Name: Creative Superpowers
Rating: 4.5 (71 reviews)
Author: Laura Jordan Bambach

What’s in it for me? Pick up a hacker’s guide to unlocking creative potential.

We live in an age of digitalization and globalization; innovation is the new normal. If you want to keep pace with the breakneck speed of technological breakthroughs, you’d better be prepared to run.

That means there’s never been a higher premium on creativity. It’s the edge everyone’s looking for in a world defined by its endless desire for the newfangled and unique. It’s also the one thing humans can still do better than machines and robots.

But there’s a problem: getting in touch with your creative side can be tricky. How do you learn to think creatively?

Well, as the crack team behind this guide to hacking your creativity show, a good place to start is to clear up a common misconception. Creativity isn’t about originality – it’s about adding value.

Take a look at the history of great inventions and you’ll soon see that what their creators had in common was an ability to make surprising links between things that already existed and connect the dots in unexpected ways.

Learning to do that is all about cultivating an open-minded approach that embraces randomness, chance and serendipity. And that’s something everyone can learn!

In the following blinks, you’ll discover

why knowledge is passé, but being able to pick up new skills quickly definitely isn’t;
how a 1930s advertising agency invented the cheeseburger; and
why Steve Jobs’s desk was so messy – and why yours should be too.

The key to creativity isn’t stuffing your head with information but rather learning to collaborate with others.

School is all about learning facts. Know them by heart, the thinking seems to go, and you’ll be set for life.

But there’s a much better approach you can use: listening carefully to the people around you, taking note of the things that resonate most with you and trusting your creative instincts.

Creativity isn’t about amassing knowledge. Lots of information doesn’t make you more creative – in fact, it might end up making you less creative!

Why? Well, the more you know about something, the more limits there are to how you think about it.

Consider the taxi industry.

Taxi companies have long pondered how to renew their industry. But the most innovative shake-up came from outside the sector. It was Uber, a new company intent on opening up the taxi market to car owners and commuters, that really pushed the envelope.

That’s partly because Uber’s ideas were fresh. Its strategies weren’t limited by tried and tested ideas about how to run a taxi business, which freed them up to think creatively. The result? A brand new service.

The second path to creativity is to find someone to bounce your ideas off.

Think of it this way: whatever it is that you’re planning, two people will always have more ideas than one. And that means it’s important to think carefully about who you’d like to work with.

Say you need a video for your new website. If you know a brilliant video artist, start a collaboration! Once you’ve figured out who can help you achieve success, give them a call and start convincing them to join you.

There are exceptions, of course, but they’re generally rare. In most cases, you’ll find that you’re much more creative when you’re working together with others. This is called the sandbox model of creativity.

Think of children interacting in a sandbox.

Innovations come thick and fast. If one toddler starts burrowing into one side of a mound of sand, one of his playmates is likely to start digging from the other side. Voilà – suddenly there’s a tunnel!

That’s a great example of the way creativity works in a team.

Boost your creativity by ditching old ideas and getting enough rest and relaxation.

Everyone treasures their favorite possessions. And there are few things more precious than something you’ve created – after all, it’s your baby!

That’s a natural mind-set, but it’s often unhelpful. Your best work is frequently the result of letting go.

Stay creative by combining brutal honesty with the values of love and respect.

Creativity means lots of things. One thing it isn’t, however, is diplomatic, and it’s also not about putting money first. Let’s take a closer look at some of the core values of creativity.

A good place to start is by saying what you really think; being creative is about being brutally honest.

Creativity isn’t the fruit of self-conscious creative activity but rather serendipity.

History is full of examples of inspiration striking when people stop thinking about the problem that was nagging them. Paul McCartney, for example, hit upon the melody for his famous song “Yesterday” in a dream.

So what does that say about creativity?

Hack your way to creativity by making the most of boredom or making a mess in your workspace.

Accessing your creativity isn’t simple. In fact, it may often feel like a locked system that you have to hack into. Luckily, there are some tried-and-tested techniques you can start using today!

Here’s the first way to unlock your creative potential: get really bored.

Just taking a stroll can get your creative juices flowing.

There’s a simple and effective remedy for those moments when you’re feeling stuck or doubtful: switch your computer off and go for a walk.

After all, the streets have long been a fertile source of inspiration.

Picking up new skills quickly is much more important than acquiring knowledge.

The old saying goes, “the older, the wiser,” but that doesn’t quite stand up to scrutiny today. The world has changed so quickly that it’s tempting to say that the exact opposite is true – the younger, the wiser.

One of the ways in which society has changed is the declining importance of knowledge.