type them out).

It sounds ridiculous, but it helps me in that I can often revisit old ideas, and while executing them…other ideas come into play.

Another thing is to move to some household chore – doing dishes or cleaning a room. Doing something simple, unintellectual, and relatively easy helps cut down the worry about finding a new idea…I find that I’m even more creative when I’m not forcing myself to be.