As your business grows it’s really easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day running of your company. Savvy entrepreneurs know that being creative is what keeps them ahead of the curve. It’s about staying current no matter how big or small the change is. However, you have to have the time to get those creative juices flowing. Make a regular date in your diary to get creative.
The key to getting those creative days right, you know the ones where you are firing on all cylinders, is to set aside two days every 2-3 months. Start the first day after the weekend. The reason for this is it’s really important to get out of your normal work mode. Hopefully, at the weekend you’ll give yourself some free time to relax. On your first creative day make time for exciting and different activities that you don’t normally do. For example go to an art gallery or museum, go somewhere nice for lunch, or cook a nice meal, do a cookery course for a day, take an exercise class you haven’t done before, go for a walk in a beautiful park, or go to your favourite coffee house and sit there for a few hours just looking though different magazines. The whole idea is to get your mind stimulated by different things. Then on the following day you will be ready to start thinking creatively and outside the box.
Your second day is the time to kick-start those creative juices. First thing is to do some exercise – if you are a gym buddy take a class or use the exercise machines and weights. If you and the gym are not on speaking terms then go for a 30 minute walk. The release of endorphins will set you up for the day.
Once you’re ready to really get started find a comfortable spot. Think about the challenge or problem in hand and start brainstorming, write down as many ideas as possible, no idea is a dumb idea. The key element in all this is to suspend judgement. As soon as you start to critique your ideas you stop generating them. Once you feel you have exhausted all possible options, set the list aside and move on to the next issue.
When all your challenges have gone through a brainstorming session you should then review each list. The reality is that for every challenge/problem you brainstorm you will probably only come up with one or two ideas worth pursuing.
Take one of the ideas from your list and write the solution in the centre of an A4 piece of paper and start to unpack the elements to how that solution is going to solve your business challenge and what you can do to make it happen. Once finished, put it aside and move on to the next problem your company is facing; keep doing this until you have completed all the issues you brainstormed.
The next step is to put all your workings into a draw or folder and keep it near your bedside. Your subconscious is working and over the next five days your thoughts are in the incubation stage. You may find you wake up one morning with a flurry of answers to one of your initial challenges, Add these thoughts immediately so that you don’t forget.
At the end of the five days, review your documentation; if you still agree with what you originally said start to work on putting your solution into action.
Here at the Blueprint Practice we would love to hear from you so if you have any ideas or thoughts about getting your creative juices flowing just let us know in the comments below.
