How I Keep Creativity Coming

Being self-employed or operating a small business often calls for a large amount of creativity. This creativity can be critical to sustaining the endeavors related to your profession, whatever it may be.

While everyone likely has their own methods of being and staying creative, this doesn't mean we can't learn from one another, and sometimes adopt others' techniques. As a self-employed individual, I've learned and studied various ways to keep creativity coming from family members, friends, co-workers, and various media sources, and I am often able to mold and meld these methods to fit and form with my own ways of keeping ideas coming.

Surf the Web, Watch TV or Read

It's amazing what ideas can come to you while you're resting, being lazy or just trying to kill some time. Sometimes all it takes is a picture, a word or a phrase to start a whole new train of thought and produce a variety of new ideas.

Not only are these mediums great ways to come up with creative new ideas, but it can be a great feeling when you pair relaxing with work.

Close Your Eyes or Step Back

I don't know of anyone who can force creativity -- or at least do it well. Trying too hard to squeeze creative thoughts from a non-cooperative brain can be a futile endeavor. It can leave you thinking so hard that your mind is too focused on one particular train of thought to be open to other possibilities.

Some of my best ideas come at night, right before bed when I've turned off the television, my wife and son are asleep, and all other distractions are at a minimum. Other times during the day I just lay down on the bed, or sit back in my chair, close my eyes and ask myself different questions, pick one topic or subject at a time and block all other ideas out -- focusing on that alone -- or just think about my day and life and see what things pop into my head.

Try Talking Less and Listening More

My mother used to tell me as a child that talking less and listening more can be an important element to good learning, and now I find that I keep telling the same thing to my four-year-old son. By talking less and listening more, you're often able to pick up bits of information that you would have missed out upon otherwise.

While both techniques -- talking and listening -- are often vital to good communication, I find that by listening to what others say, you tend to learn more from them and form new ideas better by way of being better informed.

Simply Ask

Many people have creative ideas but aren't proficient enough at a particular craft, occupation or skill to be able to bring them to fruition or properly express them. While you don't want to go around just stealing other peoples' ideas of course, I find that my wife, friends and family members can be good resources for topic ideas when it comes to my writing. Sometimes all it takes is simply asking them what they would like to learn more about or what kinds of ideas they have floating around in their heads to put me into a whole new train of thought on topics or subject matter I had not previously considered.

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Disclaimer:

The author is not a licensed financial professional. The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Any action taken by the reader due to the information provided in this article is solely at the reader's discretion.