Creativity: You ARE Creative

Many people don't consider themselves creative because they can’t “draw” or “paint”.

The reality is that creativity can take on a variety of forms - many forms beyond the physical realm. In fact, creativity starts and is born from our internal world. Our goal is to figure out which medium best portrays our personal creativity.

Thus, we must make sure we cultivate an environment that is conducive to creativity. But how do we do that? How do we know what that environment looks like? Isn’t it different for everyone?

Yes.
 

The first step, and the most important step, is to become more familiar with ourselves.

We must be able to recognize the types of things that stir our heart, set our soul on fire, and make us come alive. Because once we recognize them, then we can begin to replicate them.  
 

And the only way to find out is by trying out a variety of different things, as creativity demands quantity.  

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

-Howard Thurman

Learn More About Visual Thinking

Creativity: 10 Ways to Shake Things Up!

• Take a cold shower

• This will likely be an unfamiliar experience, allowing you to create new neural connections.

• Make a new meal without a recipe

  • This will force you to be comfortable without all of the answers in front of you

• Try a new hairstyle

  • A new change could inspire you!

• Create a new outfit that you’ve never worn before

  • Mixing and matching will help you form new styles. A new outfit can give you a new vibe, which can inspire confidence.

• Journal about your day

  • This reflection time will allow you to absorb what you’ve learned throughout the day. Journaling will also allow you to look back on old memories and see patterns in your life.

• Take a new route that you haven’t taken before

  • This will give you a new perspective. This will take you out of auto-pilot mode, and force you to think in different ways.

• Rearrange your room or living space

  • This can create a fresh environment and get you out of a routine feeling

• Ask more questions

  • The more curious you are, the more you will learn.

• Limit or eliminate social media for a day

  • You can use the extra time gained from eliminating social media to be more productive. You can spend this time in silence. It will likely be an unfamiliar experience.

• Exercise your body and mind

  • Whether working out, doing yoga or meditating, this will allow your body and mind to relax and take a break from life.

  • Giving your mind a break allows creative ideas to flow naturally.

  Hire me to shake things up for you!

Creativity & Visual Thinking: Go for Quantity!

Creativity demands quantity. Creativity comes from being exposed to a lot of different stimuli. It comes from having a lot of different experiences. It’s being able to draw from each of these experiences, and the unique reservoir associated with it. When we have a lot of different experiences, we can continue to build upon new and old ideas with the wisdom we’ve gained.

In order to come up with a great idea, we need to have large quantity of ideas to pick and choose from, and experiment with. It’s easy to pick the first ideas that come to our mind, and it’s oftentimes the case that we stop after the first few ideas and fail to go further. 

We need to open our minds to more ideas. We can’t stop at our first ideas. Our first ideas are typically generic, and already thought of before. The more ideas we come up with, and the more we suspend our judgement, the more novel our ideas are. We must stretch our minds to think further, and to suspend any judgement. 

This is particularly helpful with brainstorming - of trying to come up with a good idea, whether for a work project or a personal project. 

The creative mind is the mind that doesn’t stop at the first idea.

Visual thinking is a simple way to increase the amount of knowledge that sticks in your brain. And the more knowledge you have, the more building block you have to create with.

Contact me to bring the power of visuals to your next meeting, events, or project.

Visual Thinking & Creativity; Visualize it richly & colorfully

Visualizing things richly and colorfully leads to more creative thinking. You probably visualize things more than you realize, without really thinking about it. So you already have some visual thinking skills. But how do you become better at visualizing things on purpose?
Try this:

Go to a hardware store or someplace that sells paint. First, pick a paint sample color card that matches your shirt. That's a warm-up, starting with something very concrete and right in front of you — your shirt.

Then, look for a paint sample color card that matches something at home. It could be a different shirt, a piece of furniture, your walls. Whatever you choose, you will need to picture it very clearly in your mind so you can "see" the color.

Paint sample cards are usually free, so you can take home the ones you think are the closest and see how well you did. The more you practice, the better you get!

Check out One Squiggly Line's About Visual Thinking page to learn more.

Visual Thinking & Creatvity: Make the common new

We look at letters every day. Online. Text messages. Street signs. Starbuck's coffee cups. Letters are everywhere.
When we see things all the time, we often stop really looking at them. Common things can become invisible.

When that happens, it's a great time to get creative with them. That causes you to look at things in a new way. Explore them from a bunch of different perspectives. Really look at them. See them in a new light. That's where a lot of new ideas are often found — sitting there right in front of us, in plain sight!

Visual Thinking & Creativity: World Creativity & Innovation Week

It's two months since World Creativity and Innovation Week. But why not celebrate it every month? On April 15-22 every year, people from around the world celebrate creativity and innovation by deliberately doing something creative every day. It could be something simple or something profound. It really doesn't matter — just be creative, whatever month it is!

Visual Thinking & Creativity: Visualize it Richly & Colorfuly!

There's so much more to visual thinking than doodles and diagrams! While physical drawings are a great way to help you think and communicate more clearly, there's a lot happening in that brain of yours before you even pick up a marker. The ability to see things clearly with your mind's eye, your imagination, is where it all begins.

To strengthen your visual thinking skills and boost your creativity, look at the picture above. Really study it for a few minutes. Pay close attention to the details, not just the overall image. The close your eyes and form a really clear picture in your head of the picture you were just looking at. Describe it out loud as accurately and thoroughly as possible, including as many details as you can.

To take it a step further, when you open your eyes, draw the image you just described. If you get stuck, close your eyes and try to see the image of the original drawing in your head instead of going back to the original picture.

You can do this alone or with a partner. Just remember the goal is to see the image as clearly and accurately as possible. No judging!

This exercise not only strengthens your visual thinking abilities and boosts your creativity, it also increases your observational skills, gives your memory quite a work out, and makes you a bit more articulate, too!

 

Visual Thinking: How to Draw a Fancy Letter F

Here's a quick video that shows how to draw a fancy letter F. Give it a try!

Visual Thinking: Be More Visual Video Series

Here's a simple and quick visual thinking exercise that can be used as a warm up for creative work, too. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel (One Squiggly Line) for other other videos related to visual thinking and creativity!

Visual Thinking & Creativity: Do it Daily!

It's commonly thought creative and artistic abilities are one and the same. And only a select few are born with these talents. Truth is, creative and artistic abilities are very different. But they are both skills that anyone can learn and improve with some practice. Daily practice.

That's what my new project is all about. Daily drawings combined with facts, tips, and tricks about creativity. All shared on social media with the hastag #2Draw2Day. Why the number 2? No more than 2 minutes is spent on the main drawing (digitizing takes waaaay longer!), and each creativity tip, trick, or fact takes no more than 2 minutes to read and understand.

Daily creativity boosters made quick, simple and fun! Use the social media buttons below to follow along!