Your Creative Genius Mindset: The Essential Qualities for “Outside the Box” Thinking
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To be creative, is to have the capacity to think freely, openly, without limitations or constraints about problems and challenges confronting our life reality. When we are creative, we tend to see opportunities and possibilities that we would normally filter out of our personal experience. Creativity allows us to think outside of the box, around the box and through the box in an imaginative and free flowing manner.
In today’s day and age, our ability to think creatively about our life circumstances will help us to overcome the never ending problems and challenges that a “normal enriching” life throws our way. In retrospect, there are a plethora of strategies, techniques and tools that we could utilize to enhance our creative capacity, however for many people, these methods would be futile, because creativity first begins within the mind. If our mindset isn’t aligned and tuned into the “creative thinking channel”, than we will severely struggle to find the creative answers we are so desperately searching for.
The Mindset of a Creative Genius
A Creative Genius has a certain set of qualities, beliefs, methods of talking to themselves, asking the right kinds of questions and taking strategic actions that naturally cultivate creativity within the recesses of their minds. By consistently and persistently instilling these traits into your psyche, will help you to supercharge your mind and unlock your capacity for creative thought.
The Qualities of a Creative Genius Mind
Flexibility: A Creative Genius is flexible in thought, opinion and in the decisions they make on a daily basis. Flexibility naturally encourages “outside the box” thinking which expands possibilities and opportunities.
Possibility Thinker: A Creative Genius persistently thinks about the possibilities that are available to them at any one moment in time. They fully understand that focusing on “possibilities” will expand opportunities, conversely, paying attention to “limitations” will only attract a greater array of problems into their lives.
Risk Taker: A Creative Genius fully understands that without “risk” there can be no worthwhile rewards. They therefore take risks by thinking differently, by taking chances, and by utilizing creative techniques and strategies in a unique, untried and unorthadox manner.
Focused: A Creative Genius is fully focused and locked mentally on the goals they seek to achieve. They dare not break this lock until the moment their objectives are fully realized within their physical reality.
Imaginative: A Creative Genius utilizes the full capacity of their imagination to bend the laws of reality to find the answers and opportunities they need to overcome the challenges in their life.
Dedicated: A Creative Genius is fully committed and dedicated to the outcomes and objectives they seek to achieve. They simply will not allow distractions or circumstances to push them off course. If however they do get sidetracked, than they are quick to adjust their sails to the changing winds and alter their course accordingly.
Patient: A Creative Genius realizes that creativity is a process that involves patience and careful preparation. They don’t try to force answers, instead they proactively make slight adjustments in their approach to open up new perspectives and understandings that will unlock the solutions and opportunities they have been searching for.
Proactive: A Creative Genius is constantly moving forward towards their objectives. This doesn’t mean being “action oriented” 24/7. However, it does mean focusing your body and mind on tasks and activities that keep you moving forward towards your goals consistently every single day. They always ask themselves “Is this activity taking me closer to my goals, or is it pulling me away?” The answer redirects their thinking and actions towards their creative objectives.
Courageous: A Creative Genius is courageous in action and thought. They are always willing to try new things and break the rules and boundaries limiting the average mind. And it is for this reason that the impossible becomes possible within their perspective of reality.
Independent: A Creative Genius is an independent thinker and doer. Yes, they seek other perspectives, ideas and opinions, however in the end, it is their independence that allows for the flow of unique, insightful and creative ideas.
Intuitive: A Creative Genius is a very intuitive soul. They fully understand that some answers can only be realized when they have an intuitive understanding of the world and the problem they are facing.
Persistent: A Creative Genius is fully aware if they persistent long enough over a consistent period of time, that every problem can be solved in a surprising and creative way. For this reason they bring forth a resilient attitude to every challenge confronting their reality.
Curious & Playful Nature: A Creative Genius approaches every task or activity in a curiously playful manner. Reminiscent of a child learning something new for the very first time. A Creative Genius fully appreciates that only curiosity and playfulness is able to relax their mind and bring forth its fullest creative potential.
The Indispensable Beliefs of a Creative Genius
Belief in Self: A Creative Genius has full confidence and belief in themselves and their own ability. This confidence supports every aspect of their personality, helping them to approach problems with passion and excitement.
Belief in a Higher Power: A Creative Genius isn’t necessarily religious in nature (although they can be). However, they do believe that there exists a higher power - a collective consciousness or infinite intelligence of sorts - that helps spark the creative forces within their body and mind.
Belief in Learning from every Success & Failure: A Creative Genius essentially does not distinguish between success or failure. Instead, they only acknowledge the feedback they receive from personal experience, from the environment and from others. This feedback helps them to transform their creative approach when confronted with the same circumstances in the future.
The Strategic Self-Talk of a Creative Genius
Questions: A Creative Genius constantly and persistently asks questions that are focused on expanding the possibilities of reality and on solutions that will help them overcome the problems confronting their daily life experience.
Words: A Creative Genius speaks a language that is optimistic and naturally reflective. They see the positives of every situation and approach it in a reflective manner that expands possibilities and moves them closer to solutions.
The Proactive Actions of a Creative Genius
Proactive Learning: A Creative Genius fully understands that life is a process of constant and never ending learning and self-improvement. They are aware that the more they know, the better they will be able to think about the challenges confronting their daily reality. As a result, they constantly and persistently seek out new knowledge, feedback and ideas about the world they live in.
Process Orientation: A Creative Genius always has an end goal in mind, however they are fully focused on the intricacies of their thoughts and actions within the present moment. They understand that within every moment lies the seed of opportunity that will help them expand the way they think and approach their life circumstances.
Journaling: A Creative Genius keeps a regular record of their life experiences, learnings and questions within a journal. The simple process of jotting their thoughts down on paper, helps to expand their understanding about themselves, others and the world around them. Moreover, the act of journaling progressively guides their thoughts gently down creative channels that naturally expand the possibilities of reality.
Mind Mapping: A Creative Genius consistently uses a set of accelerated learning tools that help to build strong associations between seemingly unrelated ideas within their minds. Mind Mapping is much like an “information process puzzle” that helps to piece together, organize and expand on thoughts in surprising ways - potentially leading to dramatic and life transforming creative ideas.
These Creative qualities are very much like muscles that must be trained and built over the course of days, weeks, months and years. The more time you spend flexing these muscles and utilizing them to expand the possibilities and your understanding of reality, the stronger, more creative, effective and efficient they will become. And it is only when you have these qualities ingrained deeply within your psyche, that your true Creative Genius Capacity will finally shine through.
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
adamsicinski
Adam Sicinski is a qualified Life Coach whose areas of specialty include accelerated learning, cognitive psychology, NLP and mind mapping principles. He integrates these methods seamlessly into his blog posts by creating visual IQ Matrixes of the information he is presenting. See examples at the IQ Matrix Blog.
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Comments
Shanel Yang says on September 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
Totally agree with keeping a journal! I wrote about the many important benefits of it in “10 Reasons to Keep a Diary” at http://shanelyang.com/2008/04/.....p-a-diary/
DesignerDad says on September 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
At times, it sounds more like you describe a certain individual than most creative geniuses. I agree with much of what you’ve written, but also think creative geniuses are not without their faults. Typically any genius trait seems to come at a cost such as social awkwardness, depression, or an inability to accept the ideas of others.
I can identify with about 3/4 of your examples in my day to day life, but I wouldn’t call myself a creative genius. However, as a graphic designer my natural ability to think outside the box is indispensable at my job.
Gene says on September 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Does a Creative Genius need Blind Faith and ignore the lack of evidence. “a higher power - a collective consciousness or infinite intelligence of sorts”
I think a Creative Genius has worked hard to understand and reason.
Lindsay says on September 4th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I remember hearing an interview with historian James Burke and one of the things he mentioned that stuck with me is that in order to think “outside of the box” we all need to be aware of the specific boxes we are in.
Our boxes are created by our upbringings, our society, our experiences, our education, etc. Most of us don’t realize we’re in boxes and aren’t able to step outside of ourselves and think critically about our own perceptions and prejudices. I suspect it’s those rare few who do who really open themselves up for creative thought.
Torley says on September 4th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Superb IQ Matrix cartoon! That was a lot of fun, and reminds me of pictures in kids’ to-do activity books. Grabbed my attention from the very beginning. :)
Neil says on September 9th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Creative geniuses necessarily hold belief in a higher power, as quoted below? I find that thought to be small-minded, simplistic, and insulting. It’s very possible to explore the fascinating intricacies of the universe with an independent and creative mind without assigning a truth value to fairy tales, superstitions, or other potentially imaginary constructs.
“Belief in a Higher Power: A Creative Genius isn’t necessarily religious in nature (although they can be). However, they do believe that there exists a higher power - a collective consciousness or infinite intelligence of sorts - that helps spark the creative forces within their body and mind.”
Fridolf says on September 15th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Thank you adamsicinski, nice article. You and I are the same… How many others ? Or do all humans posses the capability to grow up into a creative genius and is it just the hard name we had to live with?”(just diving in the past…)
DesignerDad;”Typically any genius trait seems to come at a cost such as social awkwardness, depression, or an inability to accept the ideas of others.”
-I’ve had lots of experience in social awkwardness and depression. But this might fuel the creative genius
-If you understand someones idea and even better; where it came from. Is it ok not to accept them?
bLAh says on September 21st, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Nonsense. A creative genius does not work in any particular methodical manner, creativity just happens. If you have to follow a process to be creative, then you’re not a creative genius and would be better off taking up bookkeeping.
bishopolis says on September 21st, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I, too, really doubt the ‘higher power’ thing, especially that which is implied by the classic supplicant hand-posing.
The negative influence which any dogmatic higher-power worship has consistently had on creative expression of genius should make the belief in a higher power a quality of the specifically NON-creative or NON-genius type, anathema to any intellect which challenges the approved methods and looks for improvements.
Ahmie says on September 22nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
You had me until journaling (something I’ve never been good at, even with a grade attached to it, I’m very resistant to it) and mind-mapping. I loathe mind maps. I find them terribly visually distracting and I’m always losing details when I try to follow one, they give me a headache. Not my way of thinking/organizing at ALL. On the other hand, I problem-solve faster and more flexibly than anyone that I’ve ever met.
A lot of folks are hung up on the “greater power” thing and I think it’s being taken out of context. With a more flexible/creative interpretation of the phrase I agree with it wholeheartedly. The people I know who think they’re creative geniuses that are ardent atheists and ruffle at such statements as often as not have a few other symptoms of narcissism. True genius recognizes its own limits and that there is something more than just this one being’s limited experience to draw from. I prefer the concept of Jung’s “collective unconscious” but these flashes of insight do tend to feel like more than just random lucky/well-trained/genetically-predisposed synapses fireing on their own. The genius is being able to take seemingly unrelated items and synthesize them into something useful for a “new” challenge (very little is new in this universe, hence the quotation marks).
My main complaint is that you’re boxing the definition in too much, with some of your word choices (the faith thing being one). Different people have different ways besides journaling and mind mapping to keep track of their ideas, and this is especially true for folks who are not visual-orientated learners. I’m much more spatial/kinesthetic myself and at my best, I keep notes about varous different projects in different places that provide tactile/spatial cues that facilitate working on the problem (being a full-time mom to two small children makes this extra challenging for me!). Google Notebook looks like it might be a significantly better tool for me than mind mapping because it lets me categorize and sub-categorize with a focus on text instead of imagery. Don’t pigeon-hole your tools section so much.
Anusha says on November 11th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Good article. But proofread, please!
BiG WiL says on November 15th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Thank U 4 this read, it is a Godsend and extremely practical.
Grinz…
Mwhuh Hahahahah…Muh Hahahahaha
Guy says on March 11th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
well i just googled this like many others as i just wanted to research what da definition of a creativ genius was as im always called creativ even in my uni presentations and da music i make, and just da ideas i hav in real life.
Again i felt i could relate to everything you said i felt excited when i was reading and like “wow dat describes me perfectly” da journeling part loool nahhh das not me at all. and the higher power, i agree with completely, i believe religions feed people from a book in order to manipulate them. I believe in a powerful energy that i have a part in and can also manipulate and people have named this energy God (Allah, Jehovah).
anywayyyy kreativ Jeanius me dattt, i read eryting and it matches up to me perfectly, course people will fink im just bein big headed but same time, none of you know me so shut up and go lose weight ¬_¬