How To Be Creative

 

Creativity is a natural talent that is valued in many areas of human activities. Be it a scientist, a writer, an artist, or a chef, all of them share one thing in common, and that is creativity. However, can creativity be ever taught? Well, this is a rather difficult question with no direct answer. Of course, there is no course on creativity and definitely creativity can’t be spoon fed in school or colleges. But, those who are creative have an ability to perceive things around them in a different ways than other people. And that is the quality that sets them apart from the crowd. Plus, creative people do things because they love to do it. A masterpiece is born when the artist feels true passion towards his art. However, if you are ready to change your outlook and perceive things around you in a different way, you may become creative as well. If you really wish to know how to become creative, then here are some tips to your aid.

Being Creative

• Limit your resources and tools that will help you to produce creative outputs. Limiting resources forces you to create things with whatever is available in your hands. The more limited resource you have, the better you will learn to utilize them and come up with new ideas and innovations.
• Feedback and criticism are good, but only to a certain extent. Most of the time, a negative feedback or criticism can make you disheartened and you may give up easily. So don’t listen to feedback, instead follow your own path. Don’t let criticism take over your creativity. Finish your work and then share it with everybody.
• Remember that people might not take your creativity seriously or will show resistance to your ideas. This is common because people usually are resistant to anything new. They prefer things the way they are and if you come up with an idea that opposes their belief, they might get resistant and criticize you. However, don’t get carried away with negative feedback and criticism, instead follow your own set path.
• Most creative people ignore trends. If you truly want to be creative, ignore the trends and let your mind go free. If you really want to do something don’t follow the trends. Come up with your own idea instead of following a particular genre.
• Spend some time alone. You don’t have to become antisocial, but quiet surrounding helps you to focus more on your work.

Creativity Exercises

• Take a picture and try to write a few lines about the picture. Try to think out of the box and write something funny or interesting about it.
• Play word association games. You can either play with a friend or alone. Write down a word and then write down a related word that comes to your mind.
• Write down some basic questions on a paper. For example, what is your name, what you did last night, etc. then try to answer the questions with a song lyric. To make it more interesting, you can ask a friend to ask the questions to you and you can answer by singing a line from a song that fits the question.
• Take a familiar outline and then come up with sketches to fit the idea. You can also ask a friend to doodle a line and then draw cartoons on the line. You may even try to build a story line with all the cartoons you have drawn.