The Importance Of Creative Thinking

• Creative thinking can make you millions!
• Creative thinking is usually discouraged in children.
• Most people are not very creative, but they can be!

In business if you can find a way to provide something faster, cheaper and better than your competition eventually you will become the leader, and others will be competing against you.

A good example of this is Amazon.com.

Before Amazon, most books were sold in a bookshop, and as a result there was a limited amount of space to store those books and a limited radius of potential customers.

However Amazon decided to stock their books in a giant warehouse and sell them over the Internet.  Because they were no longer limited by space or location, they could now offer a greater selection of books, at a lower cost and to more people.

This one simple idea gave Amazon the advantage and made them a success in what was already a competitive market. They are now the leaders in their field.

Find A Better Way To Do What’s Already Being Done

Like Amazon, your ability to generate new ideas and think of new ways to do something, will be an extremely important factor in determining the level of success you achieve.

Remember, all you have to be is a little bit better than someone else, and if you can think of ways to do this, you will succeed in virtually any endeavor you undertake.

So how do you think up great new ideas?

With creativity of course!

Creative Thinking

You have probably heard that the average person uses less than 10% of their brain at any one time, but new research suggests that it is actually closer to 2%, no more than 5% and around 0% when watching TV!

What this means is that even if you are using 5-10% of your brain, you are still only enjoying a tiny fraction of your true potential and are therefore capable of experiencing so much more.

Why Isn’t Creativity Use By Everyone?

Like most of our adult characteristics, the answer can be found in the programming we received during our childhood.

For example, in one study when children between the ages of 2-4 were tested for creativity, 95% of them were classed as having creative thinking skills.

However when these children were tested again at the ages of 4-7, only 4% of the same children were classed as having creative thinking skills!

What Happened To Their Creativity?

It was found that virtually all parents told their children to sit down, be quite and stop asking so many questions.

Eventually the child realised that in order to gain the love and attention of their parents, they must do what they were told. As a result their natural curiosity was discouraged and their creativity was ultimately reduced.

This is a classic example of how the programming we receive from an early age can effect us for the rest of our life.

Creativity & Adults

Most adults tend to resist change, fear new things, avoid asking too many questions and like to stick with the old established way, often saying things like “lets not rock the boat” or “that’s the way its always been done”.

However this mentality is hardly surprising if as children we were discouraged from being curious and encouraged to conform.

Later in life we then develop a personality that hinders our innate natural creativity, the 2 most common personality traits being:

1. Clinging to the “status quo” and doing things the way they have always been done.
2. A hardened way of thinking and a refusal to accept other possibilities.

But I am speaking in general terms here, and not all adults are like this. In fact I know many adults who I can speak with as if they were someone my age, because they have an open mind and therefore can see things from my point of view.

Typically these adults are not afraid to do or try things they would not normally do, which is a great indicator of a highly flexible and creative mind. 

Do You Have Creative Thinking Skills?

You can test you own creativity and flexibility of thought, by asking yourself these 4 questions.

1 – Do you admit when you are wrong, or do you always try to prove you are right?

2 – How often do you change your mind about something, after you have thought about it for awhile or found out some new information?

3 – Are you willing to admit you don’t know something? And then be willing to find out more?

4 – Do you have an attitude to “try anything once”? Or do you prefer to stick with things you are comfortable and familiar with?

How Much Creativity Do You Have?

The more easily you can admit you were wrong, change your mind, admit you don’t know something and try out new things, the more creative thinking skills you will have and the less time and energy you will spend defending and protecting the past.

This type of creativity mindset will allow you to think of new ways things can be done, which means you will be able to succeed where others have tried and failed.

Regaining Creative Thinking

Without a flexible mind it is highly unlikely that you will be able to think of new and exciting ways to do something, and as I said at the start of this article, your ability to be creative and do things differently will greatly determine the level of success you achieve.

Anyone Can Start Thinking Creatively

Since we were all born with creativity this means that anyone can become creative, and therefore we all have the potential to think up great new ideas. So in the meantime try to “flex” your mind by doing things you would not normally do.

What you choose to do is not important, but if you can force yourself to try something different every day or every week, you will loosen up your mind and open it to new ways of thinking and doing, exactly what is needed for creative thinking and a creative mind.