Are you creative? Of course. We are all creative, to varying degrees. We all solve problems daily. We think up excuses and we daydream when we should be working. The question is “Can you learn to be more creative?”
Yes.
The elements of creativity—for example curiosity, the willingness to take risks, the ability to follow a hunch, the capacity to have fun and entertain wild ideas, the courage to follow a course of action without knowing the end result—can all be learned and developed.
A crucial ingredient for creativity and creative problem solving is imagination. Most creativity techniques require imagination to be successful. We were all born with a capacity for imagination, but most of us are taught to suppress flights of fancy in favour of rational, logical thinking.
So how do we rediscover our talent for imagining things?
Practice. What else!
Here is an exercise to get you going:
A crime has been committed!
Shuffle your cards, then draw three at random. Place them before you.
A sensational crime has been committed. You wrote a stunning article on the crime that has made you a world-famous reporter. What was the story?
Go wild, use your imagination!
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