Imagine what you would ask and how they would answer.
• Imagine traveling in time or to another dimension.
Imagine what it is like. How does it look? What are the people like?
Are there even people? Create every aspect of life.
• Think about God or whatever higher being you believe in.
Think about the questions you would ask and his answers.
Try to imagine being in the presence of such power.
• Experiment with astral projection.
Get a book and study up on the idea. Then try it.
Try to float out of your conscious body and into the astral plain.
• Practice visualizing things.
If you have problems with visualization, then start out small with visualizing simple
things in your head and then moving onto things that are more complex.
• Gather information on things you are interested.
This will help give you something to think about. You can think about how to build upon
what already exists and how your creative thinking can change it or make it better.
• Find a friend to brainstorm with.
Getting someone else in on your creative thinking means you can work together.
Having someone else’s perspective on things can really get the creative juices flowing.
• Try thinking as if you are someone else.
Sometimes we get stuck in our own mindset. Creative thinking is about going beyond
our comfort zone and thinking outside the box, so pretend you are someone else and
think how he or she would think.
Some Creative Thinking Examples
• Imagine yourself living on the moon.
Picture what it looks like. Take yourself through a whole day. Think of every little detail,
like where does water come from? How do you breathe? Are there other life forms?
What do you eat? How do you travel? What is your home like? Are you alone there or
are there other people? How did you get to the moon? Who owns the moon?
• Imagine yourself living a whole day as an animal.
Think how that animal must think. Think about interacting with other animals.
How do you feel? What do you eat? Do you talk with other animals in your own language
or how do you communicate? Where do you live? Do you have a family? Do you work?
What activities do you do? Is there a form of government or some type of animal that is
in control?
• Write a description of the room you are in.
Give details about every little thing, from the books on the shelf to the tiny crack running
along the left corner of the room. Make sure you are very detailed, so detailed that
someone reading it would be able to completely visualize the room. You want to give
descriptions that reach all five senses. Use colors, smells, textures along with your visual
descriptions.
You may not know where to begin with your thought experiments or using ‘what if’
techniques.
Some ‘what if’ ideas that you can use:
What if --
• I lived to be 200 years old?
• I was born a different race or gender?
• I lived somewhere else in the world?
• I had not gone to college or had gone to college?
• The world was flat?
• I did/did not have children?
• There was world peace?
• Einstein was never born?
• Animals could talk?
• I could spend one day with God
Another thing you can do to help your creative thought is ponder age-old questions or
rhetorical questions. Think about things like:
• God
• Creation/Evolution
• Fate/Destiny
• Coincidence
Here are some common questions that people often ponder that you can use to get your
creative mind working:
• Is there life after death?
• Is there really a God?
• Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?
• Which came first – the chicken or the egg?
• If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?
• Would an orange be called an orange if it was green?
• Why isn’t a banana called a yellow or an apple called a red?
What Skills Help in Creative Thinking?
• Organizational Skills -
Being organized may seem the opposite of being creative. When people think of creativity
they often thin unstructured thought and unorganized behaviors, but actually creative
thought can be quite organized. When you are organized, you are able to better sift
through your thoughts and get to the heart of the good idea.
• Reasoning Skills -
Being able to reason is very helpful in creative thinking. Reasoning skills come in handy
when you are analyzing a situation. You are able to decide right away what will work
and what will not work.
• Objectivity -
Being able to be objective allows you to consider many possibilities and not just be stuck
on the obvious. This is key to creative thinking.
• Any skill in the arts -
This includes music, writing and artwork, like painting or sculpting. Having these artistic
skills means your mind is already used to thinking outside the box. You have the ability to be creative and therefore you are predisposed to creative thinking.
Creative Thinking Techniques
Step 1: Analysis
You begin by looking over the situation. You should take in everything you can about the
situation. Get details and ask questions. You must really get to know the situation at this
point.
Analysis involves finding out the who, what, where, when and how of the situation. Once
analysis is complete, you should be able to completely explain the situation including
any obvious problems or issues.
Step 2: Brainstorming
This is the true area of creative thinking. Once you know about the situation, you can
begin to start thinking. You can brainstorm in any manner that works for you. You may
just shout out ideas or may write them down. Whatever works for you is best to do.
Brainstorming can take on many forms. You can write things down, talk things out or
even conduct experiments. Brainstorming should be free flowing and recorded so no
good ideas are lost.
Step 3: Break It Down
Now that you have a nice collection of ideas, you can start going through them and
weeding out ones that will not work. You may find that if you change an idea just a little
that it will work much better. This step is all about tweaking your ideas.
You will go over all of your ideas and weed out those that are not going to work. You
should end up wit h the ideas that seem to be the best solutions.
Step 4: Review
The final step involves getting your final idea. This will help you to come up with one or
two ideas that seem to stand out and be the best ideas.
You will go over the ideas you have left and narrow them down even more to one or two
plausible ideas. You should then be able to go into detail of how each idea will work and
how it will be implemented.
Being a creative thinker involves being able to think without a lot of structure, but these
four steps are the basics of any thinking process. They may help you to be a better
creative thinker.
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