Sometimes “Eureka!” moments can spark businesses. In general, however, businesses can’t rely on random strokes of genius and creativity. Creative professionals have to keep their imaginations fired 9-5, Monday to Friday, no matter how they’re feeling. The strategies they used to make this happen can be helpful in all kinds of situations.
Deal with all the non-creative tasks
There’s only so much a person’s brain can handle. If your brain is preoccupied with everyday tasks, it won’t have energy left for creativity. This means that you need to find a way to deal with all the non-creative tasks efficiently so you can focus your brain on creative tasks.
For most people, there are three main options for dealing with everyday tasks more effectively. You can automate some of them (e.g. email filters). You can delegate some of them (e.g. employ a VA). Alternatively, you can get training to do them better yourself. This can mean anything from going on a short course to going back to school.
Use prompts
Prompts can be used for many different purposes. They are, however, most commonly used for writing and photography. The basic idea behind a prompt system is that each prompt is a seed for an idea. You combine it with whatever else is on your mind and that makes it grow.
The good news is that prompts are so popular there are loads of prompt lists available for free on the internet. You can also get free prompt lists for your children. Check out https://studentreasures.com/teachers-lounge/lesson-plans/third-grade/.
Empty your brain
Brain dumping is a technique you use to empty your brain completely. Brainstorming is a technique you use to empty your brain of anything in it related to a particular topic.
Brain dumping goes by a lot of different names. One of the most common is “mind sweeping”. It doesn’t matter which term you use, the basic idea is the same. You just write down anything you can think of as it comes to you. Once you have it all on paper, then you can decide what you’re going to do with it.
Brainstorming is when you give yourself some kind of prompt and push yourself as hard as you can to think of everything possible related to that prompt. This is what makes it different from just using a prompt to spark an idea. Brainstorming is generally excessive for everyday use. It can, however, be very helpful for important projects.
Create a mind map
Mind mapping is much the same idea as brainstorming, but it’s done more visually. Brainstorming usually involves writing down a list of words and then batching them into similar concepts. Mind mapping is basically about creating a diagram of what a prompt suggests to you.
The prompt is placed in the center. Every time you create an association with that prompt you draw a line from the prompt and write down the association. Then you see what you associate with the associations and so on. Many people find the mind mapping process at least as useful as the result for sparking creativity.
BY TECHIE MAMMA