“Creative Confidence” by Tom and David Kelley is one of my favorite books. It’s full of practical insights and summarizes years of creative experience. The easiest way to feel the “creative confidence” is to embed creative sparks into your daily life. Tom and David Kelley describe the following strategies:
- “Choose creativity” > this decision has to be taken, there is no alternative…
- “Think like a traveler” > it’s essential to expose yourself to new experiences
- “Engage relaxed attention” > often the time between waking up and getting up is a perfect one to achieve this state. What also helps is to go for a walk.
- “Empathize with your end user” > put yourself in her/his shoes
- “Do observations in the field” > be the fly on the wall, take pictures, run interviews
- “Ask questions, starting with ‘Why?'” > ask even up to five times “why?”
- “Reframe challenges” > get rid of initial assumptions and discover the real challenge
- “Build a creative support network” > a 15-minute brainwriting session with 3 colleagues generates more ideas than one day of thinking alone
What additional strategy is missing from the picture?
