Physically go to a space you wouldn't usually visit and immerse your senses in it and just exist for a while. We're made to seek comfortable patterns to reduce cognitive overload, but adding more cognitive overload (e.g. reading books) may not help. Rather, our subconscious needs to shake itself out of the ruts we've developed, and one way to do that is to let our minds wander in an unfamiliar landscape.

Embrace the Unknown and Experiment A Willingness to Try: Put out fresh content. The content may not work and that's ok. Use this as data to continue to iterate and refine your creative process. We all have to start somewhere. Finding Inspiration: Read books, articles, or genres that you wouldn't normally explore. Different genres can expose you to unique styles and ideas. Collaborate: Work with others who have different experiences or perspectives from you. Seek mentors, coaches, or peers who can challenge you, support you, or inspire you. By doing this, you can learn from others, exchange ideas, and discover new possibilities.

Think about who you want to me when you grow up. Yes… right now. Then try and learn at least one thing about it via YouTube, Audible, Thinkific, Thingaverese, Reddit, GitHub, until one new thing is learned. Then, and here’s the toughest, yet important part: do something other than post about it. Build something, record something, write something. Do the thing. Ideas and intentions are everywhere. Be the doer. The one who executes. Then, collect each ‘do’ like Pokémon cards. Then show your deck to other trainers, people in that space, and connect to communities. Most communities, especially successful ones, are made up of collective members who give more than they take.

Inspiration can come from anywhere! Sometimes we get so focused on our own business that we forget there is a big wide world out there just full of opportunities to find new ideas. For me, I am an avid reader and get a lot of ideas and inspiration from books. I've even gleaned some marketing insights from a music book (“This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of Human Obsession” by Daniel Levitin). I also seek out people that I think will have a different perspective than I do on particular topics. Getting this additional perspective helps to expand my own thinking on whatever the subject is. Lastly, as a B2B marketer, I regularly check out what's happening in B2C as B2B marketing will likely evolve in a similar direction.

1. Find people who challenge you (the good way) 2. Find resources that can coach/inspire you (people, sources, sports, hobbies, etc. 3. Teach :) 4. Travel

Constraints is one of the best ways to fuel creativity. You can apply the traditional constraints like cost and time. Here are three questions I ask myself 1) how would I get this done in half the cost? 2) how can I get this to market in days? 3) how can 10x the impact of the outcome All of these activate out of the box thinking, it’s important to not limit your own thinking (by mentally discarding ideas) while creatively solving problems.

A escassez pode ser utilizada como gatilho da criatividade e da produtividade. Como? A sensação de perda iminente tem o poder de criar senso de urgência, gerando, como consequência, o entusiasmo necessário para produzir e entregar. Em um mundo repleto de distrações, principalmente tecnológicas, essa estratégia é uma boa forma de combater desafios como, por exemplo, a procrastinação. Na minha experiência, nada é mais efetivo do que parar de pensar demais e fazer. Simplesmente fazer. Quando a natureza planejadora tenta dominar é a hora de remar contra a maré e executar. Just do it!

Yes! Personally I am tired of people saying they think "outside of the box" because the reality of life and business, there's ALWAYS a box we have to run in - and in the creative space, that box is time, budget, and resources. It's not an easy discipline to master, but you'll build your personal brand as the creative who can get it done for $X, faster, and better than that other group which always wants $100K+ and 8 weeks and a team of...

Se mettre au défi avec des contraintes est une excellente façon de booster sa créativité et de repousser ses propres limites. En imposant des règles ou des limites à ses projets, on se force à penser différemment et à trouver des solutions innovantes. Le fait de restreindre son temps, son budget, ses ressources ou même les outils qu’on utilise peut pousser à explorer des avenues qu’on n'aurais peut-être pas envisagées autrement. De plus, en se donnant des thèmes ou des formats spécifiques à suivre, on se donne l'occasion de sortir de sa zone de confort et d'explorer de nouvelles approches créatives.

I recently read a piece of research that founding doodling on a piece of paper with a pen for a few minutes seemed to trigger creative pathways in the brain. No harm in trying it 😊 In my personal experience, the most effective strategy that has worked almost always is asking a few questions: 1. Do I really have something to offer through my writing? 2. What is the core issue that I can state in one line - not exceeding 15-20 words? 3. What are the feelings / emotions / reactions the mention of the core idea invokes inside? More often than not, it gives enough context and material to find flow. What works for you?

There is simply no better way to jump start your creativity than to collaborate. When you collaborate with others, you gain a different perspective. You get exposure to different ideas, experiences, and points of view. I’ve collaborated with people on podcasts, blogs and articles. I genuinely enjoy meeting and working with different people and looking at things from other points of view.

Co-creating with a group of people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives enables creativity. That said it is important to establish some group expectations on the "front end" & to not have a vested interest in the outcome. It is also important to believe that working in a group will result in a better outcome than working on your own; and believing the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Barbara Gray's metaphor of a kaleidoscope is helpful to share when working with diverse groups. She likens collaboration to a kaleidoscope where the colored pieces of glass represent the different people "around the table". When you turn a kaleidoscope each turn creates a new image similar to working in a group that is co-creating something new.

📣 “Find a group of people who #challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life." – Amy Poehler 📣 Exceptional #leaders understand that this is the key 🔑 to crushing your comfort zone! There is incredible power in the collective creative! Each individual brings a unique gift 🎁 that inspires and transforms others to pursue the the impossible! #LeadLoudly #bold #courageous #leadership

In my experience I haven't learned that since the breakout of the global pandemic collaboration as we know it changed. Traditionally people tend to collaborate with people they know and are comfortable with but during the breakout of the pandemic I found there was much more openness to collaborate across geographies as the world became small there was a sudden rise in collaboration. I recently shared with a group of small business owners that they shouldn't only collaborate amongst themselves as small business owners. Their monthly meet-ups should include industry players, women professionals working in large corporations, other sectors because the risk of collaborating as small business owners only limits their horizon & impact.

Whether they serve as your muse (as Yoko Ono was to John Lennon), an inspiring example (as Thoreau was to Mahatma Gandhi, or Mahatma Gandhi was to Martin Luther King), a like-minded partner (as Charlie Munger was to Warren Buffett), a teacher (as Salieri was to Mozart), a mentor (as Woody Guthrie was to Bob Dylan, or Dr. Benjamin Mays was to Martin Luther King), a trusted advisor (as Ray Dalio was to Diddy), or a creative influence (as David Ogilvy was to scores of copywriters all over the world, including yours truly), everyone who journeys from youth to maturity, from novice to expert, from any A to any B (whatever A is, whatever B is), needs a Yoda. Currently stuck on something? Seek out a Yoda.

Get out of your office to find inspiration. We put ourselves in a creative rut by forcing ideas in the wrong environment. The best ideas come when we least expect and outside the office. Take a walk, plant some flowers, run an errand or take nap to unleash your creativity when and where you least expect.

One thing I found helpful is to step away from the house and find a place in nature— connecting with the sun, grass, trees— allows our energy to flow which in turn spurs our creative juices— artificial light, four walls and a screen hampers it— at least when overused— you will see many creatives spending time outside seeking inspiration and simply to breathe fresh air— in addition, it helps quiet the inner critic.

As a content manager and copywriter, I use Kanban for project management and/or idea generation. It is something more common for software developers, but I find it the best tool available to generate new perspectives and immediately identify potential errors or spots that could be improved.

Be creative, Ask inputs from everyone in the connect and try to brainstorm the inputs so that the audience feel valued and appreciated for their contribution.

You know the expression- you can’t get to where you’re going if you don’t look back at where you’ve been. It’s always a good idea to review past work- you will clearly see your progress, where you’ve improved and fine-tuned your skills, and where improvement is still necessary. Asking for feedback from someone that you trust and whose opinion you value is also a great idea.

Always discuss the impact or outcome or result of any action you might have taken basis the inputs received from the teams in your previous connections. It gives the confidence in the team that their inputs are considered and acted upon.

Reflecting on your work and the process it took to get there is best done when it's all still fresh in your mind. We tend to see things more optimistically and less realistically as more time passes. So I alway suggest full-team after-action reviews within a few weeks after project completion. Give everybody an opportunity to talk about what went well and what can be improved upon. And take notes! Over time, you'll usually reveal commonalities even across very different projects. It's a great way to set goals for the team that are more overarching rather than just specific to one particular effort. The result is a team that's continuing to grow and learn together, no matter what project they're tackling.

Very true, continual process improvement to achieve your goals is a fact of life. A repeatable process if it works perfectly well to achieve the goal you have defined then there is no motivation so either change the goal so that the process can be fine tuned or change the process as we find change for improvement. It is hard to look into yourself and acknowledge your weakness and fears whereas as we feel happy to acknowledge our strengths

Did you know that 81% of employees in Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For say that they work in a "fun" environment? Creativity is supposed to be fun. One way I jumpstart the fun in my organization is to host Collaborative Creative Challenges. I break people into small teams of peers they usually don't work with, then have the teams compete against each other in a fun challenge. Like Happy Hour Haiku, where each team had to come up with a Haiku based on a chosen object. Or Animal House, where each team had to use generative AI to create a new species of animal. Or Food Fight, where each team created a new sandwich for our cafe. These are quick sessions that remind us how the power of fun can unleash the greatest creative thinking.

Having fun and enjoying as you break out of your comfort zone is the ultimate reward one can give your SELF. In times of adversity from others it will be difficult but that is when we need to have a shift in our mindset to a growth mindset from a fixed one. Be ready to accept failures in the same manner as success and learn from it to make the journey enjoyable

Do something different. Drive through a different route, talk to people from different country, who are younger / older, are in different profession. Try to participate in different activities which is new, learn new language, make friends who make not have any similarity with you. See the world from their eyes. Have fun while moving out of creative comfort zone and enjoy the journey !!

Heard of differently coloured creative hats? Please Google it for details. Create some paper hats and force yourself to think on the subject in hand in the manner each color requires you to think. You will be amazed on the outcome, and the new connections your brain will form 😊

I write Even though, and in spite of the fact some of what I write may pass like a ship in the night. Some of my pieces, don't have wings and don't take flight. In one way or another, I seem to have missed the mark and not got them right. They did not have the breadth, or they did not have the height. But still I write. On Linkedin, on Quora, on my Minoo Jha Life Strategies blog. Even if what I write does not excite and is only for my own delight. 😊

It is an order of magnitude easier and better to change your comfort zone vs trying to break out of it. The question really should be: how go you change your comfort zone? Shrinks can help you figure that out.

Consider taking a complete break from your normal routine. Get out of dodge, take a trip somewhere you’ve never been before. Step out of the familiar into the unknown. Go on a retreat! Take a chance.

You should use creativity not just to solve problems, but to reframe situations. On one assignment, I designed new statements, and developed a new Excel model to calculate commissions. However, when I passed control, the commissions analyst and the company controller, both new, decided to abandon my model and create their own. It was a blow to my self-esteem. We want our brain children to be admired. I started meditating, and suddenly had a vision of self-esteem being a stream of water, and the new analyst, new controller, and myself, as 3 deer drinking from the stream. I had had my turn at the stream. Now it was theirs. From the moment this image entered my mind – my mindset was different. How can you use creativity to reframe a situation?