Creative Thinking: A Habit?

Whether you realize it or not you are a creative thinker, but have you made it a habit? 

If you doubt that you’re a creative thinker, here’s a way to prove it to yourself. Think of some of the best solutions you’ve found. It’s likely that they were simple, easily implemented and the opposite of what you expected. These are the hallmarks of creative thinking: simple, easy to implement and not what you expected.

Now that you realize that these are proof of your ability to think creatively, let’s explore how to make this way of thinking a habit. 

The first step is to realize that these solutions are counterintuitive: the opposite of what we’d naturally expect. This is essential because it requires us to employ our subconscious mind as well as our conscious mind. To understand why, let’s explore how each mind works.

Conscious mind

The conscious mind uses logic in searching for cause/effect relationships. In terms of physics, this is the equivalent of Einstein’s relativity theory. Observations of planet behaviors led to his theory of how gravity effects space and time. In a similar fashion, our observations lead us to conclusions about the cause of the effects we’re seeing. This is how the conscious mind approaches problem solving.

Subconscious mind

In physics’ terms, the subconscious mind is quantum in nature. It makes connections that the conscious mind could never make because the connections aren’t logical. In the world of quantum physics, a particle can be either mass or energy wave depending upon how it’s being observed. Our subconscious mind has the ability to see these possibilities: possibilities that defy logic.

The key to making creative thinking a habit is to train our brains to tap into the quantum nature of our subconscious mind consistently…without conscious effort.

Training the subconscious

Fortunately, training your subconscious mind is a simple process that takes little time. All you have to do is before embarking upon any endeavor, whether reading a book, beginning a task, or watching your favorite TV show, ask your subconscious mind to let you know how you can use what you’re experiencing to help you in some other aspect of your life.

You’ll be amazed at how often thoughts will come to you indicating how what you learned can help you in ways you’d never expected. It won’t take long before you realize that these ideas come to you even though you no longer consciously asked your subconscious to perform this task. It’s a that point that you realize that you’ve developed the habit of thinking creatively.

For you

Becoming a habitually creative thinker affords great benefits. You gain tremendous influence because people recognize that you have a knack for creating simple, easily-implemented, effective solutions to the problems they face.

They also seek your involvement in their initiatives for the same reason. They recognize your ability to make connections others aren’t making and, in doing so, enabling them to enjoy greater success.These benefits accrue to you for having invested a few seconds before each endeavor to ask your subconscious mind “What will I learn that will help me in some other aspect of my life?”

For our kids

As you begin any activity with kids, ask aloud “I wonder what we’ll learn from this experience that will help us in some other aspect of our lives?” 

At the end of the activity, together with the kids, explore what each of you has learned. New ideas are always fun and exciting to kids, which makes it easy for them to get in the habit of thinking creatively.

Let others know that you love them by sharing this blog post. They’ll appreciate that you care.

I love hearing your thoughts and experiences, please share your thoughts in a comment.

If you’d like to enjoy great confidence, check out our Confidence Self-Study programs (opens in a new link). 

If you’d like to enrich the lives of others by teaching them to be more confident, check out our Teaching Confidence Instructor Certification program (opens in a new link).