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Chapter 4: The Act of Creation

Eight Good Ideas to Help You Access Your Creativity

Whenever you're striving to think creatively, follow these pointers:

Forget about failure. Every creative act has the potential for disappointment, and the tension between striving and achieving can be quite intense. But when fear of failure becomes too intense, then creativity can be short-circuited.
Pay close attention. There are times when the world may need a little screening-out-but the more we screen things out, the more we run the risk of not seeing. Learning to see-to open your eyes and stop and really look around you-is an important part of the process of developing your creativity.
Let accidents happen. Creative people realize that they aren't in complete control of the world. Rather, they see themselves as conduits or receptors for information and input. Sometimes the most incredible discoveries are made simply "by accident."
Hang on to your ideas. Is there such a thing as a bad idea? If an idea digs its hooks into you, chances are it's because it has some merit. Try to store away your ideas and then reexamine them periodically.
Put in the sweat equity. Devote some extra thought to the ideas that seem to merit it. The extra thought might involve research, brainstorming with others, actual experimentation, and more. You may find, too, that doing the work can stimulate other ideas.
Listen to others…but let the decision be yours. In general, creative people should be open to input and feedback, which can, of course, be immensely valuable. As a creative person, however, you may also be getting some really sub-par input and you will have to learn how to tune that out.
Have fun. Creativity often involves an enormous amount of hard work, but it should also be a source of pleasure, fun, and even joy.
Focus on process before product. Creative people love the creative act. In fact, they often enjoy the act more than the product itself. Creative people relish the figuring out, the correcting, the polishing, the tearing apart and the putting back together again.

Mind-Mapping and Brainstorming

Let's focus in on two techniques that can help you enormously in freeing up your creative spirit.

Mind-Mapping
Mind-mapping is a quick, easy, and effective way to free up the creative thinking that gets locked up inside us all. With mind-mapping, you begin by writing down a central idea and then you let all kinds of new ideas radiate out from that hub. From this central idea-the hub of your mind map-you start to look for relationships.

What's the best way to denote these relationships? That's up to you. You may decide to use arrows or dotted lines or colors to show how you get from one place to another. Don't worry if your pencil doesn't have an eraser. The cardinal rule of mind-mapping is that all thoughts are equal, at least in the beginning. Later on, there will be time for evaluation and then you can discard those thoughts that do not measure up. As you may come to see, the most fascinating thing about mind-mapping is that this visual record of your thoughts will sometimes surprise you in the end. That idea that sat quietly in a bubble in the left-hand top corner at first may prove to be the one that you finally come back to in the end.

Brainstorming
Our lives are full of problems, big and small, that require creative thinking, and so getting into the habit of thinking creatively will serve you well. One of the best methods for uncorking the creative thoughts and solutions that may be bottled up inside of you is brainstorming. Here are some tips for making the most of your brainstorming sessions:

First, determine if your subject lends itself to brainstorming. You'll want to reserve your brainstorming sessions for those subjects and topics that genuinely have the potential to generate a lot of ideas.
Build your group brainstorming on individual brainstorming. If you're planning a brainstorming session, alert your participants and give them a couple of days' notice to start working up some ideas.
Appoint a facilitator. Too many ideas flying around can easily get out of control, so make it one person's job to maintain order in the group and designate another person to record the ideas.
No criticism allowed. This should be one of your absolute ground rules. Criticism in the room will not only inhibit the creative process but will use up valuable time to boot.
Push yourself beyond your limit. Whether you're brainstorming solo or in a group, force yourself to go even further than you think you can go.
Go crazy. When it comes to brainstorming, no idea is too wild or crazy.
Provide some follow-up recourse. Brainstorming sessions can sometimes create a ripple effect. When people leave a session and then talk to friends, they may come up with other kinds of insight or information and are soon ready to share again. It can be difficult to schedule actual face time, so at least make sure that everyone has each other's contact information. That way, the sharing can continue in a one-on-one basis.

Making Your Assignments Interesting

One of the most challenging parts of writing a paper or designing a presentation is making it interesting. Even if you are composing a paper on a topic that's a real sleeper, it is important to keep it interesting. Here are some ways to keep your audience engrossed.

Writing Assignments
Your professor has to grade many papers along with yours. To get a better grade, try to create an exciting piece of work. The first step to exciting writing is knowing your subject. To get a clear picture and write and interesting piece, do your research. Not only will you have more knowledge to draw from, but you will probably discover small, interesting facts about what you are investigating. And, sometimes, it is these somewhat random pieces of information that bring together what you are writing in a captivating way.

Presentations
Presentations can be one of the most fun parts of college. Just like papers, presentations must be accurate, interesting, and (sometimes) entertaining. Showing your creative abilities is the best way to give a top-notch presentation. Your parents and professors did not have PowerPoint and other great programs when they were in college. Nowadays there is no excuse for poorly done presentations. Some tips to making your presentation better:

Add pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Add movies. Doing this allows you not just to talk about, but also show what you are talking about.
Use color. Simply including some attractive colors can improve the project.

Don't Forget

Start early.
Be diligent.
Be creative.

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