A plane-shaped paperclip – thinking outside the box.

Things — By Zuzanna on May 30, 2009 at 9:43 pm

Do you think you are creative? Some would say no, only because they’re not artists. But you don’t need to be a musician or a painter, or designer to create. The main thing in whatever you do is to think outside the box and create new ideas, alternative to existing things, and having a flexible approach to occuring problems.

When can you be creative? Anytime, anywhere. When you cook, you may be missing an ingredient so you come up with a replacement and the dish tastes great. Something worn off can’t be used anymore so you create another meaning for the object – a set of old tyres used in a garden as a container for growing potatoes. Something broken can’t be fixed so you use the object in an alternative way – a leaking tea pot can have a decorative meaning.

In today’s world creativity is valued highly so it’s worth developing it. It can help you to lead your team, make decisions or solve problems. There are plenty of tools and techniques which can help you to break the standard way of thinking and improve your skills.

One of the most popular and interesting exercises to boost your creativity is to find as many different uses as possible for an object. For example, you have 5 minutes, write down on piece of paper 50 ways of using a paperclip. To stick a few pieces of paper together, to scratch your head, to clean your nails, etc…

There is an example from ‘Outliers’ by Malcolm Gladwell of two students doing this type of test.

(A brick)
Student 1. To use in smash-and-grab raids. To help hold a house together. To use in a game of Russian roulette if you want to keep fit at the same time (bricks at ten paces, turn and throw – no evasive action allowed). To hold the eiderdown on a bed tie a brick at each other. As a breaker of empty Coca-Cola bottles.

Student 2. To build things, for throwing.

(A blanket)
Student 1. To use on a bed. As a cover for illicit sex in the woods. As a tent. To make smoke signals with. As a sail for a boat, cart or sled. As a substitute for a towel, as a target for shooting practice for short-sighted people. As a thing to catch people jumping out of burning skyscrapers.

Student 2. For keeping warm, smothering fire, tying to trees and sleeping in (as a hammock), improvised stretcher.

Can you see the difference between these two ways of thinking?

Rushing through everyday life can shrink your natural creativity. Simple exercises and changes to your routine can boost your imagination and vision:
1.    Do something different today. Take a different route to work, sit in a classroom in a different place, read something else than the Metro on the tube.
2.    Have a rest, lie down and wonder.
3.    Do a ‘Why’ and ‘What if’ exercise. By asking these questions dig down to the root of the problem and find the best solution.
4.    Paint your walls, put up some posters and change the colours around your private space. Changing your environment around can be inspiring.
5.    Use mind-mapping method to expand and organize your ideas.