Daydreaming is usually considered lazy, unproductive and childish. As adults, we ought to maximize our productivity and the use of our time. Even worse, the multi-tasker is the modern-day business hero - we are encouraged to multi-task, jumping back and forth between multiple tasks and stimuli at an alarming rate.

Stepping back from this insane drive and getting in touch with our dreams can help us to understand what gets us excited. Daydreaming is free, easy, and relaxing… and opens up a new creative realm where we can free our imagination from the daily rules and expectations.

Idiot’s guide to daydreaming:

• Find a quiet space.
• Eliminate all possible distractions. (People, phones, computers, deadlines, etc.)
• Make a commitment to yourself to refrain from thinking about work and what needs to get done.
• Take a moment to breathe deeply into your abdomen. Watch your breath for a minute.
• Watch your thoughts for minute to become even more present. If you have trouble with this, ask yourself, “what is the next thought that is entering my mind?” and observe what comes.
• Let go. Let your mind wander freely.

Any questions? Shoot me an e-mail. I am an expert.

You are a creature that likes to create. One trip to the mall, and the obsession in our society is crystal clear.

But you create much more than just objects. You create your belief systems and how you think of the world around you. Together with your neighbors, you create cultures and communities, which leads into creating concepts like governments, money, and other really abstract ideas. Then someone builds a university to hand down these abstract ideas and ways of thinking. You can even create a life lie.

So doesn’t all this creating make us more miserable? No. I believe that when we are creative, we are open to the possibilities of the universe, thus letting go of worries and attempts to protect ourselves. The worrying sets in once we have stopped creating… out of fear of what we will lose. You can’t lose anything when you’re being creative - that’s the magic of it. As Ben Zander states in his book, The Art of Possibility:

A universe of possibility creates a generative and giving state that produces new life, creates new ideas and contributions where the emotions of joy, grace, awe, wholeness, passion and compassion are abundant. We can use language to create categories of meaning that open up new worlds to explore.

• defer judgment while generating ideas
• generate as many ideas as possible
• record ideas as they occur
• elaborate or improve upon these ideas

In other words, splatter as many off-the-wall ideas as possible up onto a white board without thinking twice about them. To further amplify your success, you can apply the SCAMPER technique:

• Substitute
• Combine
• Adapt
• Magnify & modify
• Put to other uses
• Eliminate
• Rearrange & reverse

And when it’s all said and done, you can create a nice pretty bubble chart for everyone to see.

It almost sounds complicated.

Creativity is compromised when we are too close to the problem we are working on. It is easy to get stressed out, frustrated and pressured to the point there is no room for creativity. Judgment, criticism and evaluation close off the possibilities and creativity.

Sometimes it helps to step back, take a rest and get some fresh air. If you aren’t having fun, there isn’t much room for creativity.

So, in other words… it’s a great excuse to go parachuting.

What can you do to gain a fresh perspective? How about:

1. stand on your head
2. open your eyes
3. cook up something new

I always thought the neural networks in my brain were a bit messed up… nothing seems to connect properly. Apparently this is a good thing when it comes to creativity. One of the best ways to improve your creativity is to increase the random associations in your brain. Finally, the entangled mess in my head is worth something!

You too can be messed up like me with just ten steps for boosting your creativity.

I like the last step:

Exercise your brain. Brains, like bodies, need exercise to keep fit. If you don’t exercise your brain, it will get flabby and useless. Exercise your brain by reading a lot (see above), talking to clever people and disagreeing with people - arguing can be a terrific way to give your brain cells a workout. But note, arguing about politics or film directors is good for you; bickering over who should clean the dishes is not.

Although I guess that means I’m stuck doing the dishes.

Wikipedia says creativity is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.

I think that is deceptive, because I find my creativity doesn’t come from thinking. My most creative moments are when I am still, and have plenty of space. The creativity seems to arise from the stillness in between my thoughts, not from my thoughts.

I found another site with resources to expand your mind. It must be a good place, because my favorite blog, the presurfer is listed as one of the hottest mind-altering blogs on the planet.

Creativity is one of those popular catch words - I hear “creativity”, and I think, “oh, good, I want more of that.” But do I? In general, people are resistant to anything related to change, and creativity is all about uncovering something new. People tend to crave security, holding on to what they have and what they know.

It seems to me, that if we just do the same thing over and over again - we never experience anything new. So would would be the point of living?

On of the best books I have read on creativity, Cracking Creativity, goes in depth into five ways to foster creativity, by:

• making novel combinations
• connecting the unconnected
• looking at the other side
• looking in other worlds
• finding what you’re not looking for

Looking to be more creative? Here are some resources for creativity.