RAISING YOUR CREATIVITY QUOTIENT
A few good habits can improve the quality of your ideas
Gary Gonzales
January 1, 1993
A few good habits can improve the quality of your ideas.
Someone once asked William Barclay how he had become such a prolific writer. The key, he said, is learning to apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair.
Creativity is far less subjective and ethereal than some make it sound. As much a function of our habits as our "genius" or inspiration, creativity takes discipline.
Here are four ways to enhance your creativity.
Know your moods
Perhaps you've heard the old saying about diet: "Mornings are gold, lunch is bronze, and dinner is lead." Well, the same applies to personal energy levels.
A few months ago, a lay leader handed me a newspaper article outlining the body's daily rhythms. It underscored how, for most people, mornings provide peak energy and concentration. Quick recall and analytical reasoning are strongest in the a.m.
Conversely, the infamous "afternoon grogs," the inability to focus, hits from 1 to 3 p.m., with a short reprieve from 3 to 4 p.m., especially in recall.
By evening most people are downshifting, except for the late-night geniuses who hit their creative stride from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Knowing this, I safeguard morning hours for the challenges of praying, studying, writing, and creative thinking. I no longer feel guilty when my engines are revving low. I pace myself, husbanding my energy for creative times.
I've also learned how to improve my energy and lessen the negative rhythms.
Soon after moving to the Twin Cities from Southern California, I thought about joining a fitness club. But I wondered, With my mornings scheduled full with message preparation and my evenings already overflowing with meetings and programs, how can I realistically expect to add an exercise regimen?
But I had heard others describe ...
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