October 11, 2019
How to train your brain to be more creative
Ever think that being creative is an ability you either have or you don’t? Think again. Our brains are naturally wired for creativity, to explore endless possibilities and question the world around us. However, just like any muscle in our body, it needs exercise to maintain its strength. By working your creative brain muscles, you can actually boost your inventive accomplishments – meaning you can effectively train your brain to be more creative.
Think about the perceptibility of children. Kids are a never-ending source of creativity and imagination. This is largely due to the fact that as children begin to explore and understand the world around them, they are constantly questioning everything they encounter in their surroundings. As we get older, our life experiences begin to shape the way we think about and tackle problems – we start to put barriers up in our mind around what we think is achievable, or even impossible.
Whilst it can be easier said than done to tap back into our childlike creativity, it shows that we begin our lives with the power to use our imagination to our creative benefit – we just lose this skill over time. Making a conscious effort to change your thinking processes can have a truly positive effect on your ability to come up with creative and innovative ideas.
We all have the ability to be creative – but it’s about how we use our brains to come up with new ideas that matters. Challenging yourself to think without the box (not just outside of it) and adjusting your environment can significantly encourage creative thinking. This could be as simple as stepping away from your desk and going for a walk. Think about where you’ve had some of your best ideas; they’ve probably struck you when you’ve taken time to step away from a task and allowed your mind to wander. It’s this ability to let our imagination take over that holds the secret to unlocking our creativity.
However, having a tool that can help us capture these ideas is vital in making sure these innovative sparks of our imagination don’t go to waste or are left forgotten – in the same way that you wake up from a vivid dream, and the details fade away from your memory within seconds. There’s lots of tech out there claiming to make us more productive. But having a tool which aids and supports our natural thinking processes will make all the difference in terms of the long-term growth of our brain’s creative abilities.
Read on to discover why Mind Mapping is the ideal tool to not only capture and expand on your ideas but help develop your creative thinking skills.
The power of visual learning
We recognise the power and simplicity of visuals in work all the time; we use infographics and data representations, such as pie charts, to share numbers and statistics. Yet when it comes to our own work, we stick with lists, spreadsheets and emails to organize and manage our tasks and ideas. Research by design consultancy Zabisco discovered that 40% of people respond better to visual information than plain text. This is due to the fact that images can convey an idea or a message in a quick and engaging way. Their visual format helps our brains to store information for longer and act as stimulators to trigger our creative imaginations. Our brains are capable of absorbing 36,000 visual images every hour, making them an extremely effective way of communicating and processing ideas.
Start working with your brain, not against it
Mind Maps use a distinct combination of images, colors and visual-spatial layout to enhance your imagination and creative thinking. Considering the impact that visual learning has on the way we process information, it makes sense to use Mind Maps as a way to train our brain’s creative muscles. This is because Mind Maps replicate the natural way our brains think. Think about what happens when you let your mind wander – you usually find that one idea sparks another, with every strand of thought interconnected with each other. Mind Maps do exactly the same thing – you’re just tracking them in a Map, rather than only in your head.
“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it’s the only one we have.” – Emile Chartier, French philosopher
Mind Maps allow you to explore your ideas and take them further, so there’s no limit to where your imagination can take you. By using Mind Maps in a tool such as Ayoa, you can use curved branches which support and stimulate your natural thinking processes. Proven to help boost memory and productivity levels, your creativity will know no bounds as you can add a variety of colors, images and even files and documents to your Mind Map branches. This enables you to turn it into a powerful resource hub for you to safely store all of your creative ideas, tasks and projects in one place.
To help get started in training your creative brain muscles, try and pair images with words wherever possible. Using images as part of your work will help keep your creative juices flowing whilst aiding your cortical skills. Once you start exercising your creative thinking in a Mind Map, the next step is to actually turn these ideas into action. Having innovative and awe-inspiring ideas is fantastic – but you don’t want to leave those gems of inspiration left to sit in your Mind Map just for show. When creating a Mind Map in Ayoa, you can turn each of your ideas directly into a task, which you can track and manage from start to finish. With the ability to add Due Dates, Reminders, Checklists, Notes and much more to each task, this is a seamless way to integrate your creative thinking skills into your every day working life and routine.
We all have the power to train our brains to unleash our inner creativity. Discover the power of Mind Mapping in Ayoa and transform the way you think and explore your innovative ideas.