Psychologists say the one factor that differentiates people who are creative from those who aren't is belief-creative people believe they are creative. To be creative. you simply have to believe and act as if youare. Once you believe you are creative, you begin to find ideas and to imagine all kinds of probable and improbable solutions.
Here are a few techniques to help you get started looking for ideas you may already have in your mind.
Play a ddferent role. Suppose you want to improve your company's training program. Play the role of another person. Write, from the perspective of that roie, what changes that person would make. Record any interesting thoughts or new ideas.
Randomly pick something and compare it with your problem. Open a dictionary and randomly, without looking.pick a word. Force yourself to make a comparison between the problem and the word. Suppose you are having a problem with a manager and you randomly pick the word"pencil". You might list the characteristics of thepencil and determine how those characteristics are like your problem.
Imagine you have a magic wand (魔杖). Consider what changes or actions you will use the wand to create, especially those that wouldn't normally be possible. After letting your imagination run, ask yourself what specific features ofthose wishes particularly appeal to you. Think of some feasible changes of actions thatembody some of those specific features.
Think outrageously. The more incredible and divergent from conventional thinking an idea is, the greater the possibilities for news. A frozen-fish processor used this technique. A line of hls frozen fish tasted bland and boring. He tried everything to improve the taste, including keeping the fish alive in holding fanks until he put a predator(食肉动物) in the holding tank with fish. The fish kept moving to escape the predator and they retained their vitality and flavor.
Challenge assumptions. Reserve the assumptions you make about problems.List the assumptions and write the opposite. Henry Ford challenged the practice of having workers go to where building materials were kept inorder to build cars, by creating a system that brought the materials to workers instead. With this reversal, the assembly line was born.
Be an artist. Write a poem about your job. Poetry helps give a voice to your wildest imagination, which may lead to new ideas.
Try the above methods and test if your creativity might be somewhat improved.