Take Six: In Defence of Creative Thinking

So what is creative thinking you might ask. Well, it's a way of looking differently at a problem and coming up with unorthodox solutions to it. It's not thinking outside the box, it's thinking like there is no box in the first place. It's making surprising connections between unrelated fields, it's experimenting with bold ideas, it's combining pre-existing knowledge to make something new. 

Why should you learn about creative thinking? Creative thinking is one of the most sought after skills in today's society. I've noticed the myriad of online courses on this subject, I've taken some of these courses, I've read some books on the subject and they all made it clear to me that in a society that's ever changing like the one we live in now creativity is a skill that can be learned and mastered, a skill that can change the world and can save some of us from dire situations. 

More info on creative thinking please. Sure thing. There are two so-called "stages" to creative thinking: divergent thinking and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is when you sit down, let your mind wander and you come up with a lot of ideas to solve an issue. Convergent thinking is when you take those ideas, analyze them and choose the best ones. There's also the concept of lateral thinking which was introduced by Edward de Bono, another expert on creativity. Again the same thing. Thinking in a non-linear way to come up with novel, unexpected solutions to problems. 

How can you become more creative? Easy. Some people took the time to come up with a thing called creativity techniques that when learned can help you foster a climate of creativity both at home and your workplace. They are easy to implement and I'm going to have articles on this blog dedicated to each of them. I'm thinking ten articles with ten different creativity techniques will be enough to start with. 

Recap. Creative thinking is thinking in such a way as to bring something new to the table. It's one great skill to have to set you apart from the competition in your personal or professional life. You can learn it and then bask in all the glory. And there are affordable ways to do so. 

Cheers.