How to see the world differently (Creative Eye series)

For one of my workshops I’m coming up with some approaches that I think can add rocket fuel to your creativity, and I will be sharing them here as well. The first one is about seeing the world anew.

 One of the challenges all creative people have is to stay fresh. Habits and routines get us through our days with minimal friction but they also are the enemy of new experiences and insights.

 Our usual routine is to sort for the familiar: the way we know to get to work, the shirt or skirt we know makes us look good, the greeting that always gets an automatic response from the receptionist.

 For a fresh experience, focus on breaking your routine in some small way every day.  Three examples:

 Take a full minute to examine some object you use every day. What do you notice now about its color, texture, the sound it makes when you use it, how cool or warm it feels to the touch, and so on? It’s best to do this in private, to avoid having people think you’re on drugs.

 Kick up your small talk one notch. Store clerks and receptionists don’t want to get into a deep conversation with you, but see what happens when you go from “How are you?” to “How’s your day going so far?” The first gets an automatic “fine” most of the time; the second may require a bit of thought. It’s not intrusive but it might wake them out of the auto-response state. They may like that or not, but it could be interesting either way.

 Set yourself a question of the day. In the morning write down some question you’re going to ponder and keep it where you’ll encounter it a few times, for instance in your wallet or purse. Make it something that will bring you back to the here and now, such as, “What’s the best thing about what’s happening right now?”

 (For more ideas on how to be more creative, get my book, “Creativity Now!” published by Prentice Hall Business)