Developing creative thinking

Creativity is not just about art and writing, and developing creative thinking skills will help you find new solutions for problems of any kind. Even if you don’t think you’re naturally imaginative, you can learn creative thinking. And using creative thinking methods can make you happier, healthier and more productive.

Creative thinking exercises

Know your motivations for creative thinking

Why do you want an idea? Do you want to create something for fun? For money? Do you want to solve a particular problem? Why do you want to solve the problem? To please other people? Or yourself? If you know why you’re doing something, it will help you keep going during the hardest parts.

The creative thinking process

See our previous article on how to overcome anxiety about failing.

During the first stage of the creative process, you don’t need to worry about whether your ideas are good, you just need to come up with ideas of any kind. The book Art and Fear [1] includes an anecdote about a pottery class in which focusing on creating one perfect pot produced worse results than making many pots and learning through trial and error. And NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) tells us there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. Meaning that even learning what doesn’t work is useful.

Gather creative ideas

There are many ways to do this. Try:

• Free-writing: set a timer (try anywhere between two and ten minutes), think about the concept and write down everything that comes into your head during that time.
• Mind-mapping: collect relevant words and concepts and connect them in an arrangement like a spider’s web. Search online for free apps and programs to try.
• Brainstorming: you can brainstorm alone but discuss the idea with a group if you can, perhaps friends or family. Alex Faickney Osborn suggests rules in his 1953 book Applied Imagination [2] that you need to go for quantity of ideas over quality. Don’t be afraid to come up with exaggerated or impossible ideas, build on each other’s ideas if you do have supporters, and don’t allow any criticism until this part of the process is over.

SCAMPER: the art of creative thinking

Bob Eberle’s 1971 book The SCAMPER Technique [3] lists some ways to mine a concept for new ideas.

• Substitute: can something be replaced?
• Combine: can something be added?
• Adapt: can the appearance or function be changed?
• Minimise/Magnify: can part of the concept be emphasised or reduced?
• Put to other uses: for what else can the concept be used?
• Reverse: what is the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve, and how can you avoid it?

Movement overcomes creative blocks

Moving around helps when you’re stuck in a rut. Walking while thinking activates different parts of the brain and reduces stress hormones. Or change your location entirely; a change of scenery might inspire you. Move to a different room, or go outside.

Keep a creativity journal

Carry a notebook with you at all times in case an idea strikes, so you don’t lose it. Practice writing down your thoughts – see our previous entry on journaling for inspiration LINK. Dream journals might also be useful, as your subconscious puts thoughts together in new ways. Dreams have been the inspiration for many artists and scientists.

Set aside time to think creatively

Set an hour or half-hour each day when you plan to do nothing but think creatively. It’s easier to keep your mind from wandering if you’ve agreed with yourself not to think about anything else during this time.

Creativity and mental health

Studies show that carrying out creative activities like colouring or crafting has similar beneficial effects to meditation – it helps you relax and improves your mood and sense of well-being. [4] And it works the other way too. Creativity is easier if your mood is positive, which is something that therapy can help you with. 

It’s also true that many of the problems experienced by people who come for therapy include an element of ‘automatic thought’, which is quite the opposite of creativity. Your automatic thought might be ‘spiders are scary’, or ‘I’m not good enough’ or ‘quitting cigarettes is just too hard’. But whatever it is, thinking and behaving in new, more creative ways will help you change that problem situation.

Therapy and creative thinking

Most therapists – including myself – don’t claim to have all the answers. There isn’t one, guaranteed, ‘off-the-shelf’ way to get rid of anxiety, or a phobia, or to solve any of the other problems or issues you might need help with. A therapist’s job is to find ways for you to think differently about your situation, to find new ways of feeling and doing things that will improve your quality of life and make you feel good about being you. In other words, therapy helps you get out of the rut of automatic reactions and think more creatively.

So, if these self-help ideas don’t work for you, get in touch. I’d be happy to help you take the next step to become a happier – and more creative – you.

References:

[1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking
[2] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Applied-Imagination-Principles-Procedures-Creative
[3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318018918_The_SCAMPER_Technique
[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2018/07/25/heres-how-creativity-actually-improves-your-health/?sh=224f614313a6