Calling in your creativity
The art of getting unstuck.
I’m curious - what is your work? As I’m sitting down to write this week’s edition on creativity, I’m thinking about how varied our audience is in the types of roles you each hold within your work and also, because I’m lucky to know many of you personally, the splendid differences of your interests, what lights you up, and where each of you places unique value when it comes to dishing out your free time.
I’m thinking about this because I realize that not everyone may see themselves as a “creative”, and I’ll admit that part of my spiel today is to convince you that you indeed, ARE.
You see, among the musical geniuses, profound poets, and film visionaries of the world (and I know that some of you are these artists!), there is still an abundance of creativity that runs through each of our unique skill sets. Being a creative is not so much about what you do. It’s how you do it. And really, it’s all about unlocking your flow, so you can generate ideas and work in a way that feels natural and satisfying to you.
Since I’m no stranger to the fact that some flavors of creativity get a lot more air time than others, let’s take a look at how wide the creativity net really spans. These are the 5 main types of creative thinking, according to a string of scholars and artists dedicated to this exploration.
Convergent Thinking: This is the process of collecting information, data, or inspiration to funnel towards a topic in order to create a more complete end product. It’s the magic of connecting the dots and the ability to extract useful and expansive parts of “other” to create a larger whole elsewhere. Note-taking and the organization of those notes for clarity on the big picture fall in this camp.
Divergent Thinking: Psychologist J.P. Guilford coined this term to describe those who nurture their creativity through exploring a limitless collection of ideas around a certain topic, using their collective life experience or what they already know, somewhere in their brain. Brainstorming is representative of this type of thinking.
Lateral Thinking: Developed by physicist and author Edward De Bono, as a way to differentiate between artistic creativity and idea-based creativity, lateral thinking describes the process of out-of-the-box ideation that doesn’t rely on logic or past experience. It’s the ability to find a solution or way of doing something that has truly never been done before.
Intuitive Thinking: Also called aesthetic or emotional thinking, this is the art of being imaginative, for the sake of it. With pillars of appreciation around beauty and a felt sense of rightness, it’s the production of a work (of any kind) to stimulate the senses. Many forms of visual art, musical rhythm, and even an impactfully emphasized speech use this gift.
Inspiration Thinking: An ah-ha moment if you will, this type of creative thinking often shows up as a burst of concentrated inspiration or a stroke of genius. These surges of creativity can show up in a dream state, in meditation, or on a walk, among other activities, but most describe this state of thinking as coming “out of nowhere”.
Now, do you see your skills in any of these creative thinking categories? We’ve all got creative flare. Sometimes it’s just that we’re burned out, caught in a loop, or even unwilling to take on the role of the creator. Which I totally get. We all need time periods to do and think less. But if you’re curious about expanding your creativity and your nature to develop good ideas, you might try one of the below techniques. There is even an art to getting unstuck.
Try tinkering with it
Because you are in fact a sentient being and not a machine, there’s some importance around tinkering. As a collective, we are experiential learners. Our evolution has proven our knack for understanding by way of doing. So, if you’re waiting for your lightbulb moment to happen while you’re sitting in silence at your desk, it’ll be a long time coming as your wheels might not start turning until you’re IN the dang thing. A block that usually comes up for me here is that I want my first version to be the perfect version. It’s okay if it’s not. Just start.
Phone a friend
Sometimes spending so much time with our own mind-jumblings can make us feel really stuck. In these cases, talking it out with someone helps. I love calling a friend and just being like “What do you think of this?” or asking if I can explain something out loud to someone, knowing that I usually talk myself into the idea I’m looking for. Getting perspective from someone or just having another human act as a soundboard for you is an incredible way to help you see something you didn’t before. Choose someone you trust, who can offer an eager and optimistic voice and ear for your ideas. Skip the person you know will likely just want to tell you everything you do is perfect (even though we all need those cheerleaders in life!)
Get bored…really bored
Unless we’re actively efforting against it, we’re distracted and stimulated for MOST of our waking hours, which can make us feel like we can’t hear our own thoughts. When I’m feeling particularly uncreative, burned out, or far away from myself, I do a semi-radical “off-grid” exercise. For up to 3 days, I turn off all my tech and cancel all my responsibilities and plans. I’m not on social media or checking my email “just in case”. I read, meditate, collage with good old-fashioned magazines, stretch my body, take aimless walks, and cook myself good meals. I let myself get BORED.
We spend so much of our lives swirled up in the energy of other people and other things. When I take this time, I get back to my own baseline, and by the close of those days, I’m usually on fire with ideas about what I want to create for my life and work that are actually tied to ME and not what I’m getting subconsciously or blatantly told I need to be or do.
Make time
Back on board the perpetually distracted train. Are you by chance, busy? Packing your days with meetings, social activities, errands, and mandatory bedtime true crime? If the answer is yes, and you also find yourself trying to remember when the last time you had a good idea was, it might be helpful to schedule brainstorming or mind-mapping time into your calendar. The key is to give this time as much importance and value as you do responsibilities that involve other people. Find an hour, pick a topic you want to ideate on or explore, open up a blank Google doc or a fresh page on your notepad, and go.
Label everything as “interesting”
Not all incredible ideas hit like lightning strikes. Sometimes they’re soft nudges that you’ve really gotta pay attention to, jot down, and come back to later. So, it’s helpful to allow your perspective to linger on the inner workings of your mind. Identify it all as worthwhile. Follow your trails of ideas, just to see where they go. When you spend a bit more time in an agenda-less meandering curiosity, and perhaps even scribble down notes about what’s going on up there, it’ll allow you more presence (a creative’s ideal state) and the act of paying attention-writing down-moving on creates so much room in your mind for fresh things to drop in. Hot tip: be patient. A ton of stuff in the front of your mind may be precious junk that needs to fall away. Underneath that is your genius.
Feeling inspired to try one of these out? Let us know if you do. Sometimes the last battle to overcome, when it comes to unleashing your creativity, is the bravery it takes to share it. But that’s a topic for later in August. ;)
‘Til then, artists!
Jade