Twenty Ways to Refuel Your Creativity

The Vocational Coach™

Craig Nathanson ‘’ Guiding you to discover and live your vocational passion’’

Seminars, Workshops, Retreats and Private Coaching

Twenty Ways to refuel your Creativity

By Craig Nathanson

Do you ever wish you had a few more options when trying to solve a difficult challenge?

Here are some ideas that might help expand your thinking.

Change your physical space

(Motion changes emotion and helps you think about things from a more rational point)

Think about it from someone else’s perspective

(Takes practice but you’ll get different answers that may be helpful)

Draw a picture of the challenge, imagine what it sounds like, feels like, smells like, tastes like

(We all make meaning through our five senses)

Find someone else you think is creative and ask them what they would do and then copy!

(This is modeling, if it works for them, why not you?)

Define for yourself what being creative is?

(You may just need to change some of your thinking habits that are not resourceful for you)

Practice thinking about the challenge in a new way

(Think about how you are going to think about it; break your regular pattern)

7. Laugh!

(Humor helping break those negative patterns of thinking)

8. Ask yourself, how would an eight-year-old deal with this?

(It’s amazing what questions kids can ask to break it all down)

9. Post the challenge on your wall for a few days

(Your brain will get tired of not having an answer)

10. Figure out what you have at risk?

(It’s hard to be creative when nothing is at stake)

11. Define a moving towards strategy

(Positive and Proactive strategies will always defeat negative and reactive ones)

12. Disassociate and watch yourself being creative. What did you do?

(You will be amazed what creativity you have)

13. Move ahead in time, one year and write a letter to yourself advising what you should do

(Part of the problem with planning in the present is you take in the baggage of the past)

14. Observe how someone you admire would deal with this

(If it’s good enough for them, why not for you?)

15. Ask yourself a question, exercise for 30 minutes and come back and let the first answer come to mind

(When those endorphins release, it’s the best mind advancing drug there is)

16. Open up the dictionary and read the first word you see. Read the definition. Ask yourself, how could this apply to solving my challenge?

(Divergent thinking can help you notice solutions from a different angle)

17. What could be the riskiest thing to do to solve your challenge? Now, do the next thing that comes to mind

(Sometimes all it takes is using that risk taking muscle a few times)

18. Say to yourself, I expect to resolve this

(I hope isn’t enough. Go ahead try it, no one’s listening. Notice the difference?)

19. Reward yourself if you think of a solution

(We all have the ability to pat ourselves on the back first)

20. Take a deep breath

(We all need air to think)

CONGRATULATIONS!

Now write down new ideas on overcoming your challenge in this space