You don’t have to be Leonardo DaVinci or Albert Einstein to think like a genius. There are plenty of ways to hone your creativity and sharpen your critical thinking skills. Try letting your mind wander without judging your thoughts. Question conventional wisdom, and aim for deeper levels of knowledge than mere memorization. Work on developing good habits, such as writing down your ideas and balancing downtime and being productive. Seize opportunities to learn, and don’t forget to provide your mind with the fuel and rest it needs.
Adopting Creative Thinking Strategies
Let your mind wander without judging your ideas. Take some time every day to let your mind run free. Brainstorm, daydream, or contemplate life. Don’t assess or evaluate your thoughts, even if they seem silly – let your imagination run wild.
- For example, suppose you start thinking about a cloud city that hovers hundreds of feet in the air. Don’t just judge it as impossible and stop thinking about it. Imagine details like how the people there live, how the city manages to stay in the sky, and how people get to the city from the ground. You might come up with a great idea for a novel or even a new technology!
- You can also put on some music while you let your mind wander. As long as it’s not too loud, ambient noise can help encourage creativity.
Think critically and question conventional wisdom.
Great ideas sometimes fly in the face of conventional wisdom,
so think outside of the box and open doors others ignore.
Instead of blindly accepting something as true, ask questions and
approach information critically.
- Blindly accepting something just because an authority figure says it’s true isn’t a good way to learn. When someone tells you something is absolutely true all of the time, try to imagine exceptions to the rule.
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Use diagrams and images to visualize problems.
Albert Einstein famously used images and visual thought experiments to solve problems. When you’re confronted with an abstract problem or feel like your thoughts are jumbled, use visual aids to help see the bigger picture.
- Flowcharts, thought bubbles, venn diagrams, and mind maps are great visual tools. They can help you organize information and spot connections between concepts that you might not have noticed.