November 28th 2007
Personal Development
1 comment
My creativity series is one of the most popular on Organize IT. In the previous three parts, I looked at tools, locations and attitudes that all helped to foster creativity. However, in this post I will take a different angle on the subject and look at issues that have the opposite effect. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. Do you have any other suggestions on things that stunt the creative thought process?
- Lack of sleep. It’s one of the most obvious problems that dampen creative thought, but also the one thing most likely to affect people on a daily basis in their lives. A tired brain is a slow brain that is unable to take in all those inspirational ideas and process them effectively.
- Tension and stress is another problem creative types can face, especially in the workplace where deadlines and other external pressures can really interfere in the creative process. Give yourself plenty of time for your work and be sure to take time outs if you need it.
- Bad tools. Back in part one of this series I discussed several tools that help foster creativity. However if you don’t have these tools in place, or you have poor performing ones that you spend more time fiddling with than actually using to encourage ideas, you will be working against a brick wall.
- Trying too hard. It’s very difficult to force yourself to be creative, because more often than not it’s that one spark that seemingly comes out of nowhere that gives you the ideas you need. You can take measures to encourage creativity but trying to force it will be detrimental.
- Systemizing the approach. There is no one guaranteed way to be creative and more often than not, different circumstances require different approaches to come up with ideas. While it is often good to be organized don’t restrict yourself by totally systemizing your approach.
