1. Go With Your Intuition

The great thing about getting older is that we get better at listening to our intuition. We’ve ‘been there, done that’. We have life experiences and we know how to tap into our gut feelings. There’s always room for insight and creativity based on our individual experiences and intuition. Nurture and value your intuition as it is very closely related to creativity, and more often than not, will provide you with that ‘Eureka’ moment of joy when solving a problem or making a decision.

2. Meditate:

Clearing your mind to make way for innovative ideas is important. The great thing about meditation is that it helps to alleviate stress. You don’t want to be trying to make a decision or solve a problem under duress or stress.

3. Ask Yourself Questions and Be Curious:

Keep flexible in your thinking, don’t always get caught in patterned thinking. Turn your thinking on its head and start asking new questions. Ask empowering questions. This way you’re being positive, not negative and setting yourself up for good answers and optimal solutions. Ask open ended questions to help you really think and be explorative.

To be critical in your thinking, you need to be curious! Try reversing your perspective to open up your mind to new ideas. Switching your mindset to think in opposites too produces different trains of thought that will lead to different and innovative solutions and perspectives.

Play with your ideas, no matter how silly they may seem at first. To be creative and come up with new ideas demands that we look in ways that others haven’t. It can mean searching for radical alternatives. Crazy ideas are often the foundation of innovation and new creative solutions.

Questions stimulate curiosity. They raise your awareness and will challenge any assumptions or preconceptions you may have. Remember this: “Millions had seen an apple fall. Newton was the only one who asked why”.