Cultivating Creativity

CreativityRagan’s PR Daily recently published a post on four methods to jolt communications creativity. Available here, it details how lateral thinking, perspective shift, concept porting (taking great ideas from one area of expertise and translating it effectively into another) and intentional conflict can help get the creative juices flowing.
The post inspired me to offer a few of my own.
Pick up a pencil: A great way to think outside the box – think outside the keyboard once in a while. Pick up a pad of paper and doodle away, journal or even write lists. I am a notorious doodler of triangles, houses, rainbows and shapes in meetings and whenever pressed for new ideas from clients and colleagues.
Travel: The easiest way to see the forest through the trees? Hop on a plane and actually do it! Study after study shows that travel expands more than just our horizons, but our actual capacity to think in new and different ways. (Cue to me actually pausing on this blog to remind all my clients I am out next week so I can travel throughout Monterey and Carmel before the holidays hit.)
Try to make someone laugh: One of my favorite quotes is: “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” And isn’t it the truth? Try actually getting multiple people to laugh throughout the day – it takes quick thinking, timing and delivery that translate exceptionally well to the creative process.
Try a different time of day: We’re not all programmed for 9 to 5 – try putting work away once in a while until either very late or very early to see if you come at an idea from a different mindset at a different time. I personally do my best work very early (think 5 a.m.) and very late (think 11 p.m.) so I make time each week to do both versus constrict myself to traditional office hours.

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at Nov 14, 2017

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