It can be difficult to keep thinking creatively, but in a global economy, creative thinking is becoming a critical asset to being successful. Over the years, I’ve tweaked my daily life to be able to get myself thinking creatively whenever it’s needed. Here are some of the key methods that I’ve found work for me:
- Move your body: Whether it’s swinging from a pull-up bar during a conference call, or hitting a few yoga poses to start off my day, I’ve discovered a strong connection between my thoughts and my body movement. Dancing, running, walking, playing sports, or just jumping around for no apparent reason are good ways to get your mind thinking differently. When was the last time you did a hand stand?
- Express your thoughts: In any way you can. The most important thing is, minimize friction between your brain, and the medium of expression. If you feel like talking, just pace around and talk, even if you aren’t recording it. And, don’t be afraid to not make any sense. A tiny fraction of what I write or draw ever sees the light of day. Sometimes I’ll just sit and write a string of random words that are on my mind – the next thing I know, that exercise has me writing complete, coherent, sentences that would have never gotten out of me otherwise. When I write, sometimes it’s in a Moleskine with a compressed-felt pen, and other times it’s in one of my favorite apps, VooDoodPad.
- Use your senses: Whatever your core competency, explore other mediums of expression that use other senses. For your ears, take a dance class, or learn to play an instrument. For your smell and taste, take a cooking class, or just experiment in your kitchen. I like to go to a life drawing class once in awhile, and I’m still playing around with the idea of keeping a big hunk of clay on my desk. There might be room next to my LifeBeans.
- Socialize: With passionate people from all fields. Your brain will light up hearing about how other people approach challenges of their respective crafts. Also, the more you socialize, the more you understand people, and the more people will understand your work.
- Isolate: If all you do is socialize with passionate people, you aren’t creating much, are you? To really inject your unique perspective into your work, you have to spend some time with your own thoughts. If your profession has a “scene,” try pulling yourself out of it for a bit. Ever seen “Best in Show?” If your life is starting to look like that, maybe you should stay in this weekend.
- Laugh: You have to have fun, or your work will lose all of it’s soul. Set aside 15 minutes a day to poke around on YouTube if you have to. I like to watch The Office on hulu while I work.
L.O...I have an idea! - Invite Serendipity: Put yourself in a place where something random, yet magical can occur. The general criteria for such a situation is that it be something unfamiliar and full of random stimuli. My two favorites are strolling around the streets of any major city, or wandering around a thrift store. Twitter user stephendavis02 does something similar.
- Eat right: For me, this means lots of fruits and vegetables (organic when possible), a lot less meat than the average American, and whole grains (brown rice, quinoa). I also try to do a fast one day a month, and it’s amazing what it does for my mood and energy level. The most dramatic effect occurred when I cut out wheat.
So the overriding themes for me are variety, curiosity, and health. What works for you? Tell us and win a book!
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Laughing photo by Jim Epler, lights photo by kevindooley.
- - -You should follow me on Twitter here.
Mary said,
November 27, 2008 @ 12:16 am
This is a keeper. It’s ALL good stuff. Re no. 2 (express your thoughts), when I coach writers I always pass along Anne Lamott’s advice (in her terrific book *Bird by Bird*) about writing “shitty first drafts.” Creative expression is right brain, editing is left brain. Lots of people edit AS they draft, which interrupts the flow of creativity.
Go to http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html
and do the little instant “test” and let me know the results. –Mary
kadavy said,
November 27, 2008 @ 12:46 pm
Ah, I’ve heard about the “shitty first draft” from Merlin Mann over at 43 Folders, and I certainly try my hardest to write them.
Interesting test. At first I saw it going counter-clockwise, but I showed it to a friend who saw it going clockwise. After looking at it for awhile, I was able to switch perceptions at will.
Mary said,
November 28, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
I couldn’t see her going any way other than clockwise, no matter what I did. I kept going back to the site and trying new things, but clockwise it was. Finally, after many HOURS, I looked at her out of the corner of my right eye and she was finally going counterclockwise, but as soon as I very S-L-O-W-L-Y turned my head to look at her straight on, she switched to clockwise again. She must get very dizzy….
Colleen said,
November 30, 2008 @ 11:09 am
How can anyone see anything other than clockwise? Oh weight. Now I get it. If you assume her LEFT leg is the anchor she goes clockwise. If you can make yourself believe the RIGHT leg is the anchor she goes anticlockwise. That is tooooooo cool. and pretty good for analysis from someone who first scored rightbrain.
krgaskins said,
December 1, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
Fabu!
This is hip-ly inspiring.
del.icio.us, even.
kadavy said,
December 1, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
Yu.m.my!
Dave Ferguson said,
December 3, 2008 @ 8:47 am
David, there’s a good overlap between some of your hacks and the points that John Medina makes in his Brain Rules. (I’m interested in training and learning, so every so often, the brain comes into play…)
I quibble a bit with your point 2 — it’s not so much that you want to minimize the friction as that you want to exercise the connection. (I’m agreeing, it’s just a difference in emphasis.) We learn, literally, through effort.
A lot of this involves a kind of mindfulness about where and how you choose to focus your attention. Like your point 7: when it comes to reading blogs, I talk about going three links out — on someone’s post, follow a link (that’s one); from the new site, repeat (the second link); and maybe from there, follow again. You’re now three links out, and almost certainly out of your usual neighborhood.
kadavy said,
December 3, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
@Dave Ferguson, Brain Rules, looks pretty cool. That’s definitely a towatch. I’m sure there’s all sorts of scientific info to support or refute what I’ve got here; but I try not to worry about that.
Good point about 2, and yes, simply exercising the connection is what I’m wanting you to do. Any *friction* just keeps you from doing that. For example, I really like to play my guitar and sing lyrics as they come to my head. I don’t bother writing them down, because frankly, they aren’t that good. But I do notice, the more I do this, the better those lyrics get.
Amy Dumas said,
January 28, 2009 @ 5:07 pm
I’ve been poking around your site for a while and lovin’ every minute of it. Dude, You are so cool! I’ve said that out loud several times now so I thought I’d put it it print.
Seriously – the Twitter Tips, this page, and especially your Go Wheat Free page (I’ll be linking to that) are all informative and fun to read. I love your writing style.
kadavy said,
January 28, 2009 @ 5:21 pm
Thanks, Amy! I’m so glad you like my blog. Pass it along!
Peter Durand said,
February 12, 2009 @ 10:22 am
Two version for the same method:
(1) Start with a large, blank canvas (or whitewall); or…
(2) Start with 2-3 randomly selected images or objects.
Ask yourself:
“What am I thinking about right now?”
and/or
“What am I feeling right now?”
kadavy said,
February 12, 2009 @ 10:45 am
@Peter, sounds like a great exercise! I love whiteboards, and generally drawing really big. Have any products of such sessions you could share?
Yes You Are Creative [Digression & Links] « Simply Presentation said,
May 30, 2009 @ 10:26 pm
[...] Eight Life Hacks for Creative Thinking. David Kadavy shares eight tips to stir individual creativity. [...]
paco said,
February 12, 2010 @ 9:47 am
Neat, David. This is a very useful list. #8 and #4 have had huge positive benefit over the last few years for me. Now I just need to figure out how to do #7.