“When you’re one step ahead of the crowd you’re a genius. When you’re two steps ahead, you’re a crackpot.”
– Shlomo Riskin, Rabbi Tweet
Some people are born creative - others are not
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Coming up with new and genius ideas is not a wave a magic wand situation. Magicians and fairies are not required. You don’t have to do a deal at the crossroads!
Even those who have extraordinary ideas don’t have them all day, every day. The might come in bursts during their other normal daily work or activities or in the middle of the night or on the toilet.
Anyone can be more creative.
The creative mindset is a skill you can develop and practice. You could start simply by learning and practicing these first three new habits. This is my daily “goto” list.
1.Think of the first idea you have as a draft or a building block.
It’s a good starting place, but keep mulling it over until it prompts at least ten other similar or unrelated ideas. It might be wise to write them all down.
2. Recapture the child you were
Look at the world with wonder in your eyes and excitement in your heart.
See every problem as a new possibility;
embrace each challenge as a chance to learn anew.
"If you follow the crowd, you will go no further than the crowd. But if you walk alone, and find your own way, you will likely find yourself in places no one has ever been before."
- Albert Einstein, physicist and humanitarian Tweet
3. Learn to be different
Be unusual. Be unique. Strive to be other than “normal”. Each day, make a deliberate attempt to think or do something differently than usual. Let yourself be the child you once were and learn to not censor yourself.
My favourite quote:
“It’s better to be unique than the best because
being the best makes you the number one,
but being unique makes you the only one.”
“The reasonable (person) adapts herself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to change the world. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable person.”
– George Bernard Shaw, Author & Playwright Tweet