Unlike what you may think, creative thinking is not solely for other people.
You can also be creative. The only requirement is that you make an effort to be creative.
First, let’s get the definition of creativity out of our way.
According to Dictionary.com, creativity means: the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
This is spot on. Only I’d replace transcend with use.
People always think that others are creative and they are not. They think highly creative people possess extra-ordinary thinking qualities that transcend the normal way of thinking.
While I agree that creative people go beyond the traditional way of thinking, they do not have superhuman qualities to help them become creative.
Creative people train themselves to be creative.
Just like any other new way of thinking requires you to learn it first, thinking creatively also requires you to learn to think creatively.
Are you caught up in a mundane way of living? Do you follow a predetermined routine in your day-to-day activities? Have you ever thought you can change the way things happen to you?
If your answer to first two questions is yes, and a NO to the third one, you probably haven’t tried to be creative.
What do you do when you feel thirsty? You probably go and drink water. Problem is, drinking water is not a very creative idea. When you feel thirsty, your brain decides for you that you need water. It’s an automatic response that you instantly accept.
Now if you feel thirsty and think to yourself “Hmm.. I drink water whenever I feel thirsty, let’s try something new today“, you reject your brain’s ready-made suggestion and switch to a creative mode of thinking. You weigh your options and decide that you’ll get yourself a coke to quench your thirst.
There. You just ditched a conventional way of thinking and went through a creative process of thinking to get yourself an alternate thirst-quencher.
If you start taking coke every once in a while to satisfy your thirst, it too becomes an unoriginal idea. How about you try another brand of coke that tastes differently?
See, when you want to be creative, sky is the limit.
Once we accept that creativity and innovation, in most cases, is looking at traditional ideas from a different angle, or building upon unoriginal ideas to come up with original ones, it becomes a lot more easier to apply creative thinking to every aspect of life.
Blogging is writing, and writing is a creative process. If you keep churning out same kinds of posts everyday, your blog will become boring.
Before you write your next post, ask yourself how you can write it differently. Be innovative. Every other blogger is writing like you do, so why will your visitors subscribe to your feed?
Two examples of creative blogging has just come to my mind.
1. On 99% of blogs in the world, a blogger writes a post and readers comment, addressing the blogger directly. It doesn’t matter whether blogger responds back or not. The conversation is over as soon as commenter leaves the comment. There is no back and forth dialog. No exchange of thoughts.
Skellie, who is a creative blogger and likes to think outside the box, didn’t accept this typical way of holding conversations in the comments. So she put on her creative hat and came up with a solution. She now dedicates a whole post to her readers every week, where she asks her readers a thought-provoking question and encourages them not only to hold a dialog with her, but also engage in a conversation with one another.
To ensure that her new idea works, she selects a reader with the best comment and most active participation in the discussion and features him/her in her next post.
Result? Go see for yourself.
2. Maki, whose whole blog is one big collection of creative ideas, has recently started a new kind of post on weekends that he calls “Weekend Media”. It’s an innovative idea because weekend media post is not just another post with a bunch of advice. In every weekend media post, Maki features books, movies, documentaries, and other similar media, and finds a connection between the featured media and some aspect of internet marketing.
As a result, he has found a way to step outside his niche, while keeping his new posts relevant to his current topic of Dosh Dosh. So even though he is attracting more readers to his blog, he is making sure he does not scare away his current readership.
Do Skellie and Maki possess super-human qualities? Of course not. They are just like you. Only they are not satisfied with the conventional way of blogging, and are willing to try new things.
So go try something new. Here are a few ideas for you:
Keep building your own list.
Whenever you do something differently from the way it’s usually done, or how you have been doing it for ages, you take a creative step.
Trust me, you are always being creative to little degrees in your routine life. In all the decisions you make and problems you solve, you unknowingly stimulate your creative neurons.
The next step is to use your creative power consciously in whatever you do.
So what are you waiting for? Leave me a creative comment now!
great examples of creativity. are you going to try something innovative for this site? maybe you can give an interview to your top commenter each month
and how is Sphinns working for you as a social networking tool?
keep up the great content!
Just in time, our blog is becoming boring.
turtie, I am always experimenting with new stuff on Blogging Bits, but I guess it’s too subtle to be noticeable
Though, my free backlink schemes can be classified as creative experiments that are rather loud in comparison.
Sphinn id working great for me. Fortunately, I’ve had some Sphinn power users submitting my posts to Sphinn, so I’ve been getting to Sphinn front page quite frequently lately.
Bong, and where can we find your blog? The link in your name points to your feed.
oh the pressure … not only do I have to type a comment in response to your insightful article … but it has to be creative too???
Seriously though, you yourself, along with Maki and Skellie set a great example when it comes to creativity. All 3 of these blogs are on my daily “must read” list.
I’ll be thrilled when the day arrives that I’m half as “creative” as those who inspire me.
Keep havin FuN!
Todd
Thanks Todd. I am happy to know that I am not letting you down.
i want to be an extraordinary person .if u can help me then plz help me
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Some thoughts:
I’m thinking the dictionary people arrived at the word “transcend” because your replacement with the “word “use” could imply change. If I take something that exists and find a new use for it then I have been innovative—a creative use of something that already exists.
I’m also wondering if it’s possible to be a creative person—creative 24/7. A person may lie a lot but that doesn’t make them a liar. Is it ever accurate to label a person as creative? A person may create something from nothing at which moment (or during that period of creativity) they were being creative, however, the next moments, say in selling their creation or basking it the glory of their creation, they were no longer being creative. The next day they may create something else, but in the interim perhaps they were being abusive to their spouse in which case they did something abusive but that doesn’t make them an abusive person. A person might go through a period of creativity in which case they might be labeled as a creative person, however, most such people eventually go though extended periods of drought.
Creativity is much the same as enlightened. As far as I can tell one does not achieve and sustain indefinitely (24/7) the experience of enlightenment. It’s an on-off thing much like a 60-watt AC light bulb, it appears to be on all the time but it’s also off 50% of the time. To others one might have the appearance of being enlightened (on all the time) but the “enlightened” person knows better. For one nano-second I’m enlightened and if you ask me a question I know the answer, however if you ask me the same question in the following nano-second I don’t know. The most brilliant person I know has moments of not knowing.
One pitfall in the wanting to be creative game (or even trying to inspire others to be creative) is that it can turn into a should, yet another expression of dissatisfaction, such as wanting to be happy, or thin, or wealthy, instead of intending things to be the way they are. I’m not being creative, or you’re not being creative, (make-wrong), there must be something wrong with me.
For sure there are activities (actions) one can do that will create space for creativity, or increase the frequency between knowing and not knowing; that is to say, some people have become stuck in not knowing or not being creative.
Kerry
I think that creativity depends of tools too. This is one of the reasons why I’m rebuilding one of my blogs from scratch on another domain and with a rather flexable CMS, Joomla. Thanks for this good post.
Absolutely amazing article! Good job.
There are so many myths about creativity being a gift from God which shall be cleared to whoever reads this post.
sometimes when i need to be creative i talk to someone such as mom dad sister brother girlfriend. but ya it helps
Very interesting
In my opinion, a good exercise of creativity might be this: in the morning, open your window and watch for like…5 minutes. Then write what you just saw and how it made feel like. Write whatever comes to your mind, whenever you have the time. It will help you communicate and socialise.
Another good exercise could be to go to a museum with a friend or two, and comment with them at every picture you see. Tell them what you think and, more important, listen to what they believe. Many people, especially teenagers chat with their friends online. This is good when you’re far from them, but it’s very different from talking to them face to face. I think it’s easier to be creative when you’re outside.
Jason’s idea is also good. Communication is the key
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I have printed this and will read it tonight ! Will comment tomorrow ! Looks interesting !
Read this last night. Great article thank you !
Just as I was getting ready to write a new post on my blog, I decided to give your blog a little visit. It must have been fate, because I have been struggling all day on my topic. Now my creative juices are flowing, with a little bit of inspriration from you. Thanks for letting me know that I can do it.
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I’m not sure it was creativity that sent me to the patio with my coffee to read this highly recommended blog this thundering morning or craziness. As I sat here the storm clouds continued to roll in and the thunder becames more constant. Then a beautiful Sunday morning rain started. Well guarded under the leaves of the maple tree I continued to read this blog wondering why can’t I be creative?
Wait. Was sitting in the rain with my face turned up, being misted by the rain splashing off the leaves considered creative? I think that not running for the house as soon as the rain started would have been my normal response. Instead I sat and enjoyed the fact that I was doing something diffeenent . I don’t know if I feel more creative or inspired by my experience, I will enjoy the wonderful smells and sounds that a rainstorm brings and say Thank You on this beautiful morning.
Yesterday I was bulding like a carpenter a very weird machine, something that at the end didn’t work and maybe is gonna work with a little more work. Just after that when I was finished and found “it is not gonna work” my very creative idea came to mind.
Building the machine was a hobby and the idea I got was for my job, something totally different.
My point is some times you need to get away with your mind, focus and dedicate time into something different and get the creative idea you need.
Good luck been creative !!!
PD: That phrase “Come on, say something!” is good, I wasn’t thinking to write here but it was the trigger.
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Great article & sounds great on how to be extraordinary with an amazing creativity. It was more helpful to everyone in the designing profession. It makes us clear & helps us to improve the way of designing & to boost up our creativity. Thank you so much for share this posting. Keep on sharing good things always. Congrats.
Having just started my own business I am looking for new creative ideas. This was a huge help.
Having just started my own business I am looking for new creative ideas. Thanks for the ideas.
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What a thought provoking article, can I set it up so I get an update sent in an email every time you write a new post?
Hi there,
You have some remarkable and very sage tips here. Thank you.
Two comments:
Why don’t you have a life outside the cyber world and bring your remarkable creativity to the real world? I would like to know what your life is like in Pakistan (I am a travel writer!)
Please check out the video attached, which I hope you find very interesting.
http://www.aiga.org/video-gain-2010-harris/#.TmFdYmeF0N8.facebook
Was sitting in the rain with my face turned up, being misted by the rain splashing off the leaves considered creative? I think that not running for the house as soon as the rain started would have been my normal response. Instead I sat and enjoyed the fact that I was doing something diffeenent . I don’t know if I feel more creative or inspired by my experience, I will enjoy the wonderful smells and sounds that a rainstorm brings and say Thank You on this beautiful morning.
Creativity can be our goal in life. I did a post on exotic pets because I saw some wierd pets recently.
So we should use ideas we see and turn them into great posts.
Or just another duplicate with no real value.
Be Extraordinary: How To Tap Into Your Amazing Creative Power Authentic Celine Bags For Cheap
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The name of the blog is Potential Rumors. I use it to empty my mind of weird (out-of-the box) ideas and thoughts—so that they don’t continue floating around in my mind getting in the way of me manifesting my stated intentions.
Aloha, Kerry