Archive for the ‘Creative Thinking Skills’ Category
Is being able to think creatively of any use at all in your ‘real’ life? Or is it all a bit ‘Airy Fairy’?
Good question!
Being able to bring creative thinking into your problem solving really does have tangible and positive benefits – and I am pleased to say that these are a few of the advantages I’ve discovered popping up in my own life 
Just look at the list below:
- Problems can be solved faster as you become skilled in seeing the different solutions that can be applied;
- Your anticipation of potential difficulties becomes sharper as your apporach to any given circumstances begins to veer away from ‘tramline’ thinking patterns Thus you can avoid having to face difficult situations before they arise;
- The fear and dread that often accompanies sticky situations disappears and the challenge of succecssfully applying creative thinking to find workarounds replaces these negative emotions with the positive ones of fulfillment and personal achievement;
- Your self confidence grows in leaps and bounds;
- You gain the rightly-deserved reputation of being a creative genius, a swift and enviable problem-solver and thoroughly able person in all walks of life!
- And last but not least, it just makes your life a little smoother and easier when you know that you have the skills to sort out just about anything that comes your way.
Leave a comment below and let me know what other bonuses being able to use your creative thinking skills brings your way.
Positive Thinking Vs Creative Thinking – which is best?
It seems to me that there is often a common theme underlying the reason why people cannot master creative thinking skills.
Any idea whay it might be?
Maybe it applies to you……..
Fear.
Over the years I’ve spoken to many people who tell me that they simply cannot generate a single, creative thought, no matter how hard they try and so will never be able to gain any creative thinking ability.
I’m afraid that I give them a one word answer…………….Rubbish!
And here’s three reasons why:
- If you can talk, then you can think and if you can think then you already posess the basic requirement for thinking creatively.
- If you have ever let your mind wander aimlessly – daydreaming if you prefer – then you have already mastered the essential element for creative thought.
- If you can manage to get yourself through the day successfully, then you have sufficient brain power to train along the creative path.
Now these three items encompass probably 98% of the people on the planet and, as you are reading this, YOU are definitely one of them.
So what’s holding you back?
Consider this thought for the rest of the day – given that you meet the qualifying criteria for mastering creative thinking skills – is it fear of moving away from your usual thought patterns that is holding you back? Or fear of having your thoughts, opinions or ideas ridiculed by your peers? And if it is, is that a good enough reason to limit your potential in the workplace, in your home or in your life just because someone else isn’t as enlightened as you are?
I’ll leave that thought with you – see how the idea makes you feel and what you would like to say to the people who cause you to be fearful of expressing your true creativity.
You may just surprise yourself.
I’m in a bit of a quandry – when it comes to creative thinking skills, is positive thinking interchangeable with creative thinking?
I’ve been spending a lot of time over the past few days planning my next product launch and this is where my problem lies………….are the two terms above inextricably linked or are they two distinct aspects of the subject?
Hmmm.
And until I’m clear in my own mind how to correctly use both terms, I’m a little stuck!
Don’t worry though, I’m remaining positive and approaching the task creatively……………
What’s your opinion? Positive Thinking Vs. Creative Thinking.
A bit of a chicken and egg situation?
Leave your comments and let me know what you prefer.
I caught myself out this morning……….
I reckon I’m pretty positive when it comes to tackling something new & using my creative thinking skills.
My personal mantra (if said with heavy irony) is:
“How difficult can it be?“
Of course, I then proceed to find out exactly how difficult any given task can be!
The thing is though, in discovering whether something is tough to accomplish or not, in my naievity, I actually give it a go. And you know what? Most times, I do actually manage to do what originally seemed beyond my capabilities – or at least, beyond my experience and expertise.
But this morning I failed before I even started…….. I told myself that I couldn’t do something.
I told myself that I couldn’t see an answer to a problem I was facing. Now, the exact nature of the problem is immaterial here but the fact that I was defeated before I even tried to find a way around this particular problem meant that I was the reason for my failure – not my ability or an insurmountable obstacle!
And the really upsetting thing is that I could have changed the entire scenario in 3 seconds flat.
How?
By changing my ‘Can’t Do‘ reaction to ‘Can Do But Just Haven’t a Clue How To Go About It Yet‘!
It really is that simple. Of course, that’s only the start of the creative thinking process – you need to follow it up with some unfettered brainstorming, daydreaming or subconscious filtering before coming up with a course of action BUT your creative thinking skills will, at least have been engaged and put to work coming up with ideas that will solve the problem.
So don’t ever tell yourself you can’t do something – take 3 seconds to change your attitude around and ask:
“How difficult can it be?“
Have you ever watched a child wrestling with a problem?
If so, you’ll know that children exercise their creative thinking skills in a very different way than adults do.
That is because children have little or no expertise in problem solving and far less experience of dealing with them!
The way children solve problems, though, can teach you a lot and this is the technique that I want you to master today.
A child approaches a problem with an open mind and I’m pretty sure that’s probably something you don’t habitually do. You probably approach a problem with some preconceived notions about how it is all going to end.
Maybe you come at it with a negative attitude even and view the whole thing as a time-consuming annoyance. A child, on the other hand, looks at any problem to be got around as a challenge. To them, problems are a great mystery and are excited about finding a way to unravel them.
I expect that you experience frustration when you can’t fix the problem right away. A child, on the other hand, will become more intrigued and will try different things until they find something that works. They will take great delight in experimenting and will often get lost in their own world as they keep working at it until they succeed.
Adults are far more likely to give up or just ask someone else to do it for them! In fact, children demonstrate a key component in their creative thinking skills without even being aware of doing so!
A child solves problems with wonder, amazement and persistence. Adults want problems to solve themselves because they do want to take the time to solve them properly.
And this is the key point here – one that if you can see the truth of, will unlock your creativity more than just about anything else.
Children see problems as a wonderland of discovery, worlds to get lost in as they explore but adults see problems as irritating time-stealers, keeping them from doing more pressing and important work
We adults tend to be so worried about the time a problem will take to solve that we fail to experience the joy of actually solving that problem!
So, here’s your homework for today – practice flipping your attitude towards problem solving and come at it as a child would. Cultivate a feeling of eager expectation of discovering new and creative solutions and relish the experience instead of becoming irritated at the time taken.
If you can master this technique, you will find that solving problems becomes easier and more enjoyable and ultimately, faster. Your solutions will automatically become more creative, elevating your problem solving creative thinking skills to that of an art not an inconvenience!