5 Interesting Ways to Improve Your Creative Thinking

How do you define creativity? Creativity itself can be defined using both abstract or concrete definitions, depending on how you are applying creativity to your unique problem. Let's first start with a simple exercise: Brainstorm 3 different definitions of creativity.

We came up with:

• Thinking of different ways to solve a problem that strays from the typical solutions

• Using domain knowledge to brainstorm unique insights and questions that others have not brainstormed

• When ideas come from imagination and abstract thoughts, rather than theory, logic, or observing other works

Let's say you are browsing Reddit, Facebook, or some other social media feed. An artist posts his or her work, and it's beautiful! All the commenters are discussing how it's such a unique, original idea and that the artist is very talented. Now, let's say you are a skeptic, so naturally, you ask - how much of this work is actually original? Is the work unique, or did they copy it from a similar work they saw online? Did this idea pop into their head in the shower, or could you find similar artwork all over art websites?

To be fair, we shouldn't judge others too harshly. As long as this artist didn't directly copy from another artist and call it their own work, we should recognize that they put a lot of effort into their work. This is simply a quick exercise in practicing and recognizing creativity - asking questions. We may never know the answers (i.e. we probably aren't asking them if they came up with the idea in the shower..), but asking questions is an important creative exercise.

In fact, creativity is a spectrum that goes hand-in-hand with critical thinking. Given a problem that we'll call XYZ:

• Creative thinking is solving XYZ by generating fresh ideas that extend beyond typical limitations.

• Critical thinking solves XYZ by first researching tried-and-tested empirical methods, logically comparing the methods, and applying the best solution to solve XYZ.

Creative and critical thinking vastly diverge in their methodologies, but in fact, they go together like peanut butter and honey. The best problem solvers know how to combine both ways of thinking to brainstorm the best solutions for a given problem, and this may involve creative new methods.

It's important to understand that many individuals prefer one way of thinking over the other. Some think that creative solutions will best solve a problem, while others think that critical thinking is the safest, most effective solution. There are no right or wrong answers here. Both ways of thinking can apply to any problem, and best of all, both can be improved. Let's look at a few ways you can unlock your creative potential.

1. How to Ask the Right Questions

We've all heard the phrase “there are no stupid questions”. Or more humorously, “There are no stupid questions, just stupid people”. Let's be clear about something. We've all heard and read questions that are.. less than quick-witted. Mainly looking at you, “Top 25 Hilariously Dumb Yahoo! Answers questions” articles all over the internet.

But that's completely irrelevant to the phrase. We say there are no stupid questions because asking questions implies you are on a quest for knowledge, and that you are admitting you lack some knowledge but are unshamefully willing to learn it. Learning often involves failure, and asking questions is your way of using knowledge to avoid failure in the future.

So remember, there are no stupid questions. There may be naïve or poorly worded questions, or especially on the internet, troll questions.. but asking questions is a quest for knowledge that should never receive negative feedback.

Now that we have that out in the open, the next step is knowing how to ask a question. Sometimes we can ask an endless amount of questions, like on Reddit or other internet forums, but life doesn't always work this way. If you want to ask your supervisor something, they will be much more receptive towards 1-2 good questions rather than stringing together 8 vague, poorly phrased questions. Knowing how to ask a good question provides one simply, powerful benefit: you'll get much better answers.

“Ask questions the other person will enjoy answering”

Dale Carnegie wrote this in his famous book How to Win Friends and Influence People. There are many ways to interpret this. A marketer might want to ask, “What can we change to decrease churn rate and keep customers?”. This question spawns many more questions, such as “Why are customers leaving?”. Let's go back to the subtitle of this section; how does this relate to questions that other people will enjoy answering? Depending on who they ask, this may go one of two ways:

1. They may send out a survey to customers, asking why they are leaving. The answers to this survey not only help the company, but may leave a positive impression on customers. In fact, some companies will use this survey as an opportunity to provide survey-answerers with special offers. Now the customer feels cared for, and a churn turns into revenue!

2. One marketer notices the churn rate, and brings up the issue with the entire marketing team. Now, there's a question begging to be researched. Assuming the marketing team is full of hard-working, problem-solving loving individuals (risky assumption, I know), each team member can look at the data and uniquely brainstorm what might cause a change in churn rate, and research the problem accordingly.

This is an example specific to marketing, and depending on your area of expertise, you can come up with endless examples. You can even come up with different marketing examples, the sky's the limit!

Here's another simple example that may of us can relate to: first dates. Person A asks a lot of questions about hobbies, interests, and asks individualized questions to show that they care enough to put some thought into their date's life. Person B only talks about themselves and their own hobbies, and the questions they ask are very generic and don't go with the conversation's flow. Who gets a second date, Person A or Person B?

Good questions are personalized, generate conversation, and actually fit into the context of the conversation. Let's say you are attending a presentation, and you wrote a few questions down. The presentation is good, but it differed from what you expected. Re-read your questions in the new context, are they still relevant to the presentation?

Know the Difference Between Open and Closed-ended questions

Many of us know the difference between open and closed-ended questions, but do you know when to use a closed ended question? How about an open-ended question? Have you ever thought about your choice of question? The same question with open vs closed wording produces drastically different results.

• Open: What do you think about CEO John Smith's speech?

• Closed: Do you think CEO John Smith is bad at speeches?

Here, the closed ended question has a negative connotation, but it's just as easy to word it neutrally. We chose to word it like that because closed-ended questions are often based on assumptions and predispositions by the asker. If worded neutrally, closed-ended questions are simply questions seeking a quick response without an explanation.

You're watching a politician give a speech, and they take questions. The asker may choose to word their question in a specific way if they are seeking a specific response or reaction, or if they want listeners to already have some sort of bias just from hearing the question. Look at the difference between the same question:

• Thank you for your hard work! Did you feel like the minister did a great job this year? (closed, positive bias)

• What are your thought's on the minister's announcement of X and Y? (open, neutral)

• Unemployment is up by 5% in just three months. Do you think this has to do with the minister's announcement of X and Y? (closed, negative bias. Unemployment may also be unrelated to the thing in question, so the question is giving listeners false assumptions)

• Since the minister's announcement of X and Y, unemployment is up 5%. How are you going to fix this? (open, negative bias. Again, possible false assumptions)

The above illustrates very similar questions, but they will probably all produce different answers. Can you think of why this is?

In our everyday lives, we may ask questions a certain way because of our own personal biases, and even because of our mood. Recognizing our own biases, as well as other people's biases (both intentional or unintentional) is a key step to asking better questions, and arriving at the best conclusions.

So, when should I ask an open-ended vs a closed ended question?

• Open: In general, ask this when you are seeking a longer, more elaborate answer. If you want a solid explanation on something, ask an open-ended question. The best answer will come from a neutrally worded question.

• Closed: Are you seeking a quick, one-word or one-sentence answer? For example, yes/no/maybe. If you want your answerer to quickly think of a simple response rather than think of an intricate answer, use a closed-ended question.

Just remember, both types of questions can have positive, neutral, or negative connotations, depending on how they are worded. Be wary of this. The best questions are worded neutrally and will allow the answerer a chance to defend themselves if needed. Recognizing good and bad questions will help you formulate your own questions, so pay attention to the questions you hear or read others asking!

2. Gain Knowledge and Experience in Your Desired Area

This one seems obvious, and it's actually quite simple. By having an excellent understanding of a topic, you can more naturally ask good, relevant questions. Having knowledge of an area also generates confidence in your creative ideas and unique questions.

Improving your knowledge of an area will naturally increase your creativity, but often, only in that area.

Let's say that in your friend group, you're the “creative one”. You're artistic, you have cool ideas, and others go to you for your unique input. So, you want to put your creative mind to use - by improving society! You join a local chapter of some successful non-profit, and immediately throw your awesome ideas at the board of directors. They reject all of your ideas but thank you for your efforts and ask you to resume your role as a low-level volunteer.

This hurts, but you should have seen it coming. Why? Having creative ideas only goes so far. The ideas must make sense in the specific area, and often, this comes from a mix of creative and critical thinking. You may be a solid thinker, but you also may lack knowledge and experience. We've likely all been here at some point in our lives, as this happens all the time. We all have cool ideas, but in order to accomplish things correctly, we need to combine our motivation and ideas with critical thinking.

In our non-profit example, most members of the board of directors were likely volunteers at one point, and have been volunteering and/or working in that area for years. If it's a mental health awareness NPO (non-profit organization), expect that all members of the board of directors have paid experience in the field, and most likely, an educational background in social work or a similar field. Yes, they want unique ideas to grow the NPO, but they also want evidence-based decisions. Instead of brainstorming cool ideas, you may be better off researching successes of other similar NPOs, and modelling your suggestions after them.

I did not mean this section to discourage anyone. In fact, it was meant to inspire! Aspiring to be a “natural creative thinker” is an awesome goal, but it's important to recognize that the most creative thinkers combine their imagination with their knowledge and experience of an area. We've already discussed how important good questions are, and good questions often come from knowledge and experience!

3. Improve Your Emotional Intelligence

Easier said than done, right?

Emotional Intelligence (sometimes viewed as analogous to IQ - emotional quotient or EQ) is your ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. This includes your own emotions, as well as using empathy to address the emotions of others.

Possessing high emotional intelligence influences your creativity in interesting ways. Having high emotional intelligence allows you to relate your emotions to your thinking. For example, you can ask and accurately answer - “How are my emotions linked to my creative ideas? Do my creative ideas differ depending on my mood?”

Possessing an accurate awareness of other's emotions may also help you draw creative connections and help you formulate good questions. Humans are social and emotional creatures. Whether or not we are aware of it, our emotions bleed into our real-life activities.

Emotions are also complicated, and as you reflect on what you read in this article (or anywhere, really), it's best to focus on the connection to our individual emotions rather than concrete ideas. If someone else had written this section, it would have been wildly different.

Many of us live our lives without really thinking about our emotions, or other's emotions. Not to say that many of us aren't empathetic, but rather, many of us live our lives on autopilot and forget about the fundamental human connection.

Okay, enough about emotions. How does this relate to creativity? Imagine you've just finished reading two fiction books. One was good, the other was bad. Both of the books had solid grammar and an interesting story, so why were they so different?

Well, one thing that sets books apart is their use of emotion and empathy. Readers want to relate to characters and their struggles. Readers also want their book to help them grow emotionally, whether or not they realize it. There is much research on the “theory of mind”, or the theory that reading fiction increases emotional intelligence. How can reading about fictional struggles help us grow emotionally? Simply, it's argued that talented authors have high emotional intelligence, and their fictional scenarios help us understand our own emotions.

In this scenario, many would say that the “good author” is more creative, since the worse book may appear dull. But it's not that simple. There's an intricate connection here between creativity and emotional intelligence.

We often run from our negative emotions, but what we should do is welcome them. Embracing that struggle is hard in the short term, but it helps us grow. By properly examining our emotions, both good and bad, we will be more aware of bias and the influence of struggle, both for ourselves and for other's emotions. Becoming more in tune with the power of emotion unlocks creative potential, and this unlocks a whole new worldview. This new worldview changes the questions you ask, and the creative ideas you can brainstorm.

Now, how does one increase emotional intelligence? Emotional intelligence is so heavily influenced by our individual experiences - our nature, and our nurture. What works for one person may not work as well for another person. Here are a few ideas that anyone can try:

1. Read more fiction. Fiction helps you better understand the thoughts, feelings, and desires of others. It also helps you understand your own emotions. If you're looking to read a ton of books without hurting your wallet, Project Gutenberg is the biggest name in free books. Most books are older works in the public domain, making them completely free to download and redistribute.

2. Reflect on the emotions of yourself and others after interactions. After an interaction with someone, no matter the context or whether it was positive or negative, reflect on the emotions of the conversation. What emotions influenced how you responded? What emotions do you think they were feeling? There's no right or wrong here. What matters is that you are taking the time to think about emotions.

3. Practice active listening. Namely, understand what is being said before responding. Reflect what they said in different wording to show you are listening. Pay attention to non-verbal cues. Most importantly, respond to what they actually said and give them the chance to say it, instead of simply waiting for your turn to speak. For some, active listening is harder than it sounds, and takes practice.

4. Tough conversation? Respond, instead of react. Take a few seconds to plan a proper response. If you react instead of respond, others will avoid tough conversations with you, when in reality, we all need to have tough conversations throughout our lives. It's best we handle them properly. Being patient and responding accordingly is excellent emotional intelligent practice. Remember, others are often just as stressed as you. Work as a team, not against each other. This applies to both personal and professional conversations.

4. Use The Socratic method on Everything

The Socratic method sounds like something reserved for the smartest of the smartest, but in reality, it's simply just a different way of teaching compared to a “traditional” classroom.

In a traditional classroom, the student asks a question, and the teacher provides the answer(s).

In a classroom using the Socratic method, the student asks a question, and the teacher responds with a question, not the direct answer. You answer their question, and they may ask a follow-up question. Then the questions go on and on and on...

The Socratic method is powerful because it forces you to engage with the topic and examine your answer. When responding to questions, you build upon your answer. The ultimate goal is for the student to come to the answer on their own, rather than the teacher simply state it. By answering questions related to their answer, the student may realize that their initial reasoning is faulty, or they may contradict themselves.

You typically hear about the Socratic method in Law School classes, and it's an effective tool for students to learn critical thinking.

Earlier in this article, we discussed creative vs critical thinking. While they are different tools, they must be used together to reach the best solutions.

If you have someone to practice the Socratic method with, try it out. It's kind of fun, and helps you realize your own biases. Remember - it's okay to be wrong. Admitting when you're wrong is key to every kind of growth.

You're probably asking - what does a critical thinking tool have to do with creativity? Simply, a key purpose of the Socratic method is to improve problem solving, detect faulty reasoning, and recognize biases or erroneous predispositions. Creative thinking is powerful, but it is prone to errors, just like any kind of thinking. Use the Socratic method on your own thought processes to poke holes in your thinking, then fix the hole.

You can use the Socratic method on other's ideas, or your own. Practice asking questions rather than simply reaching an answer, and you may find that you need to make modifications to your creative ideas.

5. Edward de Bono's Thinking Methods

Psychologist Edward de Bono was an advocate for teaching children how to think, rather than what to think. He believed students should learn techniques to think through problems rather than being told solutions to problems directly. There are many innovators with similar lines of thought, namely that education is far more effective if we ditch the traditional top-down approach and instead emphasize evidence-based teaching methods, such as more interactive classrooms, better feedback, teaching learning strategies rather than content. Evidence-based learning is backed by research (hence the name), and while educational reform has proven time and time again difficult to implement, Edward de Bono was one of many proponents of a revamp of education.

There are so many innovators we could discuss here (e.g. Salman Khan of Khan Academy comes to mind), by we're focusing on de Bono because of his research on ideation strategies. We'll discuss his two most famous ideas which increase critical and creative thinking ability.

Lateral Thinking

Simply put, lateral thinking is solving a problem using a creative approach, rather than a typical approach based on logic and reason (vertical thinking). These two ways of thinking aren't opposites, rather, they are two ways to solve a problem that often go hand in hand. However, many of us are taught vertical thinking, which isn't always the best approach. Lateral thinking is about creative approaches, but most times, it is also based on knowledge of what works and what doesn't. This is best illustrated with examples.

Question - How do we advertise our new index fund?

Vertical thinking - Pay for traditional advertisements

Lateral thinking - Let's place a bronze statue in New York's financial district to get people talking about our index fund (real, yet controversial method used by SSGA)

Why it works - It was a unique, original way of advertising. They knew it would get people talking, and in fact, it was picked up by many major News companies.

Question - How do we save money on office rental costs?

Vertical thinking - Reduce cubicle size so we can fit more salesman in our office, increasing revenue.

Lateral thinking - Keep cubicle size the same, but create new dedicated spaces for: quiet work rooms, focus spaces, treadmill desks, and fun social spaces.

Why it works - Instead of demoralizing employees, moralize the employees that are already there, which increases productivity and revenue.

Question - How do we increase employee morale?

Vertical thinking - A better coffee machine, lunch time activities, and casual fridays.

Lateral thinking - Improve corporate social responsibility, such as charitable initiatives. Shift to four day work weeks but keep the same salaries.

Why it works - These two things attract younger talent - social good, and work/life balance. Both are also evidence-based practices to improve employee morale, especially the latter. Four day work weeks have been shown to vastly increase productivity and morale.

Question - A group of 5 teenagers wander into a restaurant, but leave before sitting down. Why?

Vertical thinking - “Our restaurant is beautiful inside.. maybe they just wanted a different kind of food?”

Lateral thinking - The owner goes outside and asks the group why they are leaving. They say: “the prices weren't clearly visible, and it wasn't clear whether they offer gluten-free options.”"

Why it works - This example could go in many directions, and illustrates that a company can put a ton of effort into what they think the customer wants, but they might miss the mark. With out-of-control inflation and rising poverty rates, we are all focused on our spending. Many people don't mind going out to a nice restaurant every so often, but they still want to know what they are paying for. Even if there's a single sign displaying a few specials, this gives customers an idea of what to expect for prices. Some customers also have dietary restrictions, and having “Gluten-free options” clearly displayed somewhere shows that the restaurant cares about their customers' needs.

Lateral thinking is a way of ditching the logical conclusion in favor of the less-obvious conclusion. Again, it isn't necessarily better than vertical thinking. They go hand in hand. Lateral thinking is simply a different way to approach a problem. Traditional advertising works for many companies, but if the advertising department can brainstorm a unique way to advertise the product (ideally, one that costs less than traditional advertising such as TV ads and online ads), it may be considered lateral thinking.

How do I think laterally? Examples are great, but let's actually apply. Generally speaking, lateral thinking is a creative solution to a problem that doesn't follow traditional logic. Instead of a long How-to section, let's keep it short. Regular (vertical) thinking is a typical approach (e.g. let's market our product through regular advertising), so to think laterally, we need to first recognize and understand the typical approach. Remember, the typical approach isn't always bad. It's just not as unique as a lateral approach. Now that you know the typical approach, start asking unique questions. What would Samuel L. Jackson do? What would my grandmother do? What would a six-year-old do?

Another fun way to think laterally is a subtractive approach. Vertical problem solving is adding solutions. So, what happens when you remove a solution/method? How do we market our product if we stop paying for advertising? What features should we remove from our app to improve it? What if we released another social media platform, but only allowed users to post 280 characters at a time? These solutions involve removing or limiting features, which is often not the most logical solution. But, trying a subtractive approach may be the key to success, such as Twitter's explosive growth as an extremely simple but unique character limited platform.

As an exercise, try to apply lateral thinking to your own life. The sky's the limit, and there are no right or wrong answers here. Try to brainstorm creative ways to improve your work productivity, your apartment cleaning plan, your gym workout, or the way you respond to common questions your spouse/friends ask you. Instead of adding ideas, try removing existing ideas. No matter what you come up with, you are training your ability to creatively think.

“Six Thinking Hats” technique

Another awesome idea from de Bono, the Six Thinking Hats technique involves looking at a problem from six preset perspectives, in order to gain varied insights. It's often used in business settings to generate different perspectives of an idea or decision, in order to look at it from different angles. You achieve this by figuratively wearing six different hats, and noting the different perspectives of the same problem. Different members of a meeting may wear the hat, or they may collectively put on the hats one at a time and brainstorm together. Of course, you can do this all on your own to look at your own ideas with different perspectives.

You can “put on the hats” in any order, but depending on where you look, you'll find varying orders of hats with some suggesting that one order is more logical than another. We'll discuss them in random order, and you can decide for yourself which order to use them in.

Let's pretend we're in a business meeting with six people, each role-playing a different hat wearer. The meeting is to discuss a new product for the business.

Blue hat

This hat is a team leader, and facilitates the discussion. You discuss the agenda, the flow of the meeting, and other housekeeping tasks. It's a good idea to put this hat first in order to set a foundation.

• should we go one-by-one? Or should we interject ideas as we think of them?

• should we use Agile or Kanban for our product development? Both? Neither?

• which other teams should we talk to?

• who approves our ideas?

• how often should we meet?

Generally, this hat makes sure that the guidelines of the six thinking hat technique is applied, and asks a lot of housekeeping questions.

White hat

This is the factual hat that presents facts and information. For example, data and background information.

• what data do we have to support this product?

• what similar things have been tried?

• how are we collecting data?

• where can we consolidate our information?

This hat asks about what is already there, rather than what the next steps are. This is a fact-only hat.

Yellow hat

This is the optimistic hat. We discuss all problems with optimism, in order to reflect on what is working, and the advantages of the thing in question.

• what are the advantages of X?

• what problem is Y solving?

• why will customers like our product?

With the yellow hat, you focus on benefits and value of your product.

Black hat

Kind of like the opposite of the yellow hat. The black hat focuses on caution, preparing for the worst, how to handle problems, and any disadvantages of your solution.

• why didn't X work in the past?

• what are the risks?

• how will our costs increase over time, and how do we prepare for that?

• what disadvantages of this solution may customers notice?

• what may drive customers away?

This is the critical thinking portion, where you consider what might go wrong, and analyze what has went wrong in the past.

Red hat

There are varying definitions of the red hat, but from a business point-of-view, the red hat is the emotional response of customers and stakeholders when they use our product. Don't overthink it, since customers will judge your product within the first few minutes (possibly seconds) of using it. So, look at simple emotions - like and dislike.

• is our website friendly?

• is our website easy to use?

• will customers like what we discuss in our blog?

• our long-term plan is a tad controversial.. will the stakeholders be happy?

Ignore the reason behind the emotion, and only look at the emotion. The reason doesn't matter, at least not at this stage. For example, good websites help customers understand the product simply by looking at the website design. A construction site has yellow and orange colors. A beauty salon site is probably going to be pink and convey gentle and stylish emotions. An irish pub website will look very different from a tech startup's website.

There is much more that goes into web design, but the overall message is that examining and understanding the customer's and stakeholder's responses to decisions is key. You may think you're doing something awesome, but will others agree? How will they react?

Green hat

We've already discussed lateral thinking, so let's not repeat ourselves too much. This is the time for creative problem solving.

• what does everyone else do? how can we do something different to stand out?

• the logical method is XYZ. How do we achieve the same end result while avoiding XYZ?

• what's something unique that we haven't tried?

While this article focuses on creativity, it's important to remember that creativity is only one piece of a larger puzzle. The green hat is the “creative hat”, but it's only one sixth of a powerful problem-solving method. Learning such techniques helps you learn to solve problems, and approach them with fresh eyes. Try out the six thinking hats technique, and you may find that your overall ability to solve problems improves! After all, trying creative techniques is bound to give you fresh, creative ideas. Practicing these techniques may help you develop overall creativity and an ability to reach new conclusions.

How does the Six Thinking Hats work?

This technique facilitates forward movement towards a goal, while considering all important aspects along the way. Many decision-making processes may only focus on the good, without considering the drawbacks. Or they may only prepare for the drawbacks without spending enough time discussing what works well. The six thinking hats technique is a way to explore new ideas, and see things differently. It combines creative and critical thinking to create thorough, organized goals and considerations.

Final Thoughts

This article covered a lot of ideas, and it's important to emphasize that you don't need to employ these techniques to become more creative. Creativity is like a muscle, and involves a lot more that techniques - it involves mood, setting, stress levels, and so much more. In fact, following techniques to improve creativity may be regarded as inflexible, which isn't really creative. Just remember that there isn't often a “best” way to do something. Try one or two of the things from this list, then once you're comfortable thinking creatively about something, try to come up with your own creative workflow. Whether you're an artist, writer, or some other creative, discovering what drives your creativity is something that only you can discover on your own. Like anyone who is feeling lost, having a starting point may help jumpstart your inner creative, and we hope that at least one method in this article serves as a helpful starting point for you.