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Creative Thinking

 

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LEADER SHEETS- “On the go” guides for effective student leadership!

Everyone can be creative, even if you don’t always feel that way. Don’t accept “I’m just not creative” as an answer. People have to believe in themselves to think creatively in a successful way.

SECRETS TO CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING:

  • Be an optimist.
  • Do something new and different.
  • Take your time.
  • Allow daydreaming. (Ideas are born.)
  • Get all the information.
  • Have a sense of humor.
  • Brainstorm with yourself.
  • Ask a million questions.
  • Look at the problem another way.
  • Don’t get frustrated with unknowns.
  • Plan for results you wish to obtain.
  • Don’t give up!

WHO ARE YOU?

  1. Explorer: You like to find new ideas and resources and then build off of them.
  2. Artist: You transform ideas into something new.
  3. Judge: You evaluate ideas that come up and present new ways to do them.
  4. Warrior: You tend to implement the new ideas.

ROADBLOCKS FOR CREATIVITY:

  1. Thinking there is ONE right answer. There isn’t. There are LOTS of right answers.
  2. Thinking “that’s not logical.” Not everything is. Logic is a great tool, but isn’t always best used as a crutch.
  3. Following the “rules.” (Sometimes college policy restricts you, but you must work within those parameters. These “rules” are the ones we assume bind us.) Choose another path and break some “rules” to discover new things.
  4. Being afraid of mistakes. Errors are okay, it’s a sign you are working & thinking hard.

 

Information adapted from Occidental College-Office of Student Life

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