Need A Career Change? Boost Your Creativity in 7 Steps!

Career Success without a Real Job by Ernie Zelinski is founded on the principle that “we’re never at a shortage for money only for good ideas”. It’s true that we stay on the job we hate or the career path we despise because the “good idea” avoids us. Or do we avoid the good idea?

You’ve been blessed with certain tools to effect change in the world and in the process receive compensation. The more excellent and or skilled you become using these gifts, the larger your capacity for influence and your ability to receive higher rewards for your work.

I had the privilege to listen to Adlan Cruz perform. This gifted Latin American pianist gets to travel the world performing before varied state dignitaries, compose music and also assist on developing the score for various movies. But you know what he talked about the most. He said he spent hours as a child practicing, honing his craft, learning from the masters. Yet when he wanted a creative boost he would watch TV with his little brother Omar, and listen to all the music of the various sitcoms, cartoons and movies to get his inspiration. What do you do to boost your creativity?

Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.  We avoid the ideas we are presented with because we immediately assume it’s failure. Our humanness says its negative, impractical, unrealistic and it gets chucked before we’ve thoroughly evaluated it for its merits (and de-merits).

Natalie Zaun of Pursenally Yours began her custom designed purse company while an English teacher. Today her nationwide million dollar company  she began in 2007  allows her to maintain her stay at home status. She knew she loved to sew and got her inspiration by hanging out some friends designing purses on the weekend. Want to learn how you to can boost your creativity?

How to Boost Creativity?

1. Start and Maintain an Idea Log. This could be in the form on an actual notebook or you could opt for more modern options like notes on your ipod and recorded voice notes on your cellphone. Whatever you decide the key is to be consistent and make it something you can do easily. Whenever an idea pops into your mind, just log it and return to it in 24 hours. If after 24 hours it still seems like a good idea then research it.
2. Pay attention to your Environment. Observe the trends in society. Listen to the complaints of your friends and family. As I watch the news I see everyone’s concern about the current heat wave hitting the east coast of the USA. I immediately thought now will be a good time to invest in an ice cream truck and slushie stand. It’s obvious people are still going outdoors and I just want to help them cool off.   Can you think of any ways to help people manage their summer outdoor activities while dealing with this unbearable heat?
3. Join a group. If your creativity is suffering from shyness joining a group of like-minded individuals who will provide honest feedback while supporting you on your plan of action is the way to go. You will steer off course if your circle of influence rejects your ideas and  your attempts to think outside the box. Occasionally you may find you don’t need to change your act only your audience.
4. Listen to your inner child. Children have the unique advantage of thinking out loud without fear of rejection or any other learned behaviors that hold back adults. It was once said that if you want to solve a problem, give it to a group of 5 year olds and see what they come up with. Without fear, constraints and negative emotional baggage, you will see an exponential increase in your creativity.
5. Get negative. Describe in detail what you don’t like about your current job and get really wild and toss in characteristics of a job from hell. Once you’re done describing it, do a 180 degree. Describe your dream job as being the complete opposite of what you described. This act alone could mean the difference between the creation of your creativity oasis or creativity wilderness.
6. Read or Do something you’re not used to doing. Sometimes you may become so bogged down in your routine you lose sight of all that life has to offer. This shuts down your ability to be creative. The goods news this can easily be reversed  by just doing something different. If you’re a science fiction addict then try romance or business journals. It just helps with your perspective. In the end perspective is key to maintaining and building your creativity.
7. Play games. Here’s a game offered by Harvey Mackay . Try this exercise:  Look at two items on your desk right now and figure out a way to put them together.  A clock radio and a coffee mug, for instance, could be turned into a coffee mug with a clock on it, maybe at the bottom.  This won’t necessarily generate a useful idea, but it will train your mind to see different possibilities.