How To Become the Most Creative Person You Know

By Dan Goodwin

Who is the most creative person you know? What is it that makes them so creative? Is it their outlook on life? Is it the amount of ideas they come up with? Is it the number of new and varied creative projects they take on? Whatever it is that makes them this creative, their position is about to be under threat. From you! Here are 5 tips to help YOU become the most creative person you know:

1. Creativity is a way of being, not just doing. Do you see "being creative" as something you put on like a uniform only on the occasions when you're actually making something? This perception can mean, like a uniform, you feel you can detach from your creativity and put it to one side while you get on with the rest of life. In fact, creativity is more like your skin. It's always there with you in everything you do. Once you begin to accept this, you can let it seep into everything you do - you can truly be, think, say and do creatively - instead of putting the "uniform" on only once in a while.
2. All the ideas you can handle. Having a steady flow of ideas is key to being highly creative. We're all capable of generating this stream of ideas, but only if we capture them does it feel we're creative. The mistake most of us make is to think we'll remember every great idea we have in the shower or supermarket. Then when we don't, it feels like those ideas never occurred in the first place. Find a way of recording your ideas - a notebook, camera or voice recorder - and you'll find the amount that you have soars.
3. Creating regularly to keep the flow. The more creative you are, the more creative you are. It's only by creating regularly - setting aside time each and every day - that you can truly let your creativity reach the kind of free flow it's capable of. It takes many times more energy to start a body in motion than it does to keep it steadily rolling along. That's not just a law of physics, it's a law of creativity too. Create every day, even for just 15 minutes and notice your overall creativity levels dramatically increase.
4. Acknowledge your own creativity. If you don't believe you're creative, it will always be a struggle against the tide to reach any consistent creativity. Fortunately, this is nearly always about perception, not raw facts. Make a list of all the ways you're creative each and every day - the tiny details, like how you coordinate your wardrobe, arrange your desk, conjure up meals, deal with work and family problems. Creativity is not just about making art, it's in everything you do. Recognise how creative you already are!
5. Keeping the inner critic at bay. Many of us get to a crucial point in creating a new project only to be floored by that old "friend", our inner critic. What we don't realise is that our inner critic is just trying to protect us, to save us from disappointment. Its intentions are positive, even if its methods aren't pretty. Once we realise this, we see our inner critic in a whole different light. Thank your inner critic for its kind consideration, then tell it you're going to carry on and create anyway. Then carry on and create anyway.

You can choose any of these areas to help you be more creative. Then, with that in place, move on and try another, and another. Before too long, you'll realise you've become as creative as anyone you know!