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1. Restrict yourself
Famously, Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs & Ham after betting that
he couldn’t produce a story using less than 50 words.
The research shows Seuss was on to something. Most people
naturally take the path of “least resistance” and build off of older
or existing concepts when brainstorming, which can lead to less
creative ideas.
In order to put the brain in overdrive, you can mimic Dr. Seuss
and place restrictions on yourself while creating, which will
prevent you from falling back on past successes. If you usually
write 1000-word short stories, try to create a story in under 500
words. Only use a small handful of chords in your song or colors
in your design. The limiting nature of the task can bring out your
most creative side.
4. Stay positive
Although negative moods can sometimes spur
creativity, researchers have found that it is during strong positive
moods that our best creative work is done. In fact, the feeling of
love or even thinking about love was shown to best encourage
creative thinking.
5. Use counterfactual thinking
Counterfactual thinking, also known as asking, “What might have
been?” has been shown to increase creativity for short periods of
time. To experiment with this technique, take events that have
already happened and re-imagine different outcomes, alternating
between the subtractive mindset (taking elements out of the
event) and the additive mindset (adding elements into the event).