One of the most important abilities of any person in any role in life is the ability to be creative. Many people often think of the artist, photographer, or musician when asked whether they are creative or not. While these individuals have definitely learned to tap into their creative side more easily, they do not own all rights to creativity. I believe anyone can be creative, because we all come from The Creator. Just like any other skill in life, it is learned by development and practice. I want to discuss how you can unlock your creativity starting today.
Believe You Are Creative
The first step to achieve anything is belief. You must first settle in your mind that you are a creative individual. Start immediately to change the way you think and speak about yourself. Locked within you is a person that was created to do greater things than you can even imagine. Even with some success in life, where you are today is but a glimpse of where your potential can take you. That all begins to unfold when you learn how to unlock the creativity that lies within you.
Your Creator is so clever that He put everything needed for life on earth inside of every creature. Everything that a seed needs in order to grow into a tree, plant, or anything else is already inside of the seed. It just needs to get in the right environment and receive the proper nourishment. It grows effortlessly into that which it was made to be once these things are secured. Your creativity, passion, and ideas are locked within you as well. You just need the right environment and proper nourishment for your mind, and you too will grow into everything you were intended to be.
Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a diagram used to visually organize information. It is a great practice for anyone wanting to come up with creative ideas for any purpose. The way it works is for you to sit down with a piece of paper and pen. You begin by writing a topic in the center of the page such as “My Passions” or “Make More Money” for a couple of examples. You circle that topic and then write down additional ideas that could help you solve that challenge or meet that goal.
In this example you might write “Start a Business” or “Take a Course” and connect the two by drawing a line. If you continue to do this in a quiet place with little noise, you’ll find yourself with a literal map of ideas and actions to take in accomplishing your goals. This might be hard to follow by me just explaining. See below for a quick illustration of what this would look like.
Mind mapping is a key practice for unlocking your creativity and coming up with new ideas. You should begin to implement this whenever you are in need of proper steps to take for your goals, solving problems, or coming up with ideas. There is no limit to your creative capacity. It was previously believed that we only use 10% of our mental capacity, although that has been debunked by some recent studies. We now know through other studies that the brain can actually grow with use. Regardless of which studies you believe, the goal should always be to maximize your potential and become all that you possibly can. Mind mapping is a great way to tap into the reservoirs of your mind to unlock your creativity.
Think On Paper
I discussed the importance of thinking time in my recent blog, 3 Morning Habits for Success. I can’t help but mention this again here because it is the key to unlocking creativity. Even better, having a pen and paper in hand while doing it is going to be a game changer. If you don’t necessarily want to do the mind mapping or if it’s confusing, simply jotting down notes still works.
Sometimes your best inspiration will come at a time when you’re not in a quiet place and alone. Like me, you may have small children that love to live life with joy and playfulness, which may not be conducive to a thinking environment. However, you would do well to carry a journal, notebook, or a notes application on your phone to take notes. You never know when you may get inspired or hear something that helps spark your creativity. Thinking on paper is an absolute must for developing creativity.
The 5 Second Rule
Thoughts and ideas are stirring in your mind and you must write them down to capture them. Remember, everything you need is inside of you already, so the key is drawing it out. When you hear something inspirational or moving, write it down. You may get a great idea from a conversation with someone, podcast, or meeting and you’ll want to capture this while your brain has an opportunity to hold it. According to Mel Robbins, if you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea. She calls this The 5 Second Rule.
With this understanding, you’ll want to write your ideas and inspirations down as soon as you hear them. You can then review them in your formal thinking time and come up with ways to take action toward your goals with these new ideas. If you put these few creativity hacks into practice, you will absolutely unlock your creativity and learn that a totally different, more creative person resides inside of you.
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