Unleash Your Creativity
and Innovation
Your ability to be creative can be an essential component of getting what you want since your creativity helps you adapt to change, as well as come up with new productive ideas—from different strategies for getting what you want to coming up with new products and services you can use to increasing your income or starting a new career or company.
Your inner creativity can help you be more efficient and productive, create new useful and profitable products or businesses, design better policies and procedures so offices or groups can function, and provide more and better leadership and direction. It can also help you reshape yourself and what you do to open doors to new opportunities. It can help you feel more power and self-confidence so you can do more, make life more interesting and exciting for you and others in your life, and much more. You imagine it and you can create whatever your imagination comes up with. The focus of this chapter is on increasing your creative abilities, from using them to make changes to coming up with new ideas.
Using Your Creativity to Respond to Change
Creativity is an essential part of human nature—a kind of evolutionary key—that has enabled humans to thrive. Our environment is always changing and our creativity helps us respond to or influence that change. Creativity allows us to constantly remake ourselves and remodel our behavior to best fit the new conditions or sometimes shape the new conditions. Today’s technological revolution is a good example. It has transformed the way many of us live and work, and it has changed life’s pace. Most people have had to adapt to these changes to one degree or another.
There is often great resistance to change because people are afraid of where it will lead. They fear it may be dangerous—and sometimes change can be—particularly if it is unanticipated or out of control. But when you are receptive and view change in a positive and productive way, you discover how many possibilities it offers and how much you can gain from change. How receptive are you? There are some key questions to ask yourself about how good you are at recognizing or anticipating changes in your life. Are there major changes you are experiencing now or that you anticipate in the near future? Are there any things you should change in what you are doing?
You can use the following exercise to note changes and what you might do to respond.
Recognizing and Responding to Change
Get comfortable and relaxed. Then ask yourself the following questions, wait and listen for the answers, and write them down.
• What major changes have recently occurred in my life? In my work? In my relationships?
• What have I done to respond to them?
• How well do I feel I responded? (Rate your responses from zero to five.)
• What should I do now, if anything, to respond to these changes?
• What major changes do I anticipate occurring in the next three to six months that will affect me? In my work? In my relationships?
• What can I do to respond to these changes?
• What major changes do I anticipate occurring in the next six months to a year that will affect me? In my work? In my relationships?
• What can I do to respond to these changes?
After you have finished answering your questions, let go and return to your normal state. Review your answers and consider which of these responses you want to implement now.
Creative Repackaging: How to Present the New You
Reviewing the changes that have affected or will affect you and how you can change may lead you to realize your need to present yourself in new ways to adjust to new times. In turn, changing yourself can help you convince others you can do something new or different. By presenting yourself in a new way, you change how people view you and their perceptions of what you can do. It signifies that you are ready and able to respond to change.
This is what happened to Bill, a lawyer specializing in immigration. He had done very well, but after twelve years doing immigration law he felt burned out. Though immigration had become a major news topic and his background was impressive, it was specialized, and those hiring in related fields couldn’t see past his highly developed, but specialized, skills in helping immigrants—a narrow focus made even more salient by immigration being a hot button subject in the news. For Bill, creativity meant thinking of new ways to present himself. He looked at the skills he used in being a successful immigration lawyer and the results he had achieved in using those skills rather than at the particular tasks he had done. As a result, he repackaged himself as a problem solver and operational development specialist. He stopped using the term lawyer or attorney to describe himself, despite working in this capacity for more than twelve years. Instead, by creatively repackaging himself he not only saw himself in a new way, but also created a new prism through which prospective employers could regard him. As a result, within a few weeks he found a new job helping managers troubleshoot and resolve problems in their organizations.
The Three Keys to Creativity
While creativity is often thought of in terms of results, such as how you decide to change or the new ideas you come up with, these results are only the end product. Being creative is also a process of responding in new ways. It can be harnessed to do everything from creating different forms of artistic expression to reshaping yourself, your relationships, your work environment, and society as a whole. Underlying this creativity is a readiness to respond, a willingness to try, openness to new things, and a lack of fear of change. When you combine these qualities with an awareness of what needs fixing or changing, you can apply these techniques to come up with new ideas for just about anything. The three basic elements that facilitate the creativity process are:
1) The ability to perceive and think in innovative ways. An approach that helps you come up with new ideas using techniques such as brainstorming and intuition to envision alternatives.
2) An openness to alternative approaches so you’re willing to accept new ideas and act on them.
3) The insight to identify areas in which creative responses are needed giving you the ability to perceive which changes are necessary or desirable and which aren’t.
These three elements represent a creative approach to life that can be applied to anything. If you learn to incorporate a creative approach to whatever you do, you can call on your creative force at any time and for a variety of purposes. Creativity becomes part of who you are, a natural way of being, so you are always ready to use it.
Overcoming Blocks to Creativity
Sometimes creativity can be blocked because of a fear of new ideas or of making changes. This fear can also prevent you from recognizing where a new idea or a change is needed or from jumping on a new opportunity due to a fear of the risk or downside of doing so. Certainly there are times it is prudent to be cautious and to make sure the opportunity is a valid one, but other times too much due diligence can hold you back when all other signs are telling you to go. For each new invention, you can find people who were happy with the old idea, resisted the new, and were subsequently left behind—the silent movie producers who rejected the coming of sound, decision makers at Hewlett-Packard who didn’t see any sense in the personal computer idea of employees who left and founded Apple, or the resistance of IBM executives to the software system ideas of Ross Perot who made billions from them. At one time company owners even expressed a resistance to getting telephones because they had messenger boys on bikes to deliver their messages.
Fear and resistance in daily life can be roadblocks as well. The following exercises will help you to identify and overcome any fears and resistances you might have. They are designed to help you look within to discover either a general nay-saying attitude or a specific fear about a particular situation that is holding you back. The first exercise is concerned with your attitude, and the second is intended to help with a particular fear or situation.
Overcoming a Negative Attitude
Get comfortable and relaxed, as usual. Close your eyes. Focus on your breathing for a minute or so until you feel very centered and relaxed. Now take a mental journey to wherever you want to go to get inner information—a quiet, calm place or a room where you can meet your inner expert—and ask yourself a series of questions to see if you are afraid of or resistant to new things or to some specific things. As you ask each question, don’t try to answer it with your conscious mind. Instead, just listen or observe and wait for the answer to come to you.
Ask this question first and listen to the answer, How do I feel about new ideas? Do I like things that are new or different?
Next, ask and listen again. How do I usually react when I experience something new and different? Ask to see a few examples; they can be situations at work or in your personal life. Take a few minutes to look at these situations. Notice what comes up. Have you usually been receptive? If you have been receptive, compliment yourself for being open and remind yourself that you will continue to be so in the future. Then gradually bring yourself back to normal consciousness and return to the room.
If you are normally not receptive, ask yourself Why am I resistant to new ideas or changes? What fears are standing in the way? Why am I apt to say no? Why am I holding back from being open to change? Notice the answers.
Now, if you feel ready to rid yourself of these fears imagine that you are collecting these fears together. Imagine that each of these fears is an object and you are picking them up one by one to get rid of them. You can burn them, bury them, throw them in the river, or bomb them. However you want to do it, see these fears disappearing. As each one disappears, feel yourself getting freer and freer. You feel more open and receptive, more ready to see new ideas without criticizing, prejudging, or thinking them wrong in advance. In fact, you are now eager to learn about new ideas and try them out. Your fear of doing so is gone and you feel ready to do and discover new things.
Holding that feeling of interest and excitement, tell yourself, In the future I will be more open and receptive. I will be more ready to hear about and act on new things. If I feel myself resisting and holding back, I will tell myself “No. Don’t say no. Be open. Be ready to wait and see.”
Repeat this reminder to yourself several times while feeling this sense of interest and excitement. Then, let go of this experience, leave the place you have gone to get information, and return to your everyday consciousness.
As usual, get comfortable and relaxed. Close your eyes, and focus on your breathing for a minute or so until you feel very centered and relaxed.
Now take a mental journey wherever you want to get inner information—a quiet, calm place or a room where you can meet your inner expert—and ask yourself a series of questions to see if you are afraid of or resistant to a specific new idea or situation. As you ask each question, don’t try to consciously answer it. Instead, listen or observe and wait for the answer to come to you.
Ask yourself the following question and listen to the answer. Why do I fear this new idea or change or particular situation (describe it)? What do I see holding me back? Then listen to the answer. Are you afraid of someone? Is it something you have to do that bothers you? Are you afraid of being wrong? Do you fear coming up with ideas that aren’t good? Reflect on what comes to you. If you are ready to get rid of these fears, imagine that you are collecting them. Imagine that each of these fears is like an object or painting and you are picking them up one by one to get rid of them. You can burn them, bury them, throw them in the river, or bomb them. However you want to do it, see these fears disappearing. As each one disappears, you feel freer and freer. You feel more open and receptive. You are more ready to approach this situation in a new way. You are ready to think of new ideas without criticizing, prejudging, or thinking them wrong in advance. You are now eager to tackle this idea or situation. Your fear of doing so is gone.
Holding that feeling of interest and excitement, tell yourself, I am ready and eager to deal with this situation now. I will be more ready to hear about and act on these new ideas. If I feel myself beginning to resist or hold back, I will tell myself, “No. Don’t say no. Be open. Be ready to consider and try out this new idea or situation. There’s nothing to be concerned about or afraid of. I’ll think of the possibilities and know it will be possible. I’ll say yes to these possibilities. I’ll say yes to these possibilities.”
Repeat this reminder several times while feeling this sense of interest and excitement. Then let go of this experience and return to your everyday consciousness.
Identifying What Needs Changing
In what areas do you need new ideas? What would you like to change? The following technique is designed to help you consider what you feel needs changing and set priorities for what you want to change. Then you can brainstorm or use your intuition to seek new ideas and help you select among alternatives. Have a paper and pencil ready to list the areas where new ideas or changes are needed.
To begin, get comfortable and relaxed. Close your eyes. Focus on your breathing to get into this centered state. Now take a mental journey to wherever you want to go to get inner information just as the previous techniques have described. Then ask yourself, What new things or changes would I like to see in my life? List whatever comes.
If you are interested in making changes in a particular area, such as at work, at home, or in a certain relationship, ask about that. What new things or changes would I like to see in ______? Again, list whatever comes.
Finally ask, Are there any other new things or changes I would like to make? Again list whatever comes. After you’ve listed all you can think of, let go of the experience and return to your everyday consciousness. Review the list you have created and rate the areas on a rating system of zero to three, with zero being no interest and three being of high interest on which you want to focus first. If there are more than a few high-priority areas, go back to those and rate your priorities within this group. Once you have set your priorities, you can focus on applying idea-generating techniques to these areas.
Using Your Creativity to Generate Ideas
Just like any skill, the ability to be creative—the ability to come up with new ideas, do things differently, think of alternative approaches, and apply them effectively—can be developed through practice. It’s like any skill on a continuum, from having little to an average amount to a great deal of creativity, and through practice you can increase where you fall on this continuum. (Or alternatively, if you don’t use your creative abilities, you can become rusty though you can refresh your skills to further develop them at any time.) So just as you can get better at writing, speaking, or anything else by doing it, so too can you become more creative by taking the time to work on coming up with and using new ideas. The more you do it, the easier it gets since you are in effect exercising your creative muscle and getting more in touch with the intuitive idea-generating part of your mind. Whatever the arena, you will find you have more ideas.
As being creative effectively is a process, rather than the end product of being creative, these techniques focus on helping you adopt the attitudes you need to be more creative. Then you can apply this outlook to any area you choose to express your creativity, ranging from organizing your office to coming up with ideas for new products, programs, or organizations. The following methods are particularly valuable in the workplace, but you can easily adapt them to come up with ideas in all areas of your life. The exercises will help you develop your creative abilities generally as well as provide some techniques you can apply in everyday work and personal situations. You can use any of these techniques alone or try brainstorming with a friend or in a group. Following are three key ways of being creative that you can apply to become more creative in the workplace or in your personal life.
1. Seeing New Uses for Things.
A perfect example of this is how the extremely successful Post-it notes were developed. Someone came up with the wrong glue formula and it wasn’t strong enough, but someone else thought of a new way to use that glue for temporary attachments and it turned into a million-dollar business.
2. Use New Methods and Materials to Change What Already Exists.
The famous dictum “necessity is the mother of invention” can be especially appropriate. For instance, suppose you are following a recipe for a dinner party and suddenly discover that one or more items in the recipe are missing, or you don’t have enough of them, and there is no time to get to the supermarket to buy them. This might be a time to find an alternative recipe you invent yourself from other items in your kitchen cabinet, or divide what you have from the original recipe into smaller dishes and create a new dish of your own with the items you have on hand.
3. Making Changes in What Already Exists or Combining What Exists in New Ways.
Frequently such change is vital to keep people stimulated and excited at work or to keep a series of regular parties from feeling like the same old, same old attitude. You want to add variety to spice up the usual activities. For example, people can often get bored if they have to do the same things every day or if a series of events with the same crowd feature the same activities. People want something new to add excitement to their lives. Otherwise, they can get stale working with the same team of people or going to a party with the same crowd as usual. But if an employer juggles tasks and people around or a party host comes up with new foods to try, new music, or new activities, this can get people energized and enthusiastic again.
The more you develop your abilities in these areas, the more creative you become and the more you can direct your creativity to be more effective in your work or personal life. The following exercises are designed to help you mobilize these creative processes so you can apply them as you wish. The examples given are merely illustrative. There are so many ways to apply your creativity depending on your goal. The key point is that once you increase your creativity, you can apply it to be more innovative in anything you want to do.
Method 1: See New Uses for Things;
Finding New Ways to Use What You Have
This method will get you thinking about new uses for things. You begin by imagining new uses for familiar items to get your creative juices flowing. Then you apply the process to a specific situation, such as at work or at home, where you really do want to discover some new uses for things. Seeing new uses for things is the essence of innovation, and there are countless benefits. You can cut down your costs by finding new uses for a tool or equipment in your house so you don’t have to buy something else. You can reduce expenses by using some items you already have for other purposes. You can use something designed for another use as a tool you don’t have, such as using a spoon handle to pry open a lid when you don’t have a can opener. You can expand the market for a product you are selling online by thinking of different ways that other groups can use it, such as turning decorated placemats into something that can be an attractive wall piece as well. In fact, some entrepreneurs have made millions by discovering a novel and popular use for something, such as turning a simple stone into a bestselling novelty by calling it a Pet Rock. If you have something and can think of new ways to use it, you can save money, increase its value to yourself and others, use it as a substitute for something else, or pitch it to a new market and earn money from your idea.
The first exercise is a kind of warm-up, while the second provides a more in-depth use of this process.
What’s New?
See how many new and unusual uses you can create for familiar things. The idea is to start with something familiar and then see how many ways you can change and adapt it for new purposes. Try this alone or brainstorm with a friend or associate.
Begin by getting some paper and a pencil and writing down the names of some familiar objects. Perhaps look around your office or house and jot down the objects you see. Now, for each object write down as many uses as you can, making them as novel as possible. Feel free to change the size, shape, or color of the object as well, or combine two or more objects and think up uses for them together. For example, what can you do with a paper clip? A ruler? A pair of scissors? A lamp? What can you do with a piece of paper and a chair? A newspaper and a cup? A stapler and a picture hook? Now you take that away.
When you feel warmed up, think about any specific situations in your life where you might want to apply this technique. For example, if you have young kids you might imagine the way some common objects around your house might be turned into fun toys. If you are selling a new product online or in a store, think of all the possible uses for it or of all the ways you might advertise it. Or, if you are part of a work group or social group, think of all the things the group can do besides what it is doing now. The exercise is divided into two parts that will help to get your ideas flowing and help you to apply the process in a real situation.
Part 1: The Practice Warm Up
To get your creative juices flowing choose the first common objects that come to mind: things in your office, home, on the street, or natural objects. Make a list of these objects and pick five to ten you want to work on. For each of these objects, list as many ways as you can think of to use it. What are all the things you can do with a glass? A lightbulb? A box? A leaf? A piece of paper and a mirror? Feel free to come up with novel, unusual, even outrageous uses. Feel free to change the object’s size, shape, or color or to use two or more objects together in new ways.
Part 2: Applying the Process
When you feel warmed-up, think of something at work or in your personal life to which you want to apply this technique. For example, you might think of new uses for products in your product line, new ways to use your computer or mobile device, new activities your work group or social group can do, or new no-cost activities you can do at home with your family. Now think about other ways or things to which you might apply this technique. Later, you can actually do so.
Method 2: Finding New Methods, Materials,
or Paths to Attain a Goal
There are many paths to any goal—whether it’s a personal goal such as taking a trip, a career goal such as finding a new job, or an accomplishment such as writing a song or publishing a book. Sometimes a clear path leads to your goal or you already have what you need to get there. At other times the path isn’t clear, you’re missing something, or you think you lack what you need to get there. That’s when your creativity can help you find an alternate method, develop the skills, or discover the needed resources to reach your goal. You may already have these resources available but just don’t know it. As in a maze, different approaches can be used to create the path to your goal. Additionally, when you have a goal, you need to believe you can reach it. By accessing your creativity you’ll come up with a variety of approaches, choose the one approach or ones you want to try and believe you can do it. And you can!
For example, say you want to date someone you met at a party, but your initial meeting was very brief so you didn’t have a chance to talk and get to know each other. Perhaps you could find out this person’s interests or memberships—perhaps with the help of a friend or the party host—and you turn up at one of these activities and start talking there. Or suppose you want to be hired for a particular job or project and you are sure you can do it. But the requirements ask for some credentials or experience you don’t have. If you want the assignment badly enough, come up with alternate ways to get it such as showing the people doing the hiring that this credential isn’t necessary and you can do a better job than anyone else.
How do you come up with these creative approaches? That’s where your GWYW powers come in to tap your creativity so you can come up with different ideas and choose the best ones to put into practice; and then they can help you in coming up with the steps to execute the plan. For instance, to meet the man or woman of your dreams at an activity where you can show you have a common interest, you might need to develop some knowledge about that activity, plan a few things to say to get the conversation going, and arrange to go to an event where this person will be. Or suppose you are trying for a job where you don’t have the specific credentials required. You might need to assemble a personal portfolio on your background that includes some powerful testimonial or reference letters from important people. Then when you have the interview, you might imagine what you will say in advance so you can act with confidence and show your expertise as if you already have the job and no one else could be as good as you.
For example, Millie found her husband this way after moving to a new city. She saw him across the room at a party but didn’t have a chance to talk to him there. She asked the friend who brought her there about him and learned he was an avid sailor. As a result, she joined the local yacht club where he was a member, took some sailing lessons, and just happened to bump into him at a monthly networking event for club members. Then she kicked off the conversation by talking about some recent sailing events in the news and segued into asking him about his own participation in sailing competitions. They later got together for dinner to talk more. One thing led to another as she realized she wanted to get serious with this man and finally realized her dream of marrying him.
The process of finding new methods or materials to attain exactly what you want can work with anything. The key is to think you can do it, whatever it is, and then determine what you need to do to accomplish it. You may be able to use what you already have on hand, although perhaps you must use it in a new way; or perhaps you need to get other resources and come up with creative ways to get them. For instance, suppose you have to put up some pictures in the office and forgot your hammer. Maybe something else will work—say the bottom of a hole puncher, a board under the coffee maker, or the heel of your shoe. In fact, if you come up with an invention to fulfill a major need, such as an attractively decorated shoulder holder for a smartphone, you might find a company may want to buy your invention or try making it yourself as a side venture.
The following techniques will help you loosen up your thinking processes so you are better able to create new approaches to achieve your goals.
New Look
As a kind of brain training exercise to limber up your ability to think quickly, see how many ways you can think of to fill a need. Brainstorm with a friend or associate if you wish. First, on a sheet of paper make a short list of some activities you’d like to see handled another way, such as traveling downtown to go shopping, organizing the office staff, or keeping burglars away from your house. Next, look at each activity individually and write down as many new approaches as you can, making them as novel as possible. Imagine you have unlimited resources to create solutions and let your ideas come as quickly as possible. Later, you can evaluate these ideas and choose the ones you can use.
Finding New Paths to a Chosen Goal
The following exercise will help you focus on finding new paths to a chosen goal. These paths can be new strategies and procedures or new materials and resources—whatever is needed to get there. In this exercise, you start with a goal you want to achieve or a need you want to satisfy. Then see how many ways you can achieve it. Have some paper and pencil handy to write down ideas.
Think of any goal or need. It can be something work-related or personal. Then brainstorm all the ways you can get there. Write them down. Consider both the different methods and resources you will need to get there. When you’ve come up with all the ideas you can, review them and choose those you can actually implement.
Method 3: New Ways to Change What Already
Exists or Combining What Exists in New Ways
Making something different or better is a key benefit of creativity and innovation, and it’s the engine of progress and change that has fueled modern technology and generated the race to produce better, state-of-the-art equipment. Change is the basis of technological and social progress—making changes in the way things are and combining what exists in new ways. Just think of the many positive words in our language that express the high value we place on the benefits of creative change: new, better, improved, faster, more efficient, more effective, cheaper, more attractive, more exciting … you can undoubtedly continue the list yourself. The point is that altering different elements or making new connections and combinations can change almost anything. Likewise, you can use this approach to improve your own life.
For example, use your creativity to reorganize your house or change the decor. Perhaps add new items like wall hangings or plants to make your home look more attractive or friendly so people feel more comfortable and receptive when they talk to you. Or if you’re on a tight budget, turn old material into a brand-new piece of furniture. By applying a little change and innovation, and perhaps combining some things you already have in new ways, you can make something better, more attractive, or usable for something and have fun trying out different possibilities.
To make the most of this process, however, you must be receptive to innovation and enthusiastic about the potential of everything to change. In other words, you must both accept change and be ready to initiate it as the situation requires, and you’ll find the results pay off for you in very attractive ways, such as a more appealing living space, more clients or social contacts from people who like your energetic, dynamic approach to life, and possibly less stress because you are more flexible and can adjust to any situation in a world filled with change.
So what would you like to change? The following techniques are designed to limber up your mind to get you thinking about making changes, new connections, and new combinations. Then, when specific situations occur where change is useful you’ll be more aware of the possibilities and more creative in coming up with suggestions for effective changes.
The following exercises will give you practice in changing things and trying out new combinations and connections. Use the practice exercises to limber up and then apply these techniques to specific things you want to change. Have a piece of paper and a pencil handy. Perhaps do this brainstorming with others as well.
Technique 1: Changing Objects and Things
This exercise is especially useful when applied to changing material things, like designing an attractive new garden, putting up new paintings or photos on your walls, coming up with new inventions, or developing new product ideas.
To start, practice first by making a list of familiar objects. Look around your room, outside your window, or write down whatever comes to mind. Then think of all the ways you can change that object. Think about its size, color, style, construction, materials, shape, and so forth. Just brainstorm and list any changes you think of. As you mentally make physical changes in the qualities of that object, imagine what it might be used for in its new form. Feel free to think of either practical or fanciful applications. Later, review the ideas to see if any of them might have practical applications. For now you are just exercising your creative idea-generating abilities.
Now apply this technique to an object you actually want to change, such as to create a new or better arrangement for your living room or for a new product. For example, how might you change a smartphone, tablet, or notebook? Maybe you can decorate it to look more unique and express your personality such as adding stickers to the cover. Other possibilities might be attaching some straps so you can carry it over your shoulder or hang it from your neck like a camera. As you brainstorm, don’t expect every idea to be useful and practical. Rather, come up with as many ideas as you can as quickly as possible. Later you can eliminate the chaff and select what works.
Technique 2: Places
This exercise is especially useful if you want to change your physical environment, such as for changing landscaping and the look of your home or work environment. For practice, look at a picture or at the scene around you. How many changes can you make? Imagine that you are superimposing another picture over the first and imagine yourself making the changes on this picture. In effect, you are simultaneously looking at or looking back and forth between two scenes—the one that exists and the picture you are changing in your mind’s eye. As you look at these two scenes, make any of the following changes:
• Add additional things or people into the scene.
• Take away something or someone.
• Modify or rearrange the things or people in the scene.
• Change the size relationships of the things or people.
• Try a combination of these changes.
Don’t worry about making useful changes. You are just practicing. If anything useful comes out of this practice, you can always make these changes later.
Now apply this technique to making changes in some place you really do want to change. For example, suppose you are looking at your living room or at a picture of it. You might mentally add some flowers to a desk, or perhaps see some pictures on the wall, or even imagine hosting a large party. If you look at a garden you might imagine what the area could look like if the garden was no longer there. Likewise, you could see a large building become a small one or even change day into night. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination and creativity.
Visualize these changes in your mind’s eye and notice any differences in the mood of the scene or how you feel. You may notice that some settings are more stimulating and exciting than others, and lead people to respond accordingly. For instance, in a bright, cheerful living room with attractive artwork people will be more likely to make comments and compliment you. And the paintings or photographs might help to stimulate conversations as people talk about them or find their own memories stimulated by the images they see. Also, don’t feel you must think of only practical ideas. Just let your mental processes flow and generate as many ideas as you can. Later you can select out what’s practical and make changes accordingly.
Technique 3: Individuals
This technique is especially useful if you want to change your own appearance to better project the image you want or if you want to change how you interact with or relate to others. For practice, think of all the ways you might change yourself or another person and imagine what might happen if you or they changed in this way. Some things you might want to change are personality traits, interests, hobbies, facial and/or physical appearance, and dress. You can try this exercise wherever you are, wherever you see people, or you can do this by yourself either in your mind’s eye or by looking in a mirror. You can practice this technique wherever you are.
Now apply this technique to making changes in yourself or others. For example, look around you and imagine someone you see with different features. Or look in a mirror and imagine yourself with a different look. Another possibility is to combine the features of several different people, including you, into one. Simply imagine what that person would look life if … and make the change. For example, suppose a man has a mustache or a beard. How would he look without it? How about a woman with long hair? Suppose it were short? An old man? Suppose he were young? A fat woman? What if she were thin? And so on.
Similarly, if you’re thinking about changing yourself, as you look in the mirror or at a picture of yourself, imagine how you would look with specific changes, such as wearing different clothes, being heavier or thinner, having a different hairstyle, looking older or younger, with glasses or without, and so on. Later, if you come up with an image you like, you can continue to focus on it from time to time to help make that image become reality (such as an image of yourself twenty pounds lighter).
Finally, to use this technique to influence how you interact with others, look at someone or at a picture of that person and imagine yourself saying different things to them and see that person responding in different ways. You can try this with greetings, with questions, and with making requests for them to do something. Then, if you find a particular approach gets a better response, use that in real life to improve your interaction with that person.
Technique 4: Groups
This is especially useful if you want to change relationships in a social group or a work group. You will do the first part as practice again. Think of any organization or institution you would like to change if you could—ranging from a small social group or activities club to a company, school, or government agency. Then think of all the changes you might make in it. Some of the things you might consider changing could be the number of people, tasks, physical setting, equipment, purpose of the group, activities it engages in, or your role in the group, such as being a leader or coordinator rather than just an ordinary member. Don’t worry about making useful changes since you are just practicing, but if anything useful comes out of this you can always make these changes later (or suggest them if you’re not empowered to make them).
If you are able to make the changes, you might start by writing up the changes you have visualized into the form of a memo or proposal. Then you might share it with others in the organization, such as co-workers or employees, depending on your role in the organization. If others generally like your suggested changes, then you can pursue this more seriously, such as by writing up a more detailed proposal for making changes or submitting your proposal to a higher-up in the organization who can become an advocate for the changes you propose. The way to pursue making changes based on what you imagined will depend on the nature of your organization and your position and power in it. But to the extent you can, work on making the changes that might actually work to improve the way your organization operates now.
Technique 5: Making New Combinations
This technique is especially useful for creating new decorative schemes for your office or home, inventing new products, or reorganizing a group of people. You can also increase your ability to innovate generally by combining familiar objects or people to create unique arrangements and organizations. To begin, think of two or three familiar objects or people. You can have an overall goal in mind (such as planning a fun party, creating a new product, or devising a trip for friends), or just work on brainstorming new ideas to get your creative juices flowing and apply this approach to practical situations later.
Now, write down the names of the objects or people. Then, in your mind’s eye create a scene with these objects or people. If you have a specific purpose in mind, use that to set the scene. Otherwise, make your scene as wild and fantastic as you wish to activate your creative processes. You can make the objects or people larger or smaller than normal. For instance, say you have chosen Coke bottles, a sink, and some sponges, and want to let your creativity go free. As you look at the bottles you might imagine them as part of a futuristic city where the streets are paved with dishes and the houses are shaped like bottles. Or you might turn the sink and sponges into a harbor with large sponge boats. Let your imagination run completely free, and if you wish, draw a picture of your vision. This approach may seem crazy at first but the process will help you be more creative in applying your ideas to practical matters because your ideas will come more quickly and freely.
Alternatively, if you are trying to come up with a practical result, such as a new product, you might think of how the objects could be combined to do that. For instance, maybe the sponge could be placed around the middle of a bottle to create a floating bottle so people could take their drinks into the pool without the risk of losing them. Whatever your purpose, to use this exercise most effectively let your inner creativity go where it will at first and wait until later to critique your ideas.