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Break Through Creative Blocks with this Unconventional Drawing Technique. Pin It Clarity of thought, creative breakthroughs and inner peace whilst having a vacation from your overactive mind?

Break Through Creative Blocks with this Unconventional Drawing Technique

Sound good? You need to sharpen your pencils. An all-too-familiar creative roadblock If you’ve ever had a tight deadline for a project or been trying to finish that latest article that seems to never end, you’ll appreciate the desperation that can start to creep into your thinking. You’ve been working for what seems like days, thinking and re-thinking, writing and rewriting, trying to unleash that one idea, that one genius brushstroke to finish the piece. Logically you know there must be a simple solution, but if the answer doesn’t come easy, avoidance tactics creep in and you ask yourself a couple of dangerous questions: Would checking my email help? It can become increasingly difficult to break the cycle of the same idea milling around in your head. Sketching: the Visual Thinking Power Tool.

As a kid, I spent hours drawing and sketching ideas that popped into my head.

Sketching: the Visual Thinking Power Tool

Article Continues Below I used drawing as a primary language for capturing thoughts, exploring ideas, and then sharing those ideas. Teachers and mentors encouraged me, helping to sustain sketching as a key skill throughout school and into my professional career. Good fortune has ignited my passion to become a sketch advocate, helping others rediscover sketching as a powerful problem-solving and communication tool.

I’m excited to share why sketching can be so beneficial, show samples of sketches, and provide helpful resources. But I can’t sketch—I’m not an artist! When I suggest sketching as a visual thinking tool, I often I hear “I’m not an artist” or “I can’t draw.” When you feel inadequate in your sketching, pause and reconsider your perspective. Fig 1. 8 Types Of Imagination. Imagination is critical to innovation and learning–but what exactly is it?

8 Types Of Imagination

Dr. Murray Hunter of the University of Malaysia Perlis discusses the 8 types of imagination we use on a daily basis, with explanations for each. Dr. Learn to be more creative. Effect Of Colors: Blue Boosts Creativity, While Red Enhances Attention To Detail. A new University of British Columbia study reconciles a debate that has long raged among marketers and psychologists: What colour most improves brain performance and receptivity to advertising, red or blue?

Effect Of Colors: Blue Boosts Creativity, While Red Enhances Attention To Detail

It turns out they both can, it just depends on the nature of the task or message. The study, which could have major implications for advertising and interior design, finds that red is the most effective at enhancing our attention to detail, while blue is best at boosting our ability to think creatively. "Previous research linked blue and red to enhanced cognitive performance, but disagreed on which provides the greatest boost," says Juliet Zhu of UBC's Sauder School of Business, author of the study which will appear in the Feb. 5 issue of Science.

"It really depends on the nature of the task. " Between 2007 and 2008, the researchers tracked more than 600 participants' performance on six cognitive tasks that required either detail-orientation or creativity. 'How Creativity Works': It's All In Your Imagination. iStockphoto.com What makes people creative?

'How Creativity Works': It's All In Your Imagination

What gives some of us the ability to create work that captivates the eyes, minds and hearts of others? 4 Ways To Amplify Your Creativity. The holidays are over, the weather is lousy, and we’re sober again.

4 Ways To Amplify Your Creativity

We made all kinds of New Year’s promises, but the big one that will change our careers, if not our lives, is the promise to ourselves to become more creative. In my new book, Creative Intelligence, I show that creativity is learned behavior that gets better with training--like sports. You can make creativity routine and a regular part of your life.

That’s true for big companies as well as small startups, corporate managers as well as entrepreneurs. Creativity is scalable. The huge national policy storm brewing over “dwindling innovation” and an “innovation shortfall” also gives creativity an even greater agency. So here are four specific ways to lead a more creative life and boost your creative capacities. 1. How To Be More Creative. Creativity is often associated with elementary students who are encouraged to draw or color as a means of self-expression.

How To Be More Creative

For college students, it’s often thought of as courses or degrees that require specific creative skills such as art or writing majors. Yet for many students, the idea of intentionally being creative is lost. Business students, for example, must have a “serious” mindset because they are working with theories, developing critical thinking skills, and examining real-world problems. But creativity is not just about using crayons or drawing; it’s about developing innovative ideas and solutions. 25 Useful Brainstorming Techniques. By Celes on Feb 9, 2009 | ShareThis Email This Post Caught with a problem you cannot solve?

25 Useful Brainstorming Techniques

Need new ideas and solutions? The process of brainstorming requires you to think out of the box that is keeping you in the problem. The idea for this post was triggered by a question from a reader, who asked me on my thoughts of the best brainstorming methods to achieve the best results. Here is a list of 25 brainstorming techniques you can use to get out of the situation you are in.

Time Travel. Final note: To get a quick mental boost in just 15 minutes, check out: Increase Your Mental Clarity in Just 15 Minutes Get the manifesto version of this article: [Manifesto] 25 Useful Brainstorming Techniques Image ©