Key Element to Creativity

Have you ever wondered how some people can be so creative, while others are a pile of boredom awaiting a shovel to heap them into a pile with the other brain-numbies?

Creativity may not be part of your natural DNA, but it can be learned and cultivated without a lot of sweat and toil.

Your creativity just needs a trigger, a pin prick if you will, to get it to flow. What will trigger your creativity?

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but desire is truly the mother of creativity. You have to want to be creative; you have to work at it, just like a sports player works at being better.

In simple terms; if you consistently do the same things on the same days, year after year, don’t expect different results.

A key element to being creative is travel. Now, if you just said to yourself that you can’t afford to travel; you’re wrong. You can’t afford not to travel if you want to be creative.

Don’t stop reading. Travel can translate to just taking a different route to your office, or walking rather than driving. Walk to your office one morning, or perhaps easier, walk home from the office.

This is something that I do on a regular basis; usually 2 to 3 times per week. It’s a 2 mile trek, but all the things that I discover and see on the way home makes it refreshing, interesting, and invigorating.

Being chauffeured back and forth to my office is nice, but I have never enjoyed reading the morning paper in a moving vehicle; so it’s usually cell phone chat and follow-up calls.

Walking rather than driving or riding is probably the easiest way to awaken your creative genius. If you are in a position to spend a little money, you can hop on a big jet liner and go somewhere exotic; even it’s only an hour plane flight. It will be exotic to you, because it is out of your daily realm.

My favorite way to stimulate my creative thinking is to go to places that I’ve never been before and take in the culture, architecture, cuisine, entertainment, fashion, and immerse myself in conversation with as many people as I can.

Asking people for directions, where to eat, where to stay, which sites shouldn’t be missed, which areas to avoid, and asking what they do for a living can all activate your creative juices.

One different color combination on a painted building, business card, or in fashion can really get the grey-matter throbbing. 

A new taste, beverage, or fruit can have you saying, “Where have I been, this is great?”

So, whether it’s traveling a new route to your office or job, taking a bus to a distant city, or boarding a jumbo to explore a different continent, travel is a key to creativity.

The more you travel the more stimulation your brain will get and the more creative you will become (and the more interesting you will be to talk to and be around).

Traveling via television isn’t traveling; it’s mind candy and will rot your brain.  One new experience, sight, or sound can have a lifelong effect on who you are, how you think, and what you create in your lifetime.