Creative Thinking Routines

I generated 25+ campaign ideas for my client without using AI. Here’s my 6-step creative ideation process: ➡️ Step 1: Understand the End Goal Before anything else, you should understand the overarching marketing and business objectives. Ask yourself the following: Who do I want to reach? Why? What impact do I want to have? What would success look like? ➡️Step 2: Discovery & Research To think strategically down the line, use this step to gather info: 📊 Internal content audit → Examine what’s been done so far and look in depth at what has and hasn’t worked (and why) 🔍 Competitor analysis → Dive into your competitors campaigns, their effectiveness, and how people are reacting to them ➡️ Step 3: Empathise Get to the root of your target audience’s needs so that you can address their pain points. This means you can show how your product/ service solves a problem they’re facing. (Ex - A personal branding agency recognising that their ideal client struggles with lead gen. They use social proof to demonstrate how they’ve successfully created content that positions their current clients as industry leaders). ➡️ Step 4: Inspire Creativity Through Brainstorming Creative thinking is all about experimentation, imagination and curiosity. Let your mind run free here and allow yourself to spontaneously brainstorm. Quantity > quality is best at this stage. Some examples of brainstorming techniques: 💭 Create a mindmap, drawing branches from each idea 💭 Reframe and reword your target audience’s problem, looking at it from different angles 💭 Think outside the box i.e. ask ‘how would a child solve this problem?’ 💭 Test the waters of constraints and aim to brainstorm 10 rough ideas in 10 mins ➡️ Step 5: Relax & Unwind Giving yourself breathing space after so much thinking. It can stimulate subconscious ideas. ⛅️ Walking 💭 Meditating 🚿 Taking a shower 🎶 Listening to music It’s often in these moments that we connect unexpected dots and ‘lightbulb moments’ are triggered. ➡️Step 6: Unlock Your Creativity It’s solution time! Having completed steps 1-5, you’re now ready to generate innovative ideas to test. Evaluate and select the ideas you think will have the greatest impact. At this step, you want to whittle the best ideas down so it’s quality > quantity Quick idea generation checklist ✔️ 1. Understand what you want to achieve and why 2. Research internal content & your competition 3. Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal target audience 4. Get inspired through brainstorming techniques 5. Schedule downtime and give your mind a rest 6. Generate, evaluate and select ideas P.s. don’t just take my word for it that all of this planning & prep is worth it. Take Einstein’s advice: “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” What helps your creativity when it comes to ideation? 💡

Creativity isn’t magic. It’s a muscle. You train it. Idea by idea. Experiment by experiment. Don’t wait for inspiration. You should engineer it instead. Sitting around hoping for brilliance to strike.... No point to this. Build systems that make ideas inevitable. Because creativity isn’t about just being gifted. It’s about being relentless. Think of your mind as a sandbox game. Every experience you collect. Every book you read. Every conversation you have. They’re all resources. Raw materials to be combined into something original. The problem? Most people never connect them. They consume. But they don’t create. They follow the script. But they never rewrite it. Without creativity, you repeat the past. You recycle ideas. You blend in. Which is fine, nothing bad at it. But, if you want to disrupt.. You need a different script. And that’s where curiosity comes in. Curiosity fuels exploration. It makes you question the rules... Then bend them. 7 Ways to train your Creativity: 1. Rewrite the Playbook - Rules teach you structure. - But true creativity happens when you bend them. - Learn the frameworks. Break them with purpose. 2. Cross-Pollinate Ideas - Connect unrelated concepts. - The best creators see connections everywhere. - Combine what others never think to. 3. Pattern Interrupt - Routine is creativity’s worst enemy. - Change your environment. - Change your inputs. Change your mind. 4. Know your Peak Creative Hours - Are you sharp in the morning? - Energized at night? - Time your creative work when your brain is at its best. 5.  Feed your Mind with Intention - Your creativity is only as good as your inputs. - Unfollow noise. Seek high-quality knowledge. - Read what challenges your thinking 6. Play with Constraints - Deadlines. Word limits. - Tight frameworks. - Restrictions force innovation. 7. Move to unlock your Mind - Stuck? Don’t force it. - Step away. Walk. Change locations. - Physical movement rewires your brain for better ideas. This isn’t about waiting for inspiration. It’s about making creativity a habit. And with this habit... You reimagine what's possible. --- P.S. – This image is copyrighted. Please ask for permission before using it. Repost ♻️ if you find this useful. Hit the 🔔 if you enjoy my content.

Stop running brainstorming sessions like a three-ring circus. Roll the dice instead. Most brainstorming sessions ask our brains to do the impossible. Be creative AND critical. Generate ideas AND evaluate them. Think logically AND emotionally. All at the same time. And often, we're doing this in a group that has it's own relationship dynamics, politics, and neuro-styles at play. Your session turns from an energizing moment of synergy into a three-ring circus. (Except there's no cotton candy and the whole place smells like elephant 💩 .) Edward de Bono's 6 Thinking Hats is a great method for breaking out of our well worn cognitive patterns. But I use it differently than most. 🎲 The Dice Method for solo thinking: Roll a die. Match the number to a hat. Spend 15 focused minutes in that mode only. ⚪ White Hat (1): Facts and data only. Zero opinions. ❤️ Red Hat (2): Pure emotion. How does this feel? ⚫ Black Hat (3): Devil's advocate. What could fail? 💛 Yellow Hat (4): Optimist view. Best case scenarios. 💚 Green Hat (5): Wild creativity. No idea too crazy. 🔵 Blue Hat (6): Process manager. Are we on track? For group brainstorming: 1. Assign everyone a hat. (You can even bring real hats to the meeting.) 2. Make sure people are assigned a thinking hat that is different than their typical thinking pattern. 3. Give everyone 5 mins to think through a solution to a problem on their own, guided by their hat. 4. Have each person share one by one. This is metacognition in action. ❓ Which thinking hat is most natural for you, and which is hardest? 🔁 Repost if your team needs to think better, not just think more. 👉 Follow Erin Green for insights on creating courses that actually change behavior.

How might you cultivate a creative mindset in your students? Matthew Worwood and I recently spoke with Dorte Nielsen, founder of Creative Thinker and the Center for Creative Thinking in Copenhagen, Denmark, to explore this important question on the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast. Here are some key suggestions from her episode: 1. Ask open-ended questions. Encourage creative thinking with questions that don't have one right answer. 2. Deliberately teach creative thinking. Introduce techniques like divergent (generating ideas) and convergent thinking (selecting the best ideas). 3. Integrate creativity across subjects. Creativity isn't just for art class. In math, ask students to find multiple solutions to a problem, or in science, challenge them to invent experiments. 4. Make time for creative connections. What happens when you take an idea from one field and connect it to another? 5. Embrace mistakes as learning opportunities. Shift the focus from getting the "right" answer to exploring possibilities. This reduces anxiety and helps students build resilience. If you want to learn more about Dorte's tips, click here to listen to the episode-> https://lnkd.in/gJ-P4FpM And I would love to hear from you! What steps do you take to cultivate a creative mindset in your students? #creativity #education #teachers

🌍 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟑 𝐖𝐡𝐲𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐁 𝐏𝐘𝐏 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 🎭 🔍 Hi everyone! In today’s video, we dive into another Visible Thinking Routine—𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐲𝐬! This reflective strategy helps learners explore their unit from multiple perspectives, enhancing connections and broadening their understanding of themselves, their community, and the world. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟑 𝐖𝐡𝐲𝐬? The 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐲𝐬 prompt learners to reflect on: 1.𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞? ✨ Encourages personal connections to the theme, such as exploring one’s cultural roots and identity. 𝟐. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞? ✨ Fosters a sense of community, helping students recognize how culture shapes acceptance and strengthens bonds within their local circles. 𝟑. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝? ✨ Promotes global awareness by exploring cultural diversity, interconnectedness, and international perspectives. 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐎𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 Under the transdisciplinary theme "𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐎𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬," students delve into 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 using the 3 Whys. They can explore: 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 (e.g., their own roots and cultural background). 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 (e.g., how culture builds community and inclusion). 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 (e.g., appreciating cultural diversity and fostering global understanding). 🌟 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟑 𝐖𝐡𝐲𝐬 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞? This thinking routine is particularly powerful for units emphasizing 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞-𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, and 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. It empowers students to reflect deeply on the relevance of their learning across 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥, 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥, and 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬. 🔗 If you’d like to use the 𝟑 𝐖𝐡𝐲𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 in your classroom, check out the link in the description box! 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤-https://lnkd.in/gsJ-3QSm 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭’𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐘𝐏 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥! 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤: https://lnkd.in/gdYCWbyf #VisibleThinking #IBPYP #CultureAndIdentity #InquiryBasedLearning #GlobalAwareness #3WhysRoutine #TransdisciplinaryLearning #HowWeExpressOurselves #TeachingStrategies #InquiryClassroom