Five Ways to Boost Your Creativity
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YOU know that feeling you get when your heart starts pumping, your mind is racing, your whole body feels a jolt of electricity as you search for some way to express the thoughts coming into your head and it feels like the ideas are overflowing? Welcome to the Creative Rush! It’s how so many of the greatest inventions ever have first begun. As an idea in somebody’s mind. For innovators, artists, and entrepreneurs alike, these moments where your brain goes into overdrive are essential. In this article, I will try and explain several different ways in which you can help yourself maximize these moments and artificially create more of them!
1. Go to bed with pen and paper.
This is one of the simplest tasks a person can do, and it is by far one of the most useful habits that you can create for yourself. So, what does it mean?
Well, it’s pretty much what it says on the tin. Be sure to always carry around with you a piece of paper, a notebook, or simply your phone with a “Notes” application on it.
Next step is to write down any ideas – no matter how bizarre or impossible they may seem to you – in there. You never know when inspiration might strike, and you certainly don’t know where. Don’t fall victim to forgetting brilliant ideas all because lugging one whole notebook was going to be too much for you. Who knows – going over some ideas you’ve written down from days before may bring about even more creative rushes! As for some of those truly crazy ideas, they could turn out to be genius solutions you simply didn’t know how to implement just yet.
If you’re like me and don’t like keeping your phone on your nightstand when you sleep then the notepad sure comes in handy. Be wary however of getting too excited before you fall asleep and losing several hours jotting down ideas furiously!
2. Events, events, ALL the events!
Find out when the next business-related event is on in your area and go to it! They could be on any topic at all, you will always gain something from such events. Be it for networking with other individuals much like yourself or even a new idea from all the interesting discussions you may be party to. Almost all events used to be in-person but have now mostly become virtual, but in either case, the benefits are still there in full force! From Hackathon weekends to Fintech Conferences to SME exhibitions. There is something for everyone so be sure to check some out for inspiration.
It doesn’t matter if you have a business or not, go and see what it’s about. Events are great places for finding like-minded individuals and surrounding yourself with people who are always thinking of, and developing ideas is even our next tip!
Go and grab the contact details of as many people there as you can. Everyone brings something different to the table and as you now follow our first tip you might find someone at these events who you can discuss your ideas with.
Your charisma here is vital. For any entrepreneur being open and approachable is a key asset. It’ll help you establish a strong network of people to help you, and propel you forward in life.
3. Surround Yourself with Ambitious People
Have you ever heard the quote “If you’re ever the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room”? Well, it’s extremely important and applicable in life. You need to surround yourself with people who will push you to become a better version of yourself. Very important note – this doesn’t mean constantly comparing yourself to them. You have surrounded yourself with these people for the sole fact that they ARE more successful than you are right now. No need to measure your successes and failures to theirs. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them and get ideas on how you can do things better!
Most successful individuals belong to clusters or “Masterminds” of other successful individuals where they exchange ideas, constructive criticisms and help each other out where they can push themselves to succeed further every day. These can be fellow students, entrepreneurs, even your parents or guardians. They are ahead of you in their path in life right now so there is a lot you can learn from them right now!
4. Keep Pushing Yourself
What’s associated with stretchy pants, a bag of crisps, a large couch, and a TV screen? That’s right – “The Catastrophic Comfort Zone”…
… That stress-free zone where your mind is able to drift off into nothingness and in complete bliss not care about what’s going on around it. Not pushing yourself to do anything more than what’s absolutely essential.
This is also the zone in which anything you work on becomes mediocre at best. From idea to execution, anything you’re extremely comfortable with can very well be too safe to succeed.
It’s time to cross that scary barrier and enter into the “Stretch Zone”, using that little bit of stress as fuel for your work. Stress Management is an extremely useful ability to have in your life, especially in enterprise where situations are usually quite volatile. Learning to control stress and focus down on your work helps to keep your mind clear in tough situations and naturally keep your body pumped with occasional bursts of adrenaline which are extremely useful for increasing Creativity. More on these zones in another article coming soon!
5. Devour some Interesting Books!
First of – please don’t eat any books… But I do seriously recommend either reading or listening to as many as you can! I absolutely understand that sometimes you don’t feel like reading. That’s okay too. In school and in university all of us have had mandatory reading material that has positively turned us off from reading anything else for a while… I know! However, the second that you find a book on a subject that is close to your heart, and you will feel yourself feeding off of every single word on the page. It will feel like you have finally found your own personal melody and you sync up with the text as it flows through you. The number of ideas I have gotten from books is unbelievable! I will gladly attach a list of recommended readings with quick descriptions should you be interested – let me know in the comments section below!
Bring that notebook of yours along while you’re reading, and you’ll see how many notes you’ll soon end up with. Diversify your readings, from those on entrepreneurship, to science fiction, to personal finance and global economics. Having at least basic understandings on such valuable topics may give you great ideas on how to develop yourself and your business!
6. So now what?
As an extra step – once you’ve come up with an idea you truly believe in, and think is a viable business then be sure to look for help if you aren’t too experienced in the area. Local Organizations can be found in almost every developed city with resources dedicated to help entrepreneurs set up shop.
We live in the information age after all so all you really need, is a thirst for learning more! Sometimes the information you can find online is difficult to apply to your specific business and figuring out the best way to go about starting. Therefore, we suggest you find someone professional to help you on this journey. Be it a government agency like the municipality of Sofia or you know… ABLE Activator *wink* *wink*.
Ireland for example has an excellent system of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) with multiple in the capital and offices in other main cities around the country. They offer a wide range of services for entrepreneurs from mentors to business advice clinics and business crash courses on different topics such as: social media, business plan creation, financing your business, etc.
What if you have gone through all these options but nothing seems to be tailored to your exact needs? Well then, we recommend finding yourself a Mentor! This topic is so important that we’ll dedicate a full article to it later on, but in quick summary – find someone who works in the industry you would like to work in, or in a similar business to the one you want to start and do one simple thing – ask them for advice! Having someone who has already walked the path you are currently setting out on is incredibly helpful and you can avail of all that knowledge by simply sending them an email or a contact request on a social media platform like LinkedIn.
Written by Lenard Adanov