Do you consider yourself a creative thinker?
If so, you will feel identified with these SEVEN qualities of creative thinkers :)
1.Curious
The first quality is that creative thinkers are intensely curious. They are always asking questions,like children do all the time.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“Why can’t we do it?”
“Even if it hasn’t been done before, can it be done now?”
2. Practice “Zero-Based Thinking”
Creative thinkers continually ask themselves, “If I were not now doing what I am doing, knowing what I now know, would I start?”And if the answer is no, they cut their losses, discontinue what they are doing and start doing something else. It is absolutely amazing how many people persist in something that they wouldn’t even get into if they had to do it over again. And they wonder why they are making so little progress.
3. Willingness to change
Creative thinkers recognize that in a world such as ours, the unwillingness or inability to change is fatal. The words of the truly flexible person, the person who is willing to change are simply, “I changed my mind.” According to researchers, fully 70% of the decisions you make turn out to be wrong in the long run. This means that you must be willing to change your mind and try something else most of the time. Mental flexibility is the most important quality that you will need for success in the 21st century.
4. Willingness to admit when they are wrong
Truly intelligent, highly creative people are open minded, fluid, flexible and willing to both change their mind and admit that they are wrong when their earlier decisions turn out to be incorrect.
5. I don't know
Highly creative people can say, “I don’t know.” They recognize that it is impossible for anyone to know anything about everything. So when someone asks them a particular question that they don’t know the answer to they admit it early and often. They simply say, “I don’t know.” And if necessary they go about finding the answer. Here’s an important point. No matter what problems you have, there is someone somewhere who has had the same problem and who has already solved the problem and is using the solution today. One of the smartest and most creative things you can do is to find someone else, somewhere, who is already implementing the solution successfully and then copy him or her. The smartest person is not necessarily the person who comes up with the idea. It may be just a lucky flash of insight. The smartest person is the one who copies the idea first. And it is often the person to recognize the value of a new idea that makes a fortune from the idea while the originator makes little or nothing.
6. Goal oriented
Creative people are intensely goal focused. They know exactly what they want. They have it written down very clearly. They visualize it on a regular basis. They imagine what their goal would look like if it were a reality today. And the more they visualize and imagine their goal as a reality, the more creative they become and the faster they move toward achieving it.
7. No ego
Highly creative thinkers have less ego involvement in being right. They are more concerned with what’s right rather than who’s right. They are willing to accept ideas from any source to achieve a goal, overcome an obstacle, or solve a problem.
Are you a creative thinker?
If you're an avid reader I want to tell you these summer holidays I'm reading The Illustrated man, by Ray Badbury. I strongly recommend it. It's a book of eighteen sci-fiction and fantasy stories. You will have the honor of reading these stories thanks to a tattooed man- The Illustrated man- who carries the stories everywhere he goes. And you will be amazed by the restless stories in his skin!
