The ability to be creative is a skill that everyone possesses whether you believe it or not. Being creative is simply the ability to come up with ideas. Even if you don’t have ideas all the time, you do have them. Creativity can be coming up with a slight change to make to a pre-existing concept or it can mean coming up with an idea wholly from scratch. Many people assume that creative people are only those that pursue artistic. endeavors like painting, writing, sculpting, designing, but that’s not the case. The same type of creativity it takes to create a beautiful sculpture is the same type that it takes to build a computer. The artistic people just express their creativity in an often colorful way. Granted those people tend to have higher levels of creativity but it’s often because they actively nurtured that spark throughout the years. Any skill you discover needs to be nurtured and practiced in order for it to become stronger. If you’ve ever watched two children play, you will see creativity in motion. You rarely see one child stop and say, “I’m not very creative so you come up with the game.” Yes there will inevitably be one child that will control the direction of the game and how it’s played but in order for the other child to participate, creative thinking must take place.

creativity

Mind mapping is an effective way to enhance creativity. In order to fully flesh out a mind map as it relates to a particular concept, you will have to think creatively.

1. Organize your thoughts

Often we have ideas that pop in our heads but we may not act on them because they may just seem like random thoughts. Sometimes a fleeting thought can turn into the next great invention if you’re able to flesh it out properly. Mind maps make it possible for you to work through a simple concept and turn it into something that can be executed.

2. Broaden your ideas

It’s possible that your idea isn’t a great one or isn’t going to be possible to execute but it doesn’t mean that the idea is useless. You can extend the idea by considering different elements and breaking it down into smaller parts. A mind map can be very valuable in helping you extend ideas and make them feasible for execution.

3. Whole brain thinking

While most of us are considered either right brain oriented or left brain oriented, it’s beneficial to be able to utilize the attributes of both sides of the brain. Because mind maps include pictures, words, colors and shapes, it appeals to both sides of the brain and can stimulate them in tandem. This can go a long way towards expanding any creative notions you may have and turning them into tangible objects.

Creativity is something we can all benefit from whether you want to write the next great American novel or be the best Accountant at your firm. Creative thinking gives us the ability to consider options outside of the status quo and that’s definitely a skill worth fine tuning.