In a perfect world, the dreaded Monday after the Super Bowl would be a national holiday. We’d all get to sleep in and sleep off our beer and spinach artichoke dip hangover. Instead, most of us are dutifully sitting at our desks by 9 AM. No rest for the weary. On days like these, creativity is a vague, forgotten notion that most of us will wait to employ until the late afternoon, or maybe… tomorrow.
So here are some tips on how to boost your creativity, whether that be on days where your mind is particularly hazy, or when you feel stuck, waiting for the metaphorical lightbulb to go off. Try a few of these and hopefully you’ll feel inspired to begin in another direction.
1. Think far away.
Researchers have found that problems are easier to solve when they seem far away. A study by Lile Jia and his colleagues at Indiana University–Bloomington had two groups of students list as many different transportation modes as possible. The task was introduced to the first group as having been developed by IU students in Greece, and to the other group, the task was presented as having been developed by IU students in Indiana. The group who was told that the task had been developed by IU students in Greece generated more numerous and original modes of transportation than the group who was told that the task had been developed in Indiana.
Thus, when problems seem farther away (regardless of if they are or not), they are easier to solve. Jia attributes this to spacial or psychological distance. In our mind, distant things are represented in an abstract way, while the closer we are to a problem the more concrete it feels. We’re able to be more creative when we think of a problem in the abstract. Work with this knowledge. Think of the problem you’re tackling as something that originated in a faraway place. Put some psychological distance between you and the problem at hand. There will be less pressure on you and more flexibility in your thinking.
2. Think positively.
This is simple, yet sometimes difficult to do. Productivity and creativity naturally improve when you’re happy. Problem solving and flexible thinking are easier when you’re in a positive emotional state. Push negative thoughts from your mind and focus on the positive. Obviously, a difficult problem is going to seem much worse if you’re thinking negatively. Approaching the problem with a positive, hopeful disposition will make a significant difference in the outcome.
3. Think outside the box.
Ignore societal pressures, norms and expectations. You might think you should do something a certain way, but if it’s not working you need to stop and change your approach. Think differently. Think absurdly, imaginatively, wildly. Ask what if? Follow your intuition and curiosity.
In his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford, Steve Jobs explained how thinking outside the box led to one of the most defining characteristics of the Macintosh computer:
“Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.”
4. Free write.
Free writing offers one of the more practical and effortless ways to boost your creativity quickly. Write nonstop for 10 to 20 minutes. Keep writing even if you don’t have anything to write about. Write down everything that comes to mind, even if that is “I don’t know what I should write down.” Go into it thinking of nothing, or go into it thinking of a particular problem you are trying to solve. Regardless, write with an open mind. Don’t judge or censor what you are scribbling. Something interesting may come of this opportunity to create with complete freedom.
5. Argue.
In a primordial way, social conflict provides motivation. When you argued with your siblings as a child, you were stubborn and desperately wanted to be right. Well, things haven’t changed that drastically from when you were a kid. You still want to be right, and a little bit of arguing can help generate original, creative ideas. At the very least, it generates greater engagement with a problem, which can be beneficial for everyone in the end. Just keep it friendly. Argue. Don’t fight.
