The Art Of Creative Thinking Book: 89 Ways To See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

The art of creative thinking began as a tribute to what all of us can learn from art school, but what I hope to show more than anything is that thinking creatively is not a professional activity—it’s a way of life. – Rod Judkins

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rod Judkins is an artist, writer, and lecturer. A graduate of the Royal College of art, whose paintings have been included in numerous exhibitions.

He has lectured on creative thinking at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, for more than fifteen years. His workshops and lectures demonstrate how creative thinking can energize and improve the work of individuals and organizations in any field.

The Art of Creative Thinking Book Summary

“Creativity is not about creating a painting, novel, or house;” says Judkins, “but about creating yourself, creating a better future, and taking the opportunities you are currently missing.”

The Art Of Creative Thinking Book: 89 Ways To See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

1. See what happens when you make something happen

• Creativity isn’t a switch that’s flipped on or off; it’s a way of seeing, engaging with, and responding to the world around you.
• A creative mind always seeks to explore new areas.
• Sometimes you succeed, and sometimes you fail, but it’s important to try and see what happens.

Try to develop alternative ways of thinking that can be applied to any challenge or project, no matter how far out of your comfort zone.

2. Be a beginner forever

• A beginner has a fresh perspective. They don’t know how things should be done and haven’t yet become rooted in a particular method.
• It’s important to avoid becoming an expert, specialist, or authority.
• An expert constantly refers to experience. Whatever has worked in the past, the expert repeats.
• To breathe fresh air into yourself or your company, spend a day working on something valuable but not what you’re “supposed” to be working on. Better to think of new ideas than waste time trying to salvage old ones

3. Blame Michelangelo

• Many people don’t develop their talents because they are made to feel they weren’t born with the amount required to be genuinely great.
• The concept of innate talent destroyed confidence.
• Creative thinking is like a muscle that needs to be strengthened through exercise.
• A creative mind freshly communicates ideas.
• Our task is to develop our creative potential in whatever forms it may take, whether we think we were “born” with it or not.

Not every person has the same kinds of talents, so you discover what yours are and work with them. ― Frank Gehry.

4. Be committed to commitment.

When the Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show on TV, it was a milestone in American pop culture. A record-breaking 73 million viewers.

The Beatles were an overnight success in the USA, but John Lennon & Paul McCartney played together since 1957. In the clubs of Hamburg, they performed shows for eight hours a day, seven days a week. Sometimes, until two in the morning.

By 1964 they had played roughly twelve hundred times, totaling thousands of hours of playing time, more than most rock bands play in their entire careers. Those long hours of performing set the Beatles apart.

• A talented but lazy artist has never produced any masterpieces
• Be addicted to the practice; avoid making your rehearsal repetitive but rather adventurous.

5. Be the medium of your medium

• A painting of flowers is not about flowers; it is about the medium of painting: the traditions, history, frame, gallery, and expectations the viewer has.
• Most people are passive consumers who never analyze the medium. In the movies, most viewers go along with the illusion and enjoy the spectacle.
• The more aware you are of that, and the more you understand your medium, the more you can use it to your advantage.

6. Don’t be someone else

• Everyone is searching for originality. Ironically, it is right within them, but most people are too busy being someone else.
• Self-knowledge will help you to understand what you have to offer that’s special. Ask yourself, “ What is the best idea I’ve ever had? “How did it come about?” “When am I at my most creative?”
• It is more important to be the best version of yourself than a bad copy of someone else. 
• To be successfully creative, you must realize it’s OK to be yourself.

7. Be a generator

• To produce anything of greatness, you must be proactive and generate it, not sit around and wait.
• We come alive when we’re generating something we know is worthwhile.
• Doing what matters is what matters.

The least of things with a meaning is worth more than the greatest of things without it. ―Carl Jung.

8. Be positive about negatives

• If others respond strongly to something you’ve done, that’s positive, even if the reaction is negative.

 To be a successful person, you often have to create a strong foundation with the bricks others throw at you.” 

9. Don’t think about what others think about

• Don’t be distracted by the views of others.
• The most exhilarating experiences are generated in the mind, triggered by information that challenges our thinking.
• Focus on what engages and inspires you.
• If you’re excited by a subject that no one else is, all that should matter to you is that you’re interested.

10. Doubt everything all the time

• Doubt is a key to unlocking new ideas. Einstein doubted Newton. Picasso doubted Michelangelo. Beethoven doubted Mozart. That’s how they moved things forward.
• To doubt, to not know, to ask questions, to err, and to fail, is the best and only way to learn, grow, progress, and create something new.

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” ―Voltaire

• Everything achieved over the last five hundred years is because of doubt.
• Doubt everyone and everything all the time, especially yourself.

11. Feel inadequate

• Feeling inadequate is a driving force to do better.
• Great creative minds are often racked with self-doubt, but they turn it into a driving force, an engine that pushes them forward rather than something that holds them back.
• Fear of failure is a great motivator, and it keeps the creative ego in check.

I don’t believe anyone ever suspects how completely unsure I am of my work and myself and what tortures of self-doubting the doubt of others has always given me. ―Tennessee Williams.

12. Be practically useless

• New ideas spring from personal interests, even if they seem irrelevant to the task at hand.
• Thinking about logistics leads to thinking logically, which ties down the leaps of the mind required to create something unique.
• To be true to an idea, you must value expression over perfection, vitality over finish, movement over static, expression over perfection, and form over function.

“It’s the addicts that stay with it. They’re not necessarily the most talented, they’re just the ones that can’t get it out their systems. – Harold Brown” 

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The Art of Creative Thinking: 89 Ways to See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

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13. Be perceptive about perception

• Be aware of how your audience perceives and understands things.
•  Appreciate the aura or energy around your environment and observe how others respond to them. 
• We can control our lives by controlling our perceptions. ― Bruce Lipton
• Getting audiences to take your work seriously is necessary to get them to take you seriously.

14. Be naturally inspired

• Creative thinkers don’t think about what they can copy from the natural world but learn from it.
• They study nature’s best ideas and then imitate them to solve diverse problems.
• Think of nature not as a source of materials to use but as a library of ideas.
• In any field you work in, nature can always provide new insights.

15. Don’t be an expert on yourself

• You will only get the most out of your talk if it teaches you about yourself.
• If you want to engage an audience, you must be involved yourself.
• Only give a talk about something you care passionately about.

16. Be Stubborn about compromise

• We all come under pressure from our employers, family, or friends to compromise but to make something unique, to do something extraordinary, often requires that you refuse to compromise your ideas.
• Creative thinkers appreciate that to compromise and take the sensible and safe route would be a disaster.
• You have no responsibility to live up to other’s expectations, but you do have a responsibility to live up to your own.

17. Be a weapon of mass creation

• Applying creative thinking in an “uncreative” field gives you an advantage.
• Like the one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind, thinking creatively where no one else is, we’ll gives you the edge.
• Always try to see things with fresh eyes no matter where you work.

18. Get into what you’re into

• We must see it from the inside to get the most out of life and work.
• Imagine yourself as the subject of your project.
• Be the subject from the inside out. Imagine what it would feel like to be this object. Lose your mind and come to your senses when applying this method.

One had to immerse oneself in one’s surroundings and intensely study nature or one’s subject to understand how to recreate it. ―Paul Cezanne.

19. Cut it out

• Editing can be hard because you’re discarding things you have put a lot of energy into making. Yet often, what we see in creative thinkers’ work is the tip of the iceberg.
• If you produce one hundred ideas, one will likely be great.
• If you produce five ideas, the chances of one being great are small.
• Challenge yourself to generate more ideas and more work with less attachment.

20. Grow up without growing old

The Art of Creative Thinking 89 Ways to See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

It takes years to build up the ability to understand yourself, your world, and your field of expertise.

• The architect Zaha Hadid didn’t achieve international respect and won awards for her unique designs until she was over Fifty.
• Paul Cezanne had his first one-person show at the age of fifty-six.  
• Alfred Hitchcock didn’t fully develop his trademark sense of suspense in his films until after he had turned fifty.
• Jane Austen published her first novel after she was thirty-five.
• Joseph Conrad’s work was first published when he was thirty-seven. 
• Charles Darwin was fifty years old when he proposed the theory of evolution in On the Origin of—species which sold out on its first day of release.
• Georgia O’Keeffe was already in her fifties when she started to gain significant attention, and throughout her Sixties and Seventies, her fame grew gradually.
• Many entrepreneurs, chefs, teachers, writers, and artists produce their most significant work as their insights and perceptions deepen with age.
• Creative people can’t refuse to grow old, but they can refuse to grow up.

21. If it isn’t broken, break it

• It is more enlightening to appreciate imperfections.
• An innovation process that is trying to achieve something faultless is too slow and restricted.
• Innovation requires errors and failures because they lead to new ideas.

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection. ―George Orwell.

Perfectionism can be a roadblock to new ideas; it is a full stop, whereas imperfection can lead somewhere unexpected.

22. Pick yourself up

• What distinguishes the successful from the unsuccessful is how they deal with the inevitable disappointments and difficulties that arise. “Attitude is more important than ability.”
• Creative thinkers channel their negative feelings into something useful.

23. Challenge the challenging

• Having a rival can be helpful, as rivals drive us to the limits of our ability.
• Psychology tells us that rivalry can help and hinder creative success; it all depends on how we handle the competition.
• Whatever your field, embrace competition: it can make you strive to be better, to go that extra mile.

24. Find out how to find out

• Ignorance of the “right” way to do something can be an asset.
• Lack of knowledge can provide fresh perspectives.

If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.” ―Marilyn Monroe

• Sometimes knowing the “right way” can be a disadvantage. 

25. Leave an impression

• Creativity can be as simple as pointing out something incredible that everyone else hasn’t noticed.

Art is not what you see but what you make others see. ―Edgar Degas” 

• Note anything that astounds you, no matter how small.
• If it left an impression on you, it would leave an impression on others.

The Art Of Creative Thinking Book: 89 Ways To See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

26. Design a difference

• Steve Jobs used his small amount of design knowledge to make a big difference.
• Apple was not a technological innovator; it remade other companies’ ideas.
• Entrepreneurs and creative thinkers make the most of whatever information they have, however little.
• A small nugget of knowledge you’ve overlooked could be the key that unlocks previously closed doors.

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Another book you might like:

• Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

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27. Be as incompetent as possible

• Creative thinking is about vision, awareness, and expression.
• Our minds remember powerful ideas long after they have forgotten the impressive skill.
• The creative mind explores whatever it is fascinated by rather than building up an armory of skills.
• The genuinely creative is not seeking to display skill but have a sincere interest in understanding and expressing ideas about their subject.

Sometimes incompetence is useful. It helps you keep an open mind. ―Roberto Cavalli.

28. Maintain momentum

• The minute we lose momentum, we lose the thread.
• You must maintain the sense of excitement you had when first inspired.
• Work on an idea constantly until it’s resolved.

29. Make the present a present

• When you are truly immersed in whatever you’re experiencing, your present circumstances don’t dictate your destination; they only determine your departure point.
• Our ability to immerse ourselves in the present and live in the moment is one we must nurture.

Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.” ―Albert Camus.

30. Be mature enough to be childish

• Being playful is what enables us to develop.
• The future belongs to those who can reconnect with play.
• Whatever you are doing, do it as if for the first time.
• It is the child in you that is creative, not the adult.

There are children playing in the streets who could solve some of my top problems in physics because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago. ― Robert Oppenheimer.

31. Aspire to have no goals

• The creative explores in a truly open and experimental way; they don’t start with a destination in mind because a target would trap them on a predetermined path.
• If you don’t know where you’re going, the journey is more surprising, and your work is more enriching.

Don’t plan how to work, just work! You are lost the instant you know what the result will be ―Cubist painter Juan Gris.

32. Open your mind

• Creativity thrives in a workplace or studio open to possibilities and new ideas.
• Workers are more productive when directly involved in decision-making rather than being closely supervised by middle management.
• With an open mind, there are multiple solutions.

33. Pause for thoughtlessness

• To work intensively for long periods, you need to switch off occasionally from all the distractions for short periods.
• Force yourself to do nothing from time to time.
• To think deeply, sometimes you first have to empty your mind.

34. Plan to have more accidents

• Use accidents as a tool to propel yourself forward in unexpected directions.
• Be more receptive to the unexpected.
• Become a student of the University of Accidents.
• Every technology carries with it the potential for accidents.
• Think of an accident as an answer in search of a different question.

35. If you can’t be perfect, be really bad

• People with mediocre ideas and poor taste often achieve exceptional success because they don’t know when to stop.
• Better the errors of enthusiasm than the slick competence of the cool. 
• Something badly done can be refreshing.

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. ― Winston Churchill.

36. Raise the dead

• All creative work builds on what has gone before.
• The creative makes the most of the things they admire and aren’t ashamed to be inspired by something they respect.

There is no harm in repeating a good thing.” ―Plato

• Everything has already been done and can be done again.
• If work by someone else really gets into your head, sometimes you have to reinvent it yourself, simply to get it back out of your head.

37. Be a conservative revolutionary

• It’s important not to do the same old things in the same old way but push them to the limit and see what happens.

“Creativity is like mining; we must dig deep to discover and uncover ourselves.” 

• Whatever your field, push your work to the limit.

If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are? ―T.S. Eliot

38. Work the hours that work for you

• The writer Craig Clevenger seals himself in his house for days when starting a new novel. He covers the clocks and windows to lose all sense of the passage of time. That way, he can get a lot done.
• Nobel Prize-winning writer Toni Morrison starts writing before dawn.

If you want to change your art, change your habits.

― Clement Greenberg.

Charles Dickens walked the streets of London at night and met strange characters who resurfaced in his novels. Routine behavior leads to routine thinking.

39. Search without finding

Don’t be ashamed of being ignorant.

Creativity exists in not knowing. 

Be willing to look stupid, to risk the emotional pain of getting it wrong.

Embrace your not-knowing and stride forward with determination and uncertainty.

Painting to me is constantly searching. I can see what I want, but I can’t get there, and yet you have to be open enough that if it goes another way, let it go that way. ―Jamie Wyeth.

The Art Of Creative Thinking Book: 89 Ways To See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

40. Don’t overlook the overlooked

Creativity can be as simple as seizing on something the world has overlooked and forcing the world to take notice.

Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. ― William Burroughs.

41. Put the right thing in the wrong place

How can you refresh your perspective and see things in a new light?

Put something or someone in an unusual place.

Looking at your subject in an unexpected location throws off the preconceptions and stereotypes you have on that subject, revealing its extraordinary potential.

42. Stay hungry

Neutral, simple, humble spaces are what help us to focus.

The mind wants to wander. Keep it on track by eliminating sidetracks.

Luxury is not for the creative; it’s for poodles.

The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.” ―Charlie Chaplin

43. Surprise yourself

Everything is self-expression; we create our biographies in everything we do.

Whether we are aware of it or not, our life is our subject matter, and freeing up our memories allows us to surprise ourselves and learn about our personalities and what makes us unique.

What makes you tick creatively? Ask yourself, “What is the best idea I’ve ever had? What was my worst idea? What is my creative ambition?” Self-knowledge will help you to understand why you do things the way you do. You’ll start to understand the story you are trying to tell.

44. Suspend judgment

To get the most out of any situation, it is important to suspend judgment.

Open yourself up to the beauty of all things.

Deferring judgment keeps all possibilities open.

Throw away hierarchies and accept that everything has qualities of some kind.

45. Take advantage of a disadvantage

Any setback can be an opportunity to begin again with more wisdom.

Creative thinkers use their disadvantages to add new depth to their work.

46. Throw truth bombs

The impressionists revealed the truth about the eye’s optics and perception of space.

The futurists revealed the truth about how the modern world was all about speed, traveling quickly, and information flowing swiftly.

Pop artists revealed the truth about the effects of consumer society and capitalized on our values.

Conceptual artists revealed the truth about the dominance of ideas in our perception of the world.

Galileo spent the latter years of his life under house arrest for revealing that the Earth was not the center of the universe but revolved around the sun.

Darwin revealed that organisms evolve through natural selection.

They were all searching for the real meaning of the world around them.

47. Throw yourself into yourself

Allow yourself to do what truly brings you joy.

It’s better for you. It’s better for everyone.

When you are satisfied, your satisfaction spreads to others.

The Art Of Creative Thinking Book: 89 Ways To See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

48. Use shock of awe

In the creative world, stirring others out of their complacency can be good for everyone.

The creative mind reveals deep, fundamental truths rather than mere facts.

If you don’t have your audience’s attention, you’re talking to yourself.

New ideas will always shock. Don’t let the reaction of others unnerve you.

The shock, even disgust, provoked by the work is part of its appeal.” ―Nicholas Serota.

49. Value Obscurity

Make the most of it if you’re lucky enough to be in obscurity.

Use your freedom to experiment, play, and stretch yourself.

Entrepreneurs, designers, writers, and artists often make the most of the freedom obscurity offers.

Obscurity is a creative place: you are free to experiment and fail.

50. Value shared values

Find others who are on your wavelength and share your work.

If you’re a creative thinker, the chances are that you’re challenging the accepted values and practices of the world around you.

Sharing your creative energy creates synergy.

 If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.” ―Margaret Fuller.

51. If something isn’t broken, fix it

Search for a better method when everyone else is content with the standard.

There’s always a better way.

52. Light a fire in your mind

Creativity enables us to doctor ourselves.

Don’t run from your inner demons. Put them to work.

Creativity requires us to study the dark corners of our minds and terms with what we find.

In the depths of the winter, I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.” ―Albert Camus

53. Discover how to discover

Many of us discover our passion through trial and error.

Discovering what you truly want to do can be a long journey, but it’s worth it.

Every important experience rebuilds our perspective.

54. To stand out, work out what you stand for

Developing a set of principles you believe in and constantly strive to uphold is an invaluable tool.

The only way to stand out is to work out what you stand for.

Man often becomes what he believes himself to be.” ―Mahatma Gandhi

55. To achieve something, do nothing

Make yourself do nothing. Let your thoughts settle.

Instead of searching, let things come to you.

Sometimes what we most need to do is the thing we try to avoid.

If you want to do something creative, something original, do nothing.

56. Get into credit

Creativity flourishes where there is money.

The history of art is inseparable from the history of money.

Money is not the enemy of creative thinkers but a  friend, not a problem but an opportunity.

Understanding finance is crucial because it will help you do more of what you love.

57. Search high and low

You can’t think creatively if you have an elitist attitude.

Don’t assume that because everyone thinks something is worthless, it actually is.

Try to see things through a different lens and assess them according to their own values.

58. Mine your mind

The subconscious is a recognized source of creativity and inspiration; it releases us from the confines of our logical, practical minds.

The creative ideas you’re searching for are swimming beneath the surface of your mind. The deeper you dive in, the more you’ll discover.

The world needs dreamers, and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do. ―Sarah Ban Breathnach.

59. Look forward to disappointment

When you are at your lowest, when everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, see it as the best place to begin.

We learn from disappointment than from success.

Every obstacle we overcome strengthens our confidence to overcome more.

The Art Of Creative Thinking: 89 Ways To See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

60. Think with your feelings

Thinking is essential, but we often use it to damage other perceptions.

Our minds play tricks on us, but our senses are trustworthy.

Choose the path that feels right to you.

Better to be without logic than without feeling. –Charlotte Bronte” 

61. Bring chaos to order

Chaotic organizations are usually more creative than well-organized ones.

From chaos springs great art.

If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign? ― Albert Einstein

62. Take what you need

Copying is often misunderstood by people who are not creative.

When you see a piece of work you admire, dissect it dispassionately and discover exactly what makes it great.

63. Remake, then remake the remake

The creative enjoy the revisions —the process of carving away excess words, clay, or notes until the rhythm and phrasing, and shape of their work purrs like a well-tuned engine.

Let go of the image of art as an instant masterpiece. Instead, be prepared to rethink and revise constantly.

You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page. ―Jodi Picoult.

64. Be curious about curiosity

Cultivate your curiosity, and you will constantly refresh your perspective.

Curious people search for the reality behind the disguise, for what’s truly going on behind the scenes.

Curiosity makes us come alive; it fills us with wonder and the urge to discover hidden worlds.

65. Become anonymous

Working under another name will free you from others’ expectations and, most importantly, free you of your own.

There is freedom in being nobody.

Sometimes it’s helpful to put your ego in a box under the bed.

That anonymous person meanders through the streets and feels what’s happening. There feels the pulse of the people who are able to create. ―Cyndi Lauper

66. Achieve the perfect work-life balance

The creative person’s work and life are inseparable.

Once your life and work head down separate paths, you are destined for an independent existence.

If you’d rather go on vacation than go to work, you need to change your life now.

67. Make what you say unforgettable

An original thinker is a scout on new horizons, a font of inspiration.

The people who have changed our thinking are the ones who speak and write from the heart, with the courage to be who they are.

If you have an exciting idea, people must remember it.

68. Don’t experiment, BE an experiment

Creative organizations practice constant experiments to keep their thinking fresh.

If things are running too smoothly, it’s a sign that you’re not experimenting enough.

The key to thinking experimentally is to allow the mind to contemplate outrageous ideas.

Strive to lose that impulse and return to the creative freedom we all had as children. It’s more interesting to be experimental and fail than to play it safe and succeed.

69. Stop missing opportunities

When you’re given an opportunity, take it and see where it leads, even if you have no idea how you’ll make it work.

Rise to the occasion when an occasion arises.

One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. ― Benjamin Disraeli.

The Art Of Creative Thinking 89 Ways To See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

70. Contradict yourself more often

The creative mind contains multiple perspectives simultaneously.

Contradicting yourself is a sign that you are filled with possibilities.

Only idiots fail to contradict themselves three times a day. ― Friedrich Nietzsche.

71. Look over the horizon

Visionaries try to work out what the upcoming developments in their field are likely to be and implement them before anyone else.

A visionary is someone who can see the future or thinks he sees the future. In my case, I use it, and it comes outright. That doesn’t come from daydreams or dreams, but it comes from knowing the market and knowing the world and knowing people really well, and knowing where they’re going to be tomorrow. ―Leonard Lauder

72. Immerse yourself

Study the latest ideas circulating in your field. Immerse yourself, and see where your expertise leads you.

It’s a lesson in immersing yourself in every aspect of your interest. Know everything there is to know about it.

When there’s a crisis, you will have a pool of knowledge to dip into.

73. Cross-pollinate

Sharing diverse ideas leads to bold new solutions.

You can look anywhere and find inspiration. ―Frank Gehry

74. Take jokes seriously

Humor is a key that opens the door to counterintuitive and provocative thinking.

Rather than being weighed down by a serious mindset, we need humor.

Only those who are capable of silliness can be called truly intelligent. ―Christopher Isherwood

75. Go from a to b via z

To think creatively, you must constantly be aware and alive to the possibilities of the moment.

The more often you do something the same way, the more difficult it is to consider doing it differently.

76. Never leave improvisation to chance

The confident leader sees a mistake as an invitation to a new route.

Learn how to think quickly on your feet.

Most plans get punched in the mouth.

77. Reject acceptance and accept rejection

Great creative people figure out that they have nothing to lose by rejection.

Rejection breeds determination. It encourages you to reexamine your work and improve it, to strive to be better.

I think all great innovations are built on rejections. ―Louis-Ferdinand Celine.

78. Be as annoying as possible

Creativity is not for caution.

Provoke a reaction. Provoke Change.

We should not be scared of offending; we should be scared of not being heard.

79. Get out of your mind

Encourage your mind to wander; it will produce remarkable results.

Open the window of fantasy to know what really can bring.” ―Raul D. Arellano

The Art Of Creative Thinking Book: 89 Ways To See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

80. Stay playful

You’re a success in your field if you aren’t sure what you’re doing is work or play.

The focus should be on the experience, not on competing or achieving a reward.

Play is not taken seriously enough; it is as essential for adults as for children.

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” ―Heraclitus

81. Don’t follow the herd

Original thinkers can tune out their fears, along with the noise coming from the sidelines.

Try to keep a distance between yourself and the common wisdom.

Be prepared to swim against the tide.

The biggest competitive advantage is to do the right thing at the worst time. ―Bill Hewlett and David Packard.

82. Project yourself into the future

Imagination has practical benefits—but it needs to be nurtured and maintained.

Our imaginations are the most powerful tools we have. Use it. 

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. ―John F. Kennedy

83. Box your way out of boxes

Restrictions force the inventive mind into unique and unusual solutions.

Don’t dismiss an opportunity that’s outside your comfort zone.

Search for ways around, under, and over barriers.

84. To learn, teach

The best way to understand a concept is to explain it to someone else.

A creative teacher teaches nothing but provides a learning environment.

You can not teach a man anything, you can only help him it within himself. ―Galileo.

85. Be an everyday radical

To transform things, you must be in a radical frame of mind.

Always practice the fundamentals. 

I would say behavior that is not the status quo is interpreted as insanity when, in fact, it might be enlightenment. Insanity is sort of in the eye of the beholder. ―Chuck Palahniuk.

86. Make freedom a career

Creative people need to work with complete freedom, but, paradoxically, to prevent themselves from descending into chaos, they set parameters and limitations within which they work.

Art is limitation. The essence of every picture is the frame. ―G.K. 

87. Be alone with “Friends.”

It’s hard to be creative without being solitary now and then. Sit in a room and let your thoughts wander. This is the opposite of meditating: you’re not trying to empty your mind of thoughts; you’re trying to fill it up. Then cultivate the best ideas.

88. Look at the overlooked

Many creative people have a keen sense of observance. They’ve noticed something others had missed. See if you can pay attention and observe something that you usually overlook or neglect. 

89. Rename yourself

The Art Of Creative Thinking Book: 89 Ways To See Things Differently by Rod Judkins

Mozart renamed himself almost every week all his life. When he married, he changed his name to Adam, the first man to declare himself reborn. Think of a few new names for yourself. What do they tell people about you?

BONUS! Pick a fight with yourself.

For one day, contradict yourself. If you usually get up late, get up early. Question the things you do unquestioningly.

If you usually work on the computer, work on paper instead. When you are working, work oppositely.

Rewiring your brain circuitry will give you a deeper understanding of yourself.

Use The Art of Creative Thinking to Think about your thinking.

Analyze the way you think. What can you learn from your ideas? Who regularly inspires you? What can you learn from them?

Create a diagram of your thought processes.

Make it practical and down to earth.

Then study it.

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The Art of Creative Thinking summary is not intended to replace the original book; all quotes are credited to the author and publisher.  

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