If you take a look at top skills needed for 2020 (Future of Jobs Report, World Economic Forum 2016) you will see Creativity has moved up in importance. In contrast, my kids who are both very creative get support at home for this skill but support diminishes as they move from year to year "advancing" through formal education. Additionally, teaching at different levels along the lifelong learning spectrum, I see there is a dire need to exercise Creativity fitness and I am currently working on developing a series of brain workouts with Impact Hub Zagreb which we hope to launch soon. In the meantime, I dedicate this post to the current generation of curious entrepreneurs in Founder Institute Croatia. I had the pleasure of doing a workshop on Vision and Ideas on January 25, 2017 and as a follow up some of them (shout out to Pavel) I am providing some free online resources for those of any age to embrace and exercise for more personal and professional creative expression:
#1----Try out your word association skills at www.wordassociation.org and I challenge you to keep the exchange until you reach 200 words.
#2----Go to www.drawastickman.com and walk step by step through doodling your own adventures.
#3----Think differently about what you want to create by checking out www.productioninspiration.com/. You simply select from a dropdown the function you want your product to have and the state you want to operate in and if this does not make sense to you even better. The results will be that more surprising and inspiring.
#4----Change your thinking requires you to vary the words in your vocabularly. You may visit a dictionary or thesaurus during your weekly activities (if not, make it a habit) but how about trying out a visual dictionary to not only expand your words but also your vision...http://visual.merriam-webster.com/
#5---Embrace the art of notetaking. I use mind mapping (Tony Buzan) and concept mapping (Joseph Novak) but I suggest you buy a set of colored pencils/markers/pens and invest in a great notebook (I like spiral bound) and start taking notes wherever and whenever. Take them while waiting for a friend at a coffee bar, while listening to colleagues at work, while watching your next youtube video. Date and sign all your notes. Experiment with different styles and you will retain and recall more information than ever in a style that becomes younique (unique to you). Resources just for notetaking; http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson322.shtml; https://msu.edu/~luckie/ctools/; http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/taking-notes; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAhRf3U50lM; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZgMpjjgCRA.
Enjoy! And if you have feedback to share or links to more cool tools and tips put them in the comments below.
