13 Creativity Hacks
by: Greg Moreno
  1. Ask ‘Why?’ constantly. All creativity stems from questioning why things are the way they are. The more everyday obvious a thing is, the more it needs to be questioned.
  2. Always be suspicious when people say, ‘It stands to reason’. Human progress has come from those who had the courage to challenge the generally held view.
  3. When working on a problem, never be satisfied with your first solution even if it seems correct. Always look for other answers.
  4. Never worry about ideas that don’t work. Most ideas are like that. Just be encouraged to keep trying for a better idea.
  5. Always carry a notebook for jotting down any bright ideas that you may have. Ideas come to the surface all the time but, unless they are quickly caught, will often escape and you may well find that you are quite unable to remember them later.
  6. It is always easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. If you believe in your idea, you must go ahead with it at all costs. If you wait for a permission, it might never come. If you find that you are wrong, admit it frankly and then get on with your next project.
  7. Take a random word — the more ridiculous the better — and try to find a way to work it into your creative project. This exercise may seem tough and you might not see right away how it will help but if you persist you’ll be surprised at the number of original notions that suddenly pop into your mind.
  8. Always
    look for new experiences that will stretch your mind. For example, listen to new music, read a magazine that you don’t normally look at, watch a TV documentary on a subject you know nothing about, go somewhere new, talk to new people. If you always stick to your usual routine, you make it hard for new things to influence and inspire you.
  9. It is often a good idea to spend some time visualizing what you think a project will look like when it’s finished. This can sometimes show you the path from where you are now to where you will be at the end.
  10. It is possible to make a trigger (such as a gesture) that you deliberately associate with creative thought. For example, you could run the tip of your index finger up and down the bridge of your nose whenever you are involved in creative thinking. When you have a bright idea, make sure that you use your trigger. Eventually, the process can be made to work the other way around, and the use of your gesture will prompt you to enter your creative mode and produce bright ideas.
  11. Ask a dumb question and you may look stupid for five minutes. Fail to ask it and you will be stupid forever.
  12. Always keep stirring the pot. Good ideas will float to the surface unpredictably, but for that to happen there has to be plenty of thought and action going on.
  13. First the chaos; then the production of order from chaos. In this way, interesting ideas may be born.

Source: Starting From Scratch - http://gregmoreno.ca/ (based on Robert Allen’s "Boost Your Creativity: Exercises and Advice For Great Creative Thinking")