7 Rules for Maximizing Your Creative Output

Creative is extremely important for many professionals. Without creativity, you couldn’t breakthrough with new findings. Without creativity, you will be just a follower, not a creator. Steve Pavlina shares his ways of optimizing his creativity. He finds there is a state which happened once in a while - he called it a creative flow state, that is when all his creative thoughts happening. On the flow state, he finds couple of rules to get the best juice out of it:

• Define a clear purpose.
• Identify a compelling motive.
• Architect a worthy challenge.
• Provide a conducive environment.
• Allocate a committed block of time.
• Prevent interruptions and distractions.
• Master your tools.

I got the most out from the rule - master your tools - where Steve argues the mastery of your skills and tools are required to save your brain thinking cycles to right brain, where creativity is happening:

On the other hand, when I’m not competent enough with my tools, I can’t enter the flow state. Despite using Adobe Photoshop for many years, I never invested the time to master its complex interface because I only used it intermittently. Consequently, I seldom achieve the flow state when using Photoshop because I spend too much time consciously thinking about the low-level action steps. This stunts my creativity because I remain stuck in my left brain instead of shifting into my right brain.

7 Rules for Maximizing Your Creative Output - [Steve Pavlina]