Making the Most of your Creative Output

• Making the Most of your Creative Output - National Library Board Singapore - OverDrive!
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Our brains might be lazy, but just like our muscles, they can be trained to perform well at anything, including creative thinking. Everyone hits roadblocks, but those who condition and train their minds will naturally have an upper mind in tearing them down. Besides helping us to live longer lives, scientists have discovered that exercise also helps us to perform better cognitively, improving creative thought. We think that creativity only strikes at appointed times, like an apple on the head or a moment in the bathtub. You might have noticed that some of the advice here contradict each other.

It really depends on your unique situation — if all the knowledge in your head is becoming a crutch you lean on, for example, then you should be reading less and doing more. Mix and match these creativity hacks as suits your circumstances. Did you try any of these, and did they work for you? Are there any creativity hacks I might have missed out? Share them with us in the comments below! As the founder of With Content, Daniel helps companies create quality content that resonates with their audience of choice.

With over 5 years of experience in content strategy and marketing, his writing can be found on Hubspot, Search Engine Journal, and Tech in Asia. Ebooks started out as electronic versions of printed books. But plenty of free ebooks today are made Building a solid resume starts with its foundations. Facebook posts with images have 2. The power of visual Something like the iPhone, that only strikes us as common sense after it was made?

Take a hot shower. So now what about the actual processes you have in place and use daily when being creative? What are the best ways to literally pull the creativity out of you? So why do you expect a marathon of creativity from your brain without warming that up? Try a brain warm up at the start of each of your working days — there are so many of these online! Counting backwards from really quickly, finding a noun for each of the letters of the alphabet or creating a mental list of names for both males and females are just a few, simple examples.

This all sounds rather silly, I know, but there is method in the madness. Doing exercises like this creates a neurological connection in your brain by getting those three all important networks mentioned earlier, working together. They improve memory and practice keeping track of where you are in a sequence. They teach you to focus and how to get in tune with your brain. There are more interesting, interactive brain warm-ups online too. Take a look here. Now your brain is warm, what about some online tools to help further wake up that creativity? Here are four for you to explore:.

When was the last time you took the time or even had the time to sit down and review the way that you encourage creativity within yourself and your colleagues?

Everyone loves a brainstorm. This is how it works…. Sit around a table and each divide a piece of paper in to six boxes. In the top left box write down any ideas, topics or words that you think are right to meet the objectives of the session; limit yourself to three. Once you have all completed this, pass the sheet round to your left.

Take a look at what the person on your right has written — does it inspire you? Can you elaborate on any of those ideas? Fill in the next box with three new ideas, and again, pass to the left. Continue the process until the boxes are full or until you all run out of creative gas! Everyone should look at the sheet of ideas in front of them and contribute those they think are the strongest — these are the ideas that should be discussed and worked on, verbally, as a team.

For starters, all ideas from the session are written down, so the organiser can take those away and bank them for the future — no creativity is wasted. Secondly, it allows those in the group who are less vocal to contribute confidently and effectively without having to battle against the other, louder characters in the group. And finally, all too often there are times in brainstorms where you all become stuck on the first idea mentioned and moving past that can become a real challenge. In these situations, you are often left sitting reworking that first idea over and over and putting a huge obstacle in the way on that potentially fantastic idea that is just around an imaginary corner.

Brain-writing will uncover it. Do you make sure you log ALL of your creativity? So make sure all of the ideas that come out of creative sessions are logged or banked somewhere.

Whether there is one person who owns this on behalf of everyone else, or whether each individual keeps their own log — keep these ideas. There is nothing better than sitting in a brainstorm or working on a project and getting a sudden brain wave of a previous, unused idea that would work. Working from a brief, meeting KPIs and targeting personas is the heart of everything we do here at Zazzle. Everything must be data led and informed - it sets us out from the rest. Sometimes, giving too much information cripples creativity. At the start of a brainstorm or ideation session, it is of the upmost importance to share what you are aiming to achieve with the team, and I cannot emphasize this enough.

Going in to deep detail and all the specifics often results in immediate failure as the creative minds in the room use all their energy processing this mass of information, as opposed to conjuring up some creative genius. So share the bare minimum, the absolute necessities and then set the session going. If Fridays in the office are more relaxed, switch weekly meetings to Fridays so you can go over what was accomplished that week and deliverables for the following week. In the end, it boils down to finding a balance between meetings and focused work. Which leads us to our next strategy.

Instead of inviting distractions, move to a private space in your office. If your company allows some work from home opportunities, give it a try to determine when and where you are most productive. The space you choose can have a major impact on your creative output.

1. Induce A State of Psychological Distance

Being aware of what helps you meet deadlines and deliver your best work is the first step. Then letting your team know your preferences is second. Not every workspace is designed for every kind of creative, after all. You do your best work when you can stay true to your work style and when your team is aware of how you work. Then everyone is able to collaborate better. If you like to have your noise cancelling headphones on while knocking out important tasks, let your team know that 9: They are welcome to send Slack messages and emails when needed, but make sure they are aware that under normal circumstances, you will not respond during those hours.

Better yet, if you are a manager, team lead, or someone who answers a lot of questions each day, have team members add up their questions and send a single email or put time on your calendar to talk them all through at once.

Have a Process

No matter what your company culture is like, keep communication open about what environment is most productive for each team member helps everyone meet their deadlines and avoid burnout. While Slack, email, and video calls are great, nothing beats going to a whiteboard to sketch out a solution to a problem.

This face-to-face time is the best way to communicate. Of course, many companies have some remote employees or are fully remote.

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In that case, figure out what communication method works best for you. Avoid going back and forth over email when you could pick up the phone and talk out a solution in 10 minutes.