Creative Thinking Tuesday, 9th December 2014

This is my last Creative Thinking Tuesday post for 2014, and I thought it might be good to do something short, simple and hopefully helpful. In October I shared two posts of questions for PGRs, and when I was thinking of ideas for this today’s post it struck me that this might be a neat framework for this post. So: Ten Questions To Help With Creative Thinking!

Generally

When are you at your most creative? Knowing when you are at your most creative – either for ideas or writing – is essential. If you know when it is, perhaps it is best to schedule creative tasks for those times!

What do you do to practice creative thinking? I mentioned this most recently last week – if you don’t practice creativity then it gets more difficult. There are many things that you can do (I think in early 2015 I might do a short series on this idea). What will you do?

How do you capture your ideas? If you are deliberately finding ideas for a situation, how do you record them? If you are going about your day and are struck by a notion, how do you capture it?

What is your creative environment like? Creativity needs to be nurtured. Practice is good, but having an environment that works for you is really helpful too. What do you have? A whiteboard, a flipchart, index cards, Post Its, music, chocolate, water, a view – what kind of things make for a creative environment around you?

For a particular situation or challenge

Why do you need ideas? Understanding what the problem or the challenge of the situation is can be really helpful; it might be obvious – but it might not be. Be clear!

What is the outcome that you are hoping for? Solutions are great; understanding outcomes, the end result, can open your eyes to other options.

What information and resources do you currently have? Capturing the background detail of the situation and some options adds a layer of possibility. This is not to restrict your thinking, but to open it up!

How much time do you have? Time could be seen as a resource; however, with creative thinking it can be helpful to give yourself a time limit. A crunch period can really raise your creative productivity!

How will you choose? It is absolutely essential to have as many ideas as possible at first; think about how you will select the idea(s) that you will take forward.

Finally

How do you share your ideas? Sharing ideas is important. It can be difficult, but it shows other people that you have a talent and can show you that you are capable. The more you do it, the easier it will be, but also the more practised you will be at creative thinking!

What questions help you with creative thinking? Share them in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

PS – please take a look at my Patreon campaign for the Viva Survivors Podcast!