Creativity is a hot topic. We’re all looking for ways to be more creative or innovative in our work. The essence of creativity is seeing the potential between unrelated things, and coming up with a new thing. I believe curiosity is the key. Whether you need ideas for increasing sales, building a team, or building a house, curiosity can help you generate the ideas that result in standout solutions. The more ideas you generate, the more likely you’ll come up with some that are truly great. Fortunately, it’s our human nature to be curious – it’s as natural as breathing. Here are a few ways I utilize curiosity, and you can, too:
The people you meet – We tend to hang out with people who are a lot like us. That’s not a bad thing, but having a conversation with someone new will give you a different perspective. You might be surprised at how it relates in some way to your own work. Be curious about your team and your clients. Asking sincere questions helps foster cooperation and provides the insight that leads to great solutions.
The places you go – Shop, eat, or play in an unfamiliar spot and observe how they do things. If you spend your day sitting at a computer, go outside and snap a photo of anything that looks interesting. Flip through a magazine or visit a site on a topic you know nothing about. Look for parallels to your work, and see if you can make a connection.
The things you do – It’s tempting to try to keep all this interesting stuff in your head, but I can tell you from personal experience that most of it will get lost. Jot down notes on paper or use Evernote to file them away. When you’re on the hunt for ideas you’ll have your own reference library to draw from. Once you start following your curiosity and keeping notes, you can look back over them any time and ask yourself, “How could this relate to the problem I’m trying to solve right now?” You might be surprised to see a possible solution spring from an unrelated topic.
When a lack of ideas is what ails you, curiosity is the cure.