And some­times just watch­ing the sun­set helps!

by Alje van Hoorn

Often peo­ple tell me they feel stuck and don’t know what to do. They blame their lack of resource­ful­ness on an inabil­ity to find cre­ative solu­tion to the issues fac­ing them. From per­sonal expe­ri­ence I have faced many moments where my thoughts have felt backed up against a wall, unable to think of what to do next, my cre­ative cen­tre expe­ri­enc­ing a moment of draught. I don’t think of myself as being highly cre­at­ing but with these 7 tip have shown me how to boost my prob­lem solv­ing capac­ity and my creativity.

The cre­ative dol­drums effect even the most cre­ative peo­ple. They to get bored, starts going round in cir­cles, or hit cul-​de-​sacs. Try the fol­low­ing 7 unusual cre­ativ­ity boost­ers that research has shown will increase your creativity:

1. Psy­cho­log­i­cal distance

Peo­ple often rec­om­mend phys­i­cal sep­a­ra­tion from cre­ative impasses by tak­ing a break, but psy­cho­log­i­cal dis­tance can be just as useful.

Par­tic­i­pants in one study who were primed to think about the source of a task as dis­tant, solved twice as many insight prob­lems as those primed with prox­im­ity to the task (Jia et al., 2009).

◊ For insight: Try imag­in­ing your cre­ative task as dis­tant and dis­con­nected from your cur­rent loca­tion. This should encour­age higher level thinking.

Read the rest of the arti­cle by Alje van Hoorn