The Truth on "Creativity Boosters"
We tend to complicate the simple and subsequently seek sophisticated answers for approaching the everyday. No matter if it was at school or now at work, each one of us has had this “mental block”. Sure we knew it wouldn’t be permanent, but approaching deadlines forced us to dig deeper for help – to find creativity boosters.
Some truths about ‘creativity boosters’
I got 99 problems and most of them are related to this creative “block”. I’m sure a lot of procrastinators are reading this right now; rubbing chin in amusement, trying to convince themselves that “they’ll do it tomorrow” and they don’t need these strange exercises – “creativity boosters”. False. Everybody does. And yet everybody has their own way of finding motivation and inspiration in order to tap into their creative well while working on a project, or task.
That’s the first truth about all work involving originality and imagination – there’s no universally applicable rule. In fact real boosters are exceptions, rather than rules. The more people there are, the more the exceptions. And none of them is wrong. The simplest explanation is that everyone has different goals and motives to achieve them. Giving a general definition for “creativity booster” is like prescribing the same medicine for patients with completely different diagnosis.
It’s not our job to set limits on what a creativity booster could be. It’s the individual who knows their habits best, their incentives, and can adapt their daily routine in order to achieve all the goals set. Rather than trying to give this broad and unclear definition, we’ll offer you the foundations. The “construction work.”
Creativity boosters – the essentials of simplicity
First and most important is your goal and your approach on achieving it. It’d be ridiculous to put the same effort into writing an a essay and doing a profound academic research in molecular biology. And here I believe an Einstein’s quote would suit very well:
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Despite the approaching deadlines, take time to think over the measures and the necessary actions toward achieving the objective. It’s highly probable to lose a lot more time in reading useless fluff to prepare for an exam; or to skim endless articles on how to make a good first impression, prior to a face-to-face job interview. Here’s why you need some basic planning. Try to estimate the exact volume of work and skills you’ll need to use in order to achieve the goal. Once this is clear you’ll be amazed how little it takes to get things done.
Of course, there are some major projects that you might be working on, too. They require months of preparation and planning. And right in the middle of this planning you feel stuck again. Here is how your dedicated approach will help. You can fulfil a small, single task at once, but some more important project must be separated into multiple steps. The simpler the steps are, the lesser your anxiety will be. For example, if you’re undertaking a huge journalistic research, just set small daily tasks in your calendar.
Day 1 – Investigating possible sources of information;
Day 2 – Go to the Library, find old materials on the topic, have a coffee;
Day 3 – Schedule an interview, have an ice-cream, etc…
No matter how stubborn and capable you think you are, setting attainable and simple mini-goals will facilitate your task. You don’t have to over-stress yourself just to prove to god-only-knows-who that you can work well under pressure.
The other name of creativity
Creativity actually has a broader sense than most people think. It’s not limited to building strategic plans or composing a beautiful melody. We use these crucial skills on a daily basis. And sometimes we don’t even suspect which things appear to be real creativity boosters for us. Now you’ll definitely like this “creativity booster essential” – indulge yourself. That’s right, you heard well; give yourself some small awards for the tasks that you’ve already kicked off. It could be a glass of juice, 15 minutes surfing on Facebook, or a bar of chocolate; we’re joking – no one eats “a bar of chocolate”. Either you eat it all, or you don’t touch it!
The human brain has a reward center – it produces dopamine and other “happy” hormones. Each time you do well in something, or someone compliments you, these hormones deliver us enormous pleasure. Simply said – they really make us happy. It is the satisfaction of the job well done that must give you relief; not the fact that you met the deadline; neither that the work is just done despite you don’t like how you did it. Thinking about how pleased you were the last time when you did well at work, at school, at art or language classes, or even while fixing the backyard fence, it is a creativity booster itself. Progress and improvement are laid down in the minds of the critically-thinking individuals. But if you’re reading this, it means you’ve searched for some useful information on improving your creativity which automatically puts you in this category. It doesn’t mean that others, who don’t seek any ways for enhancing their skills don’t think; it simply means they have different approach on doing this.
On the other hand, there are various tools and applications that seem to enhance the productivity, thence the creativity, too – website blocking plugins, time schedulers, and other type of distraction removers. Unfortunately, increased productivity doesn’t mean enhanced creativity. It simply means you’re being more active and doing more work. This is inextricably related to general planning and the satisfaction of work we already mentioned. By defining your main goal and your approach to achieve them, you choose whether or not to reward yourself, to use this anti-distraction software, to make the most of your work or simply to meet the minimum criteria and the deadline.
Ultimately, I’ll emphasize on the anti-stress factor. No matter what you do, don’t think that leaving it for the last moment will help you. Learn to organize and prioritize. Of course the Earth won’t stop spinning if you fail to achieve all your goals; yet this objective must be important enough for you to make it to the end of this article!