"I wish I could be more creative, but I don't have it in me."

"How do you come up with creative ideas, anyway?"

I wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard those phrases.

The truth is almost everyone has creative potential. You don't have to be an artist, writer, musician or inventor. What separates good creative thinkers from the rest of the population is that they recognize that creativity is essentially a problem-solving process. And, either consciously or unconsciously, they've learned how to break it down into steps. Many creatives may not be able to articulate the process, yet they've intuitively developed habits that allow them to tap into it.

Let me take a few minutes to demystify creativity and show how it can be used in everyday business to generate positive results.

The Four Steps of Creativity

  1. Let Your Mind Wander

    How do you prepare to be creative? It depends who you ask. A writer, for example, might prepare to write a story by reading the work of other authors he admires, a painter might start with a trip to an art museum. I like to look at award-winning advertising for inspiration. Don't be afraid to explore many avenues even if they seem unrelated. The key is to approach your project with an open-mind and an unlimited supply of curiosity. You never know which piece of information is going to spark your next big idea.

  2. Give Your Ideas Time To Hatch

    Allowing your mind time to grow the seeds of new ideas is the next step and it may begin before you're completely finished with Step 1. As your mind takes in and processes information, new connections are being made and ideas may begin to percolate in your subconscious before you even realize it. There is no way to predict how long the incubation phase may take. It could be minutes, hours or days. (Although if you're working against a deadline, you cross your fingers and hope for the former!) Eventually, when we least expect it, we'll enter into the next step which is...

  3. The Brainstorm

    This is the "Aha!" moment that many of us spend our days lusting after. When it hits, the creative urge is so incredibly strong that we can lose track of time. The driving instinct is to get whatever is going on in our head down on paper.

    The most frustrating thing for me is that these "brainstorms" often happen at inopportune times like when I'm in the shower, driving by myself, or working out. Heck, I've even woken up out of a sound sleep with an idea for a headline. Of course, if I don't write it down as soon as possible, I'll forget it. So I've learned to always have a notepad and paper handy.

  4. Giving Birth To Your Ideas

    This phase is the one in which the idea or ideas you've been incubating come alive. It's when that story gets written, that design takes shape, that new invention gets built. It's also when a creative person starts to evaluate, analyze, second guess and otherwise poke at the idea to determine whether it's good or not. My general rule of thumb is to never trust my first idea. If I come up with something I like too quickly, I'll keep exploring other ideas just to make sure I have the best possible one.

    Many creatives I know, myself included, can get a bit frustrated at this stage. Other people only see the creation at the end – they don't recognize or care much about the process that generated the idea. This is especially true when others expect the end product on a certain schedule. The creative process simply doesn't work that way. For every good idea, there are at least a few that don't work out, and you never know ahead of time what's going to work out and what won't. Fortunately though, the creative mind is like a muscle – the more you work with it, the more nimble it becomes.

There are actually fun mental exercises that anyone can do to get their creative juices flowing. One of my favorite books on that subject is "A Whack On The Side Of The Head" by Roger von Oech. I highly recommend it. If you don't want to rush out and buy it, then be sure to look for my next article in July where I'll share some examples.

Contact Janet at jlofurno@praxisagency.com.