Do you sometimes doubt your own creative ability? On those days when your ideas have all dried up, and your mind is a complete blank, doubting your ability to create is very real.

But is creativity something that comes and goes, as it likes? Do you have no control over it?

This is what I believe.

Creativity is a survival tool. Cavemen have used it to survive against carnivorous animals much, much bigger than them. They used creativity to make weapons and to think of ways to defeat these gigantic animals for food and other uses.

As those cavemen have proven, creativity is not something special belonging only to those who are in the creative fields.

But for people like us, who use creativity everyday for work, we focus our brain to function more purposely in certain areas. We train our brain muscles to be stronger, faster and better everyday. And just like muscles in other parts of our body, our brain muscles need nourishment to develop better.

While food is one source, the other is information. We need to feed our mind with information everyday. And not just information related to advertising. To have a better performing brain for our industry, we need information of all sorts.

Absorbing information that you normally do not choose to read or listen or watch will enrich and refresh your information library.

If you hate to watch horror films, watch it for a change. If you hate reading women’s magazines, read it for a change. If you hate loud music, listen to it for a change.

By adding fresh information, you are infecting your information library. This infection will create new linkages and thoughts. These new linkages and thoughts will open up your mind for different ways to solve problems.

The above source is external. You look outside of yourself for information.

The other source is internal. Look inside yourself for information.

The life you have lived is full of private and special information that only you know. You have everything from childhood memories, scary experiences to maybe even erotic dreams you can make use of.

That is an amazing information library you can use to perhaps solve specific problems, and tell all kinds of unique stories. Why waste such a rich resource of information? All you have to do is look inside yourself.

The other resource is your own personality. Your personality gives you your unique perspective of the world around you.

There are writers who write using their unique perspective on whatever subject matter. A writer who has a funny personality will see things in a funnier way than someone who is serious. A writer who is philosophical will write in a way that shows off his personality even without trying hard to.

The other thing is to increase our sensitivity to our environment. Most times we are blind to the most obvious answers that are right in front of us. We see everything as familiar so our mind does not receive new information. We have to learn to see even the most familiar through fresh eyes. When we train ourselves to become more sensitive to the sights and sounds around us, we will pick up signals and insights that will reveal more truths that we can use in our work.

I have to stress that everything that I write here in The View from My Window is not from an expert’s point-of-view, as I do not consider myself an expert.

The views expressed in this article are personal opinions and do not represent the views of the respective agency.
Sources: Brands Vietnam