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Avoid These 4 Creativity Killers

When you are trying to boost your creative intelligence there are things that you need to avoid to give yourself the best chance of success. If you don’t do this, it doesn’t matter how much time and effort you spend on using different creativity techniques you are not going to get the optimal results.

 

We call these 4 things creativity killers. You need to know what they are and you must avoid them. In this article, we will explain what these are and what you can do to avoid them. Some of them are easy to avoid and others not so easy.

 

1. Being in a Creativity Stifling Job

 

This is one of those that is not so easy to avoid. A lot of jobs do not require you to use any of your creative talents. The boss shows you how to do the job and then you need to follow these instructions forever until someone changes them. That someone is not going to be you.

 

In a lot of jobs, you will be actively discouraged from trying to come up with creative ideas and new ways of doing things. This is a pretty short-sighted thing for a business to do but it does happen a lot. So, what can you do if you have a creativity stifling job?

 

The most obvious answer is to get another job where you can use your creativity. We appreciate that this is easier said than done. If this is not an option for you then change your routine at work. Go out for lunch and find an area where you can be creative. Spend time with different people every day to get a fresh perspective.

 

2. Being too Connected

 

What we mean here is that you are so involved with everyone and everything you never have time for creativity. Every minute of every day you are busy doing something. If this is you then you need to change this right now.

 

Everyone seems to have a smartphone these days and they just spend too much time with it. It really is not necessary for you to respond to every notification you receive immediately. Look at different ways that you can disconnect yourself so that you can free up some creative time.

 

3. Copying others

 

You have been asked by your boss to come up with some new ideas for the company website. Most people in this situation will look at what their competitor is doing and suggest that this is copied. It is OK to look at the work of other creative people for inspiration but it is not a good idea just to copy them.

 

Anyone can copy someone else. It is the easy way out and you do not need to use any creativity to do this. Don’t just follow what others do – find inspiration elsewhere and come up with your own ideas.

 

4. Ignoring what others are telling you

 

This is something that a lot of entrepreneurs do because they are so focused on their own ideas. Not listening enough to others can happen elsewhere of course. When you listen to others you will gain a different perspective on things and be able to learn from their ideas. Don’t deprive yourself of this opportunity.

 

Using Mind Mapping To Develop Your Creativity

There are quite a number of tools available that will help you to develop your creativity but mind mapping is one of the easiest to learn and use. You will find that a lot of people with high levels of creative intelligence use mind maps all of the time because it really helps them to come up with those precious creative ideas.

 

One of the reasons that mind mapping works so well for the stimulation of creative ideas is because it is a visual tool. Your mind is able to process things a lot better with visuals so you need to take advantage of this.

 

Mind Mapping is easy

 

There is nothing difficult about mind mapping. All that you are doing is creating a picture with the thoughts that are in your head about a problem that you want to solve. You will find a lot of resources online that explain the concept of mind mapping and how to do it.

 

One of the best ways to learn mind mapping is through watching videos. YouTube is your friend here as there are many videos available on the subject of mind mapping. With these videos you can watch someone create a mind map from scratch and easily pick up on what they are doing.

 

You can Draw or use Software

 

In its simplest form, you can create a mind map with a pencil and a piece of paper. We recommend that you use a large sheet of paper as it is very easy to run out of space when you are drawing your mind map. You also need to leave some room for expanding your mind map as new thoughts come to mind.

 

There are many software tools that you can use to create mind maps if you prefer to use a computer to create one. Some of the premium mind mapping tools are very expensive as they have many bells and whistles. You do not need this to get started with mind mapping. Go for a free program such as Free Mind as it will do everything that you need.

 

How does Mind Mapping Work?

 

When you create a mind map you record your thoughts in one place. It is different to writing them all down as you want to use keywords or short phrases to represent your thoughts rather than long sentences.

 

You will start a mind map by adding your main goal to the center of the map. Always have a goal such as a problem that you need to solve. Then you create different branches from this which contain the different aspects of the problem or goal.

 

These branches are all linked to the central goal and you can have different tiers of branches. Anything that connects directly to the central goal is a tier one branch. Each tier one branch can have tier two branches and so on. 

 

Main Advantage of Mind Mapping

 

After you have added all of your initial thoughts about a problem that you want to solve to a mind map you have a very powerful visual aid that will help you to generate more thoughts. It is easy to see the “big picture” with a mind map as it is all there in one drawing. If you try to remember all of these thoughts you are very likely to forget some of them.

 

What Really Is Creative Intelligence?

You may have heard the term “creative intelligence” before and never really knew what it meant. Well, in this article we will answer this and tell you about the 5 most common traits that people with creative intelligence have.

 

Creative Intelligence Definition

 

The truth is that there are a number of definitions about creative intelligence. It is vital that you understand that it is really about the mindset that you have and it is not some kind of method that you employ. When a person has creative intelligence, they see things in a different way to others.

 

Creative people are able to come up with new ideas and new ways of thinking. They are not constrained to mainstream thinking as most of the population are. A creative person will look at a situation and interpret it in a different way. 

 

Creativity is not just Imagination

 

While it is true to say that people with creative intelligence have a more powerful imagination than those that don’t, it is not all about being imaginative. A creative individual will have a different perception on things and will trust their intuition to come up with solutions to problems.

 

A creative person is always more curious than other people and they use their curiosity to innovate. They have resources at the subconscious level that they can call upon when they want to generate creative ideas and be innovative. Most people that have a high level of creative intelligence have the following five traits:

 

They Look beyond the Norm

 

Society tries to mold us into thinking in a certain way. A person that is creative refuses to be drawn in to this kind of thinking and will look for alternatives. They are not satisfied with the answers provided by the “status quo” and prefer to generate more diverse ideas.

 

Being more creative means moving away from the norm and this can be difficult as other people find this difficult to accept. You must get past this if you want to be more creative and learn to go your own way.

 

They Look beyond their own Knowledge

 

If someone has been doing something the same way for years it doesn’t mean that this is the only way, or indeed the best way, to do it. Creative individuals are prepared to look beyond the knowledge that they have and use their powers of curiosity here. They will never accept the adage of if something is not broken it doesn’t need fixing.

 

They Thrive on Ambiguity

 

Most people will do all that they can to avoid an ambiguous situation because it can be very stressful for them. The creative person deliberately looks for ambiguity because they know that it will provide them with a chance to be innovative. They are comfortable dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity.

 

They are willing to Experiment

 

Not every new creative idea is going to stack up so the person with high creative intelligence is willing to take more risks and experiment. Their intuition tells them that an idea is good but they will still test it through experimentation.

 

They are prepared to Mix it Up

 

Creative people know that they can generate the best ideas when they are not faced with the same routines all of the time. They are very willing to immerse themselves in situations which they are not at all familiar with. 

 

Make Brainstorming And Lateral Thinking Your Creative Friends

Once you have mastered the basics it is time for you to use more advanced creativity tools. Two of the best tools that you can use are brainstorming and lateral thinking. Brainstorming is definitely the easier of the two, but we encourage you to explore both of these tools to really give your creativity a boost.

 

What is Brainstorming?

 

It is likely that you have heard of brainstorming before. Many creative people use brainstorming as it helps them to collate all of their ideas for solving a problem and generate new ones that are creative. The concept of brainstorming is really simple to grasp.

 

You can use the brainstorming technique on your own or in collaboration with others. It is a good idea to do both. What you will do is to write down every single idea that you come up with without passing any judgment on any of the ideas.

 

The easiest way to perform brainstorming is to use large sheets of paper. You can then capture all of the ideas that you come up with on paper. After you have finished brainstorming, you can then evaluate all of the ideas and look to group them together if this is possible.

 

Like you do with mind mapping, you need to start off by writing your goal or defining the problem that you want to solve in the most succinct way. Then you just let your mind run free and just write down every idea you can think of.

 

Brainstorming in teams has always been a good bay to generate creative ideas. It is always good for you to get the perspective of other people and listen to the ideas that they have. Nowadays, a lot of brainstorming sessions are happening through video conferencing which is fine. As long as someone is responsible for recording the ideas and displaying them it will work.

 

There is a load of information about brainstorming online so you have no excuse. Be sure to use this excellent technique to help you generate more creative ideas.

 

How about Lateral Thinking?

 

Lateral thinking is tougher to master than brainstorming but it can be a lot more powerful when it comes to generating great creative thoughts. With lateral thinking you will be challenging the obvious. You will look at the perception behind the current way of thinking and come up with different approaches.

 

We all tend to think about things based on logic or our experience. This causes us to generate automatic responses when we are thinking about a problem. Lateral thinking forces you to break these automatic responses so that you can come up with different ideas.

 

There are four processes with lateral thinking that you need to learn and practice. The first of these is idea generation which is designed to help you break away from traditional thinking. Process number two is called “focus” and the concept here is that you will open up your mind to various other possibilities.

 

The third process in lateral thinking is harvesting and you use this to evaluate all of your ideas so far. Finally, there is the “treatment” process where you look to see if any of your ideas will be a good fit for the real world.

 

Take the time to learn and master brainstorming and lateral thinking as these are great tools which will help you to generate a lot of creative ideas.

 

Simple Ways To Boost Your Creativity

When you want to give your creative intelligence a boost it is a mistake to just dive in and use advanced creativity techniques as your brain has not had to come up with creative ideas for a long time. It is better to do some of the simpler things first.

 

If you try to do too much when you are just starting out with developing your creativity then you are likely to find the going very tough and this can really test your staying power. Having got really excited about the prospect of being more creative, you do not want to give up in the early stages because you have approached things in the wrong way.

 

With this in mind, we will share with you some of the simplest things that you can do to get started on your journey to developing your creativity. There is nothing difficult about any of these things and you can implement them easily.

 

See your Creativity as a Muscle

 

The development of your creativity will happen a lot faster if you take consistent action on a regular basis. It is a good idea to see your creativity as a muscle that you need to exercise on a regular basis to make it fit and strong.

 

Research has shown that people who did not believe that they had any creativity were able to come up with some creative ideas when they tried to do this. The moral of this story is that the more you use your creativity the better that you will become at it.

 

You have connections in your brain between various cells and when you learn new things and generate new ideas it is likely that you will create new connections. By using your creativity, you will also strengthen the existing connections that you have.

 

Change up your Surroundings

 

If you always go to the same place for your creative sessions then this can hamper your chances of generating creative ideas. Sitting at the same office at work or in the same room at home means that you will be looking at the same things all of the time which is not good.

 

Make some small changes to your surroundings so that you see something different when you are being creative. Move your furniture around or just reorganize your office desk. Using a different room in your home is also a good idea to bring fresh inspiration.

 

Learn New Things

 

There are a lot of good reasons why you should focus on a subject and become an expert in it. We also recommend that you learn new things as well. When you have knowledge of additional subjects you are going to give your creative intelligence a boost.

 

It doesn’t matter what subjects you choose to learn about. Just believe that this will help to develop your creativity and get on with it. With the Internet, there is no excuse for not learning new things. Trust that this works because it does.

 

Give yourself New Challenges

 

If you keep doing the same things all of the time then you are not going to help your creativity. Find new challenges that you can participate in that will test your creative powers. A good example of this is a game where you need to solve puzzles to move forward. There are plenty of these available online.

Your Creative Mindset And Habits

If you want to develop your creativity then you need to start with a creative mindset. This is easier to do than you may think and, in this article, we will explain what you need to do. When you have a creative mindset, you will form new habits that will help you to boost your creative intelligence.

 

Our habits define who we are and what we do. If your current habits do not support creativity then you will find that being creative is very difficult for you. You are not going to become more creative overnight. There is no miracle solution for this.

 

Negativity is the Enemy of Creativity

 

Having a lot of negative thoughts swirling around in your head is going to totally stifle your creativity. You will not be able to focus on generating innovative ideas because your focus will be dominated by the negativity in your mind. You must learn to neutralize negative thoughts as they are the enemy of creativity.

 

Minimizing the amount of negativity in your life is your aim here. We all experience negative thoughts and whenever these occur in your head then you need to neutralize them with a positive thought. If you are finding it tough to solve a problem and a thought occurs like “you will never solve this” neutralize this with “I can solve any problem”.

 

With a bit of practice and effort you will find it increasingly easy to neutralize negative thoughts. No longer will they dominate your mind and block your creative thoughts. It will take a bit of time to get into the habit of doing this but it is essential that you do it and have a positive mindset rather than a negative one.

 

Be more Patient

 

Patience is a word that seems to be lost in today’s fast-paced world. Everybody is looking for instant answers and they are not prepared to wait for anything. You can blame a lot of this on the Internet and the ability to find most of the answers that you need in seconds.

 

The problem here is that you can never rush creativity. Even when you have developed your creative intelligence it can still take quite a while for the right creative idea to come along. You need to be patient enough to wait for this to happen.

 

If you do not have a lot of patience right now then you need to work on this. Forget about instant answers when it comes to creativity. It doesn’t matter that you can get factual answers to questions using Google in seconds. Creativity is very different.

 

Ambiguity is your Friend

 

Another mindset area that you need to develop is the embracing of ambiguity. Most people do not like ambiguity and prefer certainty. But the world is not like that. There are usually more ambiguous situations than certain ones.

 

Creative people like ambiguity because it provides them with the opportunity to come up with novel ideas. There are always going to be situations where you do not have all of the facts or are missing some important information. See this as an opportunity rather than a problem.

 

Set aside Time for Creativity

 

The more that you can practice your creativity the better you will get at it. In order to make this a reality, plan for creative time on a regular basis and make sure that you don’t miss any creative sessions. 

 

It’s Never Too Late To Be Creative

A lot of people believe that they have no creative talent whatsoever. They will tell you that you have either got it or you haven’t. In this article we will explain that this is not true at all. The truth is that it is never too late to develop your creativity.

 

You were Creative as a Child

 

Every human being is born with the skill to create. As a young child you had no inhibitions about expressing your creativity and you did this often. You made up things at will and you did those first drawings that your parents praised you for.

 

Kids tend to play a lot of games together and they find it easy to invent new games all of the time. It just comes easy to a young child to think of stories in their head and to invent whatever they want. A child will never be harshly judged for this.

 

Society Stifles Creativity

 

As a child gets older and starts to attend high school they are usually subjected to judgment from their peers and their teachers. Society expects them to think and act in a certain way and there is no place for creative ideas here.

 

It is indeed rare for a school, or even a college, to encourage a lot of creativity. If you have not chosen to study some form of art then you can leave your creative ideas behind. You can be lucky to land a job that encourages creativity but there are not too many of those to go around normally. Usually, you have had all of the creativity knocked out of you by this stage anyway.

 

You can Develop your Creative Skills

 

Always bear in mind that creativity is a skill that you have always had and always will. It doesn’t matter how much society has tried to stifle your creativity you can always return to it and develop it. You will need to change your perception on creativity and get back to basics but it is certainly possible to develop your creative skills.

 

At this point you may be struggling to come to terms with the fact that you did have creative talent and that it has been stifled over the years. Think back to when you were a child and remember some of the things that you did. What games did you play? Did you invent any stories or characters? How about those drawings you did as a kid?

 

If you are able to discuss this with your parents, brothers and sisters or childhood friends then do that. Your parents may have been partly responsible for stifling your creativity, but they will be delighted to tell you stories of the things that you did as a child. Brothers and sisters and childhood friends will also enjoy going down memory lane with you.

 

Believe in your Creative Talents

 

Do you ever find yourself looking at something creative and thinking to yourself “how did they do that?” or “I couldn’t do that”? If you are around creative people, do you wonder where they got their ideas from? 

 

The only thing stopping you doing the same thing is your belief. You are going to have a hard time developing your creativity if you do not believe that you can be creative. Creativity is in all of us so believe that you can bring it to the surface again.

 

The Benefits Of Developing Your Creativity

There are several benefits to boosting your creative intelligence and making a commitment to be more creative. In this article, we will cover some of the most important benefits to inspire you to take action. Developing your creativity will take time and effort and you need to be consistent to get the best results.

 

Set yourself Free with more Creativity

 

You are not subject to any rules when you use your creativity. One of the things that holds people back the most when they want to give their creativity a boost is that they are quick to judge themselves. This can be particularly difficult to overcome especially when you are just starting out.

 

Society wants us to think in a certain way and is usually quick to judge and challenge new creative ideas. When you were a child, you just did one creative thing after another because you were free to do that. Becoming more creative will help you to get back this freedom.

 

You will increasingly Trust your Instincts

 

Everyone has instincts that tell them that something is right or wrong from time to time. As you grow older you tend to trust your instincts less because they have been criticized in the past by others or even yourself. 

 

Being told that your instincts are wrong over and over again will wear you down and the mainstream does this a lot. Suppressing your instincts is the end result and when you are more creative you will rebuild your trust with your instincts.

 

Combat Stress with Creativity

 

The modern world brings a lot of stress with it and when you are in a creative frame of mind you can significantly reduce your stress levels. When you are being creative this is a fun time for you and you are focused on generating innovative ideas. This is like meditating and it will calm you down and reduce your stress.

 

Enhance your Skills to solve problems

 

As you develop your creativity you will find that it becomes easier for you to solve the different problems that you face. Some people find solving difficult problems overwhelming and this causes them a lot of anxiety. 

 

By increasing your creativity skills, you will have rock solid belief in your ability to tackle any problem no matter how complex it may seem. You will have the inner resources available to call upon to assist in the generation of creative solutions to problems.

 

Self-Awareness improves with Creativity

 

A lot of people suffer from low self-esteem and low levels of confidence. They struggle with their self-awareness and becoming more creative can improve this considerably. When you are being creative it will give you a much more positive sense about who you are.

 

Generating creative ideas shows that you have a lot of respect for your intuition and your inner-self as a whole. You gradually lose any inhibitions to express the ideas that you have and this raises your self-esteem and makes you more confident.

 

You will find Positives from Failure

 

For most people, failing is something that they would rather forget. As a person with high creative intelligence, you accept that we all make mistakes and that there are usually always positives to be learned from any failures.

 

Make Preparations To Be More Creative

If you want to get the best results from your creative sessions then you need to prepare for them properly. Going into a creative session unprepared is likely to lead to poor results. This is something that a lot of people overlook.

 

You have probably heard the story about the writer who stared at a blank page for hours because they were suffering from a creative block. Even those people that are highly creative can experience a block. If you prepare in the right way you can minimize the chances of a creative block happening to you.

 

You need your Conscious Mind

 

In a creative session you will use both your conscious and subconscious minds. If your conscious mind is dominated with thoughts of repetitive tasks that you need to do such as washing the dishes, driving somewhere, taking out the trash and so on you are going to find it difficult to generate creative ideas.

 

The best solution here is to trust that your subconscious mind will take care of these repetitive tasks for you automatically. You have been driving a car for a while and you will do everything on auto-pilot thanks to your subconscious. What we are saying here is don’t let the minutiae of life dominate your conscious mind as this will stifle your creativity.

 

Provide your Brain with the Energy it needs

 

Your brain needs energy for creative thinking. It will probably work harder in a creative session than it will at other times. To help your brain out here you need to ensure that your body can provide it with all of the energy that it needs for a better creative session.

 

The way that you provide your brain with the optimum amount of energy is through regular exercise and eating the right things. You may think that exercise and diet have no bearing on your creative talents but they do.

 

Make a commitment to exercise regularly. This can be a gentle form of exercise to start with. If you have not exercised in a while then you don’t want to go crazy to begin with. Doing too much will result in a total energy drain and even pains in certain places and this will not help your creativity at all.

 

Eating healthily will ensure that your body receives the nutrients that it needs. Today, a lot of people don’t make the right choices because they do not have a lot of time to prepare something healthy. You need to overcome this problem so that you can feed your creative brain.

 

Prepare the right Questions

 

Questions are very powerful and are a great way to get your creative juices flowing. You can ask yourself questions that are related to the problem that you are trying to solve in order to spark your creativity. 

 

One of the classic questions that creative people ask is “why?” Another is “what if?” Prepare a list of questions to ask yourself before you start your creative sessions that you know will make you think deeply to find an answer. 

 

As you develop your creativity you should find that these questions come a lot more easily to you. You will know from experience what type of questions tend to result in you coming up with creative ideas. Use the power of questions to your advantage.

 

Reasons You Should Actively Seek to Improve Your Mood

There are many reasons why you should actively seek to improve your mood. The most obvious is to feel good about yourself.

 

Other reasons are probably not as obvious to you. Although, they’re pretty obvious to your mental and physical health.

 

Let’s talk about some of these reasons and how they can influence everything that goes on in our lives.

Improve Your Mental Health

 

Your mental wellness affects your thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It helps reduce stress, as well as help you cope with challenges and setbacks.

 

Having strong mental health doesn’t mean the absence of anxiety, fears, and worries. Going through difficult times is a natural part of living.

 

Yet, when you’re in good shape mentally and emotionally, you bounce back faster. You have the tools needed to face all these things head-on with confidence and resilience.

 

Being resilient means you stay flexible and focused when life throws you a curveball. You have confidence in your abilities to deal with whatever the future has in store.

 

Here are some extra perks that come when you boost your mental wellbeing and improve your mood.

 

• You have a sense of contentment with life in general
• You maintain a hearty dose of confidence and self-esteem
• You see opportunities where others see none
• You enjoy living and can laugh at yourself
• You balance work and play
• You build healthy relationships

 

Polish Up on Your Social Skills

 

We’re social creatures. We thrive when we feel connected to others.

 

This doesn’t mean we have to be surrounded by people all the time every day. It just means that our brains crave companionship in varying degrees.

 

Yes, you can always call or text. They certainly have their place and time in our busy, hectic lives.

 

Still, nothing beats the mood-boosting power of sitting down with family or friends. That quality face-to-face time is priceless.

 

You sit, you talk, and you listen — pretty basic right? But for your brain, it’s revolutionary!

 

Here’s why: studies show that our brains are wired for connectivity. Certain areas of our brains light up when we do volunteer work or spend some time with a friend.

 

Not only that, but the brain rewards us for being socially outgoing. It does so by signaling the release of two happy hormones, oxytocin, and serotonin. So, by being out with your partner, friends, or even colleagues, you’re actively seeking ways to improve your mood.

 

You should also make the most of those fleeting encounters you have with strangers each day. Make a point of looking your neighbor in the eye as you wish them a good day.

 

Look up from what you’re doing and take a couple of seconds to thank the barista or the cashier. You can even add a smile to go with it.

 

Despite taking mere seconds out of your day, those little acts of kindness are terrific mood boosters. They’ll do wonders for your day and theirs!

 

Stay Fit

 

The link between the mind and body is complementary. When you take care of your physical health, you’re nourishing your mental well-being.

 

Anytime you exercise for at least 20 minutes, your brain releases endorphins. These are one of the four happy chemicals that help stabilize your mood and boost energy levels.

 

Regular physical activity also has a big impact on your memory and concentration. Plus, it relieves stress and promotes better sleep.

 

The trick is to find an activity you like and do it several times a week. Take a walk, cycle, throw a Frisbee with your dog—the point is to enjoy what you’re doing.

 

Better still, find a group of friends and be active in a group. This will hold you accountable, boost your motivation, and improve your mood.

 

Regulate Stress Levels

 

Almost everyone on the planet knows by now that stress is a major problem. It affects our mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

 

We also know that stress can’t be avoided, especially in this busy day and age. However, certain stress management strategies can help regulate stress in your life.

 

These tactics allow you to cope with life’s ups and downs. They allow you to improve your mood and feel good about yourself.

 

Here are some things you can do to reduce your stress:

 

• Enhance the quality of your sleep
• Eat mood-enhancing foods, such as fresh fruits, fatty fish, nuts, avocados, and beans
• Practice relaxation techniques, like mindful meditation, yoga, and deep breathing
• Make time for yourself and do something you enjoy
• Find somewhere to sit at a local park and soak in some sunshine
• Laugh more