5 techniques to boost your creativity
11 June 2014
Read by 2261 persons
With "Ifs", we could bottle Paris." ... Yes, we spend our lives imagining the worst or best-case scenarios that rarely materialize. But what if I showed you how to develop your creativity and make your ideas truly tangible?
It's enough to be passionate about your field and to banish all forms of self-censorship because the art of inventing is nothing more than the ability to transform things and attitudes into something new and original thanks to the power of the associations that your brain, once freed from the yoke of self-censorship, could achieve with extraordinary power...
To find an idea, you have to create a shock between two universes and absolutely not keep your nose glued to the computer but draw inspiration in the corridors, by browsing a magazine or watching a cartoon. ... Why not? Creativity requires being receptive to all the avenues that cross the mind, even those that may seem grotesque at first. Make "Why not?" your watchword for your wildest imaginations, but above all, have fun, it's the greatest secret of creativity.
Breaking the routine
Meetings, figures, organization... Nothing is worse than routine to block creativity... Many managers agree that caught up in the daily grind, they need a change of context to bring out their creativity.
In order to break with the routine, nothing is better than confronting new challenges, changing partners on a project, mixing cultures, etc...
Finding your sources of inspiration
The world is teeming with new ideas, you just have to look around you. Sources of inspiration can be in the street, in the garden... So many pieces of life that can fuel your imagination and help you develop your creativity.
In case of a lack of inspiration, nothing beats a quick look at the neighbors in your profession, here or abroad, but it is even more fruitful to explore sectors very different from your own.
The question is, once this creative exploration is done, how can I use in my profession this technique that works elsewhere? Having ideas is good, but for them to be truly effective, you must have a good knowledge and vision of the need.
Dare to be unreasonable
Without unnecessary provocation, you sometimes have to take a detour through the unreasonable to return to what is actually acceptable. It is by transgressing the rules and daring to challenge received ideas (in a justified way) that ideas can spring forth and lay the foundations for the success of the company.
To do this, management must set the example so that employees can go there once the taboos are lifted in order to launch a maximum of ideas.
Adapting to constraints
Faced with extremely strong constraints, some of the most surprising innovations can be born. Forced to take detours, strict frameworks stimulate intelligence... provided they are considered positively. There are no problems, there are only solutions...
It is also important to know that it is all the more useless to get annoyed because anxiety and stress paralyze brain activity, which blurs creativity and blocks the association of ideas.
Breaking your rituals
Breaking with your routine thought patterns allows you to solicit areas of the brain that are generally unexplored and therefore discover a new way of seeing things.
For example, faced with a given situation, how would Zorro, Madonna, Einstein act? At lunchtime, why not try eating blindfolded with your left hand if you are right-handed and vice versa...?
Innovation is not the sole preserve of creatives but can be expressed at all levels and in all professions in the company, without restriction. We are all inventive, each in our own way.
Philippe Montant
CEO of ReKrute
It's enough to be passionate about your field and to banish all forms of self-censorship because the art of inventing is nothing more than the ability to transform things and attitudes into something new and original thanks to the power of the associations that your brain, once freed from the yoke of self-censorship, could achieve with extraordinary power...
To find an idea, you have to create a shock between two universes and absolutely not keep your nose glued to the computer but draw inspiration in the corridors, by browsing a magazine or watching a cartoon. ... Why not? Creativity requires being receptive to all the avenues that cross the mind, even those that may seem grotesque at first. Make "Why not?" your watchword for your wildest imaginations, but above all, have fun, it's the greatest secret of creativity.
Breaking the routine
Meetings, figures, organization... Nothing is worse than routine to block creativity... Many managers agree that caught up in the daily grind, they need a change of context to bring out their creativity.
In order to break with the routine, nothing is better than confronting new challenges, changing partners on a project, mixing cultures, etc...
Finding your sources of inspiration
The world is teeming with new ideas, you just have to look around you. Sources of inspiration can be in the street, in the garden... So many pieces of life that can fuel your imagination and help you develop your creativity.
In case of a lack of inspiration, nothing beats a quick look at the neighbors in your profession, here or abroad, but it is even more fruitful to explore sectors very different from your own.
The question is, once this creative exploration is done, how can I use in my profession this technique that works elsewhere? Having ideas is good, but for them to be truly effective, you must have a good knowledge and vision of the need.
Dare to be unreasonable
Without unnecessary provocation, you sometimes have to take a detour through the unreasonable to return to what is actually acceptable. It is by transgressing the rules and daring to challenge received ideas (in a justified way) that ideas can spring forth and lay the foundations for the success of the company.
To do this, management must set the example so that employees can go there once the taboos are lifted in order to launch a maximum of ideas.
Adapting to constraints
Faced with extremely strong constraints, some of the most surprising innovations can be born. Forced to take detours, strict frameworks stimulate intelligence... provided they are considered positively. There are no problems, there are only solutions...
It is also important to know that it is all the more useless to get annoyed because anxiety and stress paralyze brain activity, which blurs creativity and blocks the association of ideas.
Breaking your rituals
Breaking with your routine thought patterns allows you to solicit areas of the brain that are generally unexplored and therefore discover a new way of seeing things.
For example, faced with a given situation, how would Zorro, Madonna, Einstein act? At lunchtime, why not try eating blindfolded with your left hand if you are right-handed and vice versa...?
Innovation is not the sole preserve of creatives but can be expressed at all levels and in all professions in the company, without restriction. We are all inventive, each in our own way.
Philippe Montant
CEO of ReKrute
