Creativity is an important skill. It can allow you to think of new and different ways to solve problems or accomplish tasks—and it’s something employers love to see evidence of on your resume and in your work life. This soft skill is something that comes naturally to some, while others need to work at it. But in the end, creativity is a learned behavior—a way to let your mind wander freely to land on innovative ideas. However, certain actions can stunt your creativity and make it very difficult to think outside the box.
Avoid These Five Habits that Inhibit Creative Abilities
The more you allow your mind to relax and dream, the more creative you can be. So be sure to steer clear of the following five behaviors, which result in exactly the opposite:
Self-Criticism
Who’s to say whether an idea will work or not until it’s fully flushed out? If you’re a writer, the words in your first draft will likely be edited, trimmed and refined before your final edition. But it’s the free flow of those first words that allow you to come up with something great. And creativity works the same way for anything. Allow yourself to brainstorm without mental checks and balances—you can reign yourself in once you’ve exhausted your list of all possible ideas.
The Belief that Others are Better
Stop comparing yourself to others—this is a bad practice that will always leave you coming up short and feeling bad. It’s a behavior that’s fostered by Facebook and other social media sites, where the grass always seems to look greener in someone else’s pasture. But believe in yourself and your abilities—you have strong ideas that could work just as well as anyone’s! Allow yourself to think and dream as if nothing can stop you.
Ideas need a chance to flow from your mind unchecked. And when you’re thinking about them, don’t automatically limit yourself trying to assess how they can or can’t work. First, allows yourself to come up with ideas. Rationalizing can be applied after the ideation process.
Lack of Confidence
Great thinkers trust in their abilities to solve problems and don’t worry that others may find their ideas implausible. Be inspired by the minds of creative geniuses like Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Jane Goodall and Leonardo da Vinci—and feel confident that your creativity will carry you to solutions previously undiscovered.
Fear of Failure
Being so afraid to fail that you don’t even try can be a crippling to creativity. You can avoid this by being bold and building potential failure into your plan. You’ll need to take chances, but if you’re prepared for certain outcomes, you’ll be able to relax and keep brainstorming.
Let Your Mind Wander
Sometimes, great ideas pop into your head when you least expect it. This is called the incubation process—after you’ve been working on a problem, your mind needs time to rest and refocus. So taking time off from creative problem solving can be just as beneficial. During brainstorming sessions, pause to do something you enjoy, such as reading, hiking, listening to music or relaxing with friends. You never know what you brain may come up with during your “off time.”
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