TECHNICAL MIND TO CREATIVE

10 Tips for Empowering A Technical Mind to Creative Keyword Research           

                                        

                                              by ABHISHEK BATHIJA

Creativity can bolster results in keyword research as well as with search engine optimization and help with with blogging too. But the first thing to realize is that whether you are more analytical or more creative, that both thinking styles are important. However, the best results will never be achieved only by coming up with brand new innovations, unless there are the analytical logical thinkers who can take the ideas and find ways to make them a reality. In other words, you want to test all of your original SEO ideas.

Historically, that’s the way Walt Disney viewed it back in the early days. His creative right brained thinkers were all brought together in a room and  encourage to just go wild with their ideas. Eventually, he called them “Imagineers” and rightly so.

Disney believed that there was a valid place for both creative and the analytical thinkers and the only difference was that the Imagineers  were in one room being creative, coming up with cartoon movie plots, ideas for adventure stories, or adapting established stories over for the screen for maximum entertainment value while the more left brained, analytical, logical types were also engineers but of a different type.

They were the builders who’s job it was to make the Imagineer’s visions into a reality by creating and building a production and bringing it to reality. The same is true today at companies that try to get a mix of creative help along with a mix of balanced, logical thinkers. But for the sake of this article, I want to focus on the area of creativity and offer you a few tips that can help you become more creative.

                                      

10 Creativity Tips:

1. Stop  stressing or stop putting yourself  under pressure
Most experts agree that it is far easier to be creative when you are  doing something that is fun to do. Some of our best ideas for Search Engine Workshops were stimulated for example by going for a walk in one of the parks at Disney world. Even though you are having fun, you can still think about new ideas and the ideas will come easier to you while you are relaxed. Children often come up with new ideas when they are  playing a game. Adults are no different. If you are stressing to come  up with some new creative idea, stop stressing or stop putting yourself  under pressure. Instead, go out and do something you enjoy.

2. Take a Break from the Regular Routine
Some of the most creative business minds understand the importance of playing and some companies will equip their employee’s work place with things like a gym, a pool table or perhaps a ping pong table, so employees can take a break and relax once in a while.

3. Flesh out new creative ideas as drawings
You may not feel like you are much of an artist, but try giving yourself the opportunity to sketch your ideas on paper or even just doodling can bring about some creative aspects to life sometimes.

4. Is there Opportunity to Do Things Differently?
I know of one company that has employees feel free to bring their pet to work maybe one day a week. As strange as it sounds, this also can put people in a more relaxed state.

5. Remember that Google’s first server was built out of Lego toys.
It’s hard for some people to realize why the shell of the first computer server ever made at Google by founders, Larry Page and Sergey  Brin was actually built from toy Lego blocks.

6. Study Other Examples from Creative Masters
The original legendary animators at Disney, were encouraged to create whatever characters they were bringing to life, by studying the actual animal’s behavior. For example for Bambi, the artists had the opportunity to study a real dear’s movements. For some characters they used their creativity to soften certain features to make them look Disney cute. The first drawings of Jiminy Cricket were a little too realistic and creepy, animator in Ward Kimbal worked on Jiminy until he was the character we all recognize today.

                                                    

7. Try starting with the vision as you see it finished – and the work backwards.
Sometimes, you want to be the originator of something new, but it can seem so hard to know where to get started. If you have an image of what the finished creation might be, sometimes it’s possible to start by visualizing the finished result and then work backwards in incremental steps. This works for story writing and can help with formulating interesting plot twists.

8. Creativity is extremely helpful in various aspects of content creation and SEO research.
Creativity is extremely helpful when mixed with other types of technical skills such as programming or even doing effective keyword research for search engine optimization. Some of the most powerful keyword observations I’ve made are not in just taking the logical approach or going after the most obvious keywords that first pop into your mind.
Read:
“The benefits of taking an Illogical approach to Keyword Research”

9. Coming up with original ideas  is great – but don’t forget to test them too.
When you do have new ideas or come up with something that no one else is doing, be sure to take the all important step of testing your ideas. There are some people that continually come up with innovative ideas, but that’s where they stop. Test all your ideas to see how they work out.

10. Stop obsessing over the competition and instead, focus on building something new
Try not to fall into the trap of continually trying to examine and copy the competition. So many times you will experience much greater benefit, by developing something new. You become the trail blazer and establish new foothold through your own creativity and innovations. The obvious benefit here, is that it puts you ahead of the competition because you created it first.

                                     

                                        

Creative Thinking Skills

                         

How is it that some people always seem to be able to generate new ideas and think creatively, and others seem to struggle to do so?

Regardless of whether you view yourself as a creative type or not, you can learn some useful skills and techniques which will enable you to tap into that creative ‘right brain’ thinking and bring a new perspective to innovation, problem-solving and managing change.

Although at first glance, creative thinking techniques may sometimes look a bit ridiculous, there are good principles behind most of them. However sceptical you may be about their potential, it’s a good idea to approach them with an open mind. You may be surprised by the results.

This page gives information about a few of the many techniques available.

                         

---

Brainstorming

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.

---

Linus Pauling -
Double Nobel Laureate, chemist, biochemist and peace campaigner.

Brainstorming is the often-maligned practice of getting a group of people together and generating ideas.

It’s generally agreed that the rules of brainstorming, at least in the initial stages, include:

• Everyone having a say
• All ideas being equally valued
• No criticism of other people's ideas is allowed

There are at least a couple of different ways that brainstorming sessions can be run:

1. Everyone follows up an initial idea, feeding off it to generate new ones, until an end point is reached on that idea, at which point the group turns to a new idea and does the same.
2. Participants are encouraged to come up with more free-flow generation of unconnected ideas that can then be grouped and themed later.

It is also generally agreed that following an initial period of open brainstorming, there needs to be a period of idea evaluation where questions are asked and criticisms are made. This allows for initial ideas to be explored in more detail and accepted for further investigation or discarded.

Many people also use this opportunity to group ideas by theme to make exploration easier since, often, a lot of the ideas will be linked.

The principle behind brainstorming is Linus Pauling’s point that most ideas are not very good. So the best way to have a good idea is to generate lots of ideas, then discard the impractical and inappropriate ideas. The trouble is that there is no scientific formula for the number of ideas you need to generate to find a good one, or even a guarantee that you’ll be able to find a good one at all.

It is important to set aside plenty of time for brainstorming, and to keep exploring even when you think you’ve found a good idea: the first idea is very seldom the best.



                               

---

Engaging your Right Brain

Much research has been done over the years on the way in which the two sides of the brain work differently.

• The left side of the brain is supposedly focused on logic and order.
• The right side of the brain focused on the more 'messy', creative and innovative aspects.

Although this is a rather extreme view, there does seem to be evidence that doing physical activities that engage the creative areas of your brain can help you think differently.

One fairly simple way to do this is by drawing or creating something in three dimensions, perhaps using junk-modelling or balloons and post-it notes. This can be an individual or group activity, to aid either your own or everyone’s thinking processes.

Being able to draw is not a prerequisite to this approach. It’s the activity, not the precise form at the end, that’s important.

Examples that use drawing techniques to aid creative thinking

---

Mind mapping is a technique originally created by Tony Buzan, and adapted by many others since.

Mind mapping uses words connected with arrows or lines. It’s a good way of representing a large amount of interconnecting information in a fairly compact way, and many people also use it for planning presentations or taking notes in meetings.

Mind maps usually start with a single word in the centre, and connected ideas and concepts radiating out via branches.

---

Rich pictures are a rather more visual version of mind mapping. Again, you create a picture of a situation, but this time using words as sparingly as possible. They’re not banned altogether, but your thinking will be more creative if you focus on the pictures.

Rich pictures encourage to use colour and symbols: anything, really, that will help your picture to come alive for you, and show you the situation in a different way.

---

Envisaging the future is an interesting exercise to do with a group especially during times of change.

• Cover as much of a wall as possible with large pieces of paper, such as flip-chart pages.
• Ask the group to start at one edge, and draw the situation, as it currently is. No words are allowed, it all has to be pictures, although they can talk about what they’re drawing.
• Then ask them to move to the opposite edge, and draw the ideal future situation. Again, no words are to be written.
• Next, draw a large semi-circular ‘bridge’ between the current and future sides, and ask the group to draw what needs to happen to move from one side to the other.
  This part is clearly the crux, which should help the group see what needs to be done.

The idea behind this is that seeing the pictures makes it easier to 'bridge' the gap between the current situation and the desired future situation.

Another way of harnessing the creative side of the brain is to make something, perhaps out of balloons, or old cardboard boxes large and small, or even Lego. Many people also find doing jigsaw puzzles is a good way to get some creative thinking time.

The act of making something with your hands, and occupying your conscious mind with spatial problems, can often allow your subconscious to get to work on the big intractable problem.

Just as sleeping on a problem can give you a new perspective, so can doing something completely different.

---

Role-Play Situations

                                                        

Role-play situations are probably the 'Marmite' of management development courses: you either love them or you hate them. But love them or hate them, they can have some dramatic results.

‘Role-play’, does not just include the basic ‘pretend I’m your customer’-type role-plays, or even ‘walk around the room trying to channel an animal’-type exercises, which rightly or wrongly are often regarded as something of a waste of time.

Role-play situations also cover other, more radical and powerful ideas such as Richard Olivier’s Mythodrama, which explores leadership through the medium of Shakespeare’s plays. Olivier found using Henry V as a management textbook opens up some interesting ideas, and there is more about his ideas on our page on Leadership Styles.

The term ‘role-play’ also encompasses Business Constellations.

Business Constellations is a technique emerging from family therapy, which allows a group to explore the interrelationships within it by the use of actors or group members to represent particular individuals, not necessarily themselves.

• One person starts by placing all the others in the room to show the way that they see the problem.
• In turn, each person in the group then moves to where they see themselves fitting best. And of course, as each person moves, it affects the others in the group, who then want to move again.
• The end point is reached when everyone is comfortable with their location within the group, and this represents the ‘shape’ of the group and the dynamics within it.

This is a very powerful technique, which can cause emotions to run high, so should only be undertaken with a trained practitioner to facilitate.

Even those qualified to lead this kind of role-play exercise, and who have done so many times, can often be surprised by their outcomes. There is something about pretending to be someone else and channelling someone else’s emotions which is astonishingly freeing and can lead to hugely creative thinking.

---

A Take-Home Message

There are two key things to remember when you are engaged in creative thinking skills and techniques.

The first is don’t stop there. Even when you think you’ve reached a good point, carry on a bit further. Don’t be satisfied with the first solution you reach. Instead, as long as you have time, try exploring other ideas, or even push the one that you have a bit further. Take it right to the point of idiocy, and see where that gets you.

As Oscar Levant said, there is a fine line between genius and insanity. Try crossing it, giving yourself the option of crossing back to the point of genius again.

The second point is closely related and it is ‘go with the flow’.

Sometimes the most useful outcomes of any creative thinking exercise are the unexpected ones, so don’t squash ideas just because they don’t seem to fit straight away. Just let them run for a while and see what happens.

An open mind is the most important prerequisite for creative thinking.


                           
                                                                                    BY: Er. ABHISHEK BATHIJA

5 Habits of Highly Innovative People

  

Have you ever looked at super creative or innovative people, and felt they are special beings blessed with gifts? Have you felt that you are not as fortunate? I used to feel this way. I have since learned that creativity is more about psychology than intellect, and there are no secrets to being creative. Actually, there is no such thing as “being more creative”, you are already a creative being.
I’m sure we can all relate to moments when we felt stuck trying to tap into our own creativity. Did you know that this block is merely your mind at work? Your mind is creating all sorts of assumptions, self-imposed constraints and self-limiting inhibitions. I have found that we can remove these assumptions just by being in the moment; start doing, and stop thinking.
Here are seven habits found in highly innovative and creative people that I’ve organized and summarized from Scott Berkun‘s “the myths of innovation“.
1. Persistence – Innovation involves more than just great ideas. We need faith, hard work and a laser sharp focus for the end result to keep persisting for our vision in the face of roadblocks. We tend to see the end result of a creative idea in awe, but what we don’t see are the actions, hard work and persistence behind the scene to make the vision a reality.

“Invention is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration“,

–Thomas A. Edison
2. Remove Self-Limiting Inhibitions – Under the spell of inhibition, we feel limited and stuck. We need to free ourselves from these mind-created constraints by removing assumptions and restrictions. This is what we refer to when we say “think outside the box”. Encourage ourselves to be open to new ideas and solutions without setting limiting beliefs. Remember, innovation is more about psychology than intellect.
3. Take Risks, Make Mistakes – I believe that part of the reason why we create self-imposed inhibition is due to our fear of failure. Expect that some ideas will fail in the process of learning. Build prototypes often, test them out on people, gather feedback, and make incremental changes. Rather than treating the mistakes as failures, think of them as experiments. “Experiment is the expected failure to deliberately learn something.” (Scott Berkun). Instead of punishing yourself for the failures, accept them, then take your newfound knowledge and put it towards finding the best solution. Live up to your goal of producing the best result, but understand you might hit roadblocks along the way.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.“

–Thomas A. Edison
4. Escape – Our environment can and does effect how we feel. The more relaxed and calm we are internally, the more receptive we are to tap into our flowing creativity. This is why ideas sometimes come to us in the shower or while we’re alone. Each of us have different triggers to access our creative energy. I get into the ‘creative zone’ from sitting at my dining table, with a warm cup of chai, and my noise-canceling headphones. Many great thinkers go on long walks to help them solve problems. Experiment and find what works for you.
5. Writing Things Down – Many innovators and creative people keep a journal to jot down ideas and thoughts. Some keep a sketch book, scrap book, post-it notes, loose paper. They all have a method to capture their thoughts, to think on paper, to drop their inhibitions and start the creative process. Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous notebook was purchased by Bill Gates for $30.8 Million dollars.