15 Effective Tips to Improve Your Creative Mind and Think Outside the Box

Thinking outside the box is one of the most effective ways to solve challenging problems and a more reasonable way to do things differently. One may say, “but I am not good at creative thinking”; yes, but you can change that perspective. You think that way because you have not explored the right side of your brain.

To be a creative thinker and profer relevant solutions to problems, you must improve your creative mind and think outside the box. You can discover different ways of doing one thing and top the chat in your workplace. The mind is like an office with so many files, you have to stock in the right information for a better result. Come with me as I show you how to.

What does it mean to think outside the box?

Thinking outside the box entails thinking differently, and having a new way of doing things. It also means to ‘step outside the box’ from an old traditional way of doing things and taking a different viewpoint to approach problems and profer relevant solutions. It requires engaging one’s creative and innovative mind in addition to positive opinions that will help arrive at a perfect answer. Every ‘out of the box thinker’ always stands out from the crowd.

How to improve your creative mind and think outside the box

1. Read different books

The human mind is shaped by the kind of knowledge it receives. You may have been reading the same kind of books over and over. Try reading widely, read books you may not have been familiar with, like Sci-fi, inspirational books, novels, biography of great men, or even books on business ideas. Reading such books has a way of widening your thought pattern with creative imaginative power, you may be surprised at how dynamic your thought pattern will grow.

2. Take a new adventure

Taking an adventure is a good way to improve your creative mind and think outside the box, you must learn to do a new task from the usual. Learn new skills and improve yourself, and decide to take on a course outside your profession. By doing this, you will learn new things you haven’t encountered before, and discover ideas that can be helpful in your research or aid your professional pursuit. You must ‘step out of the box to have a different view’. 

3. Do critical thinking

engage your brain by practicing how to be a creative thinker. play puzzle games, chess, or creative games that will help activate your unique creative ability. The left brain is more logical in thinking, while the right brain is responsible for creative thoughts. Deplore your right brain to work.

4. Make research

when you embark on research, you will eventually bump into things you never knew before and that adds to your knowledge. When you educate yourself privately on different aspects of life, you stay on a new edge above your colleagues who do not study. This will give you more confidence and a good approach to tackling challenges outside the traditional way of doing things. Research widens your scope of knowledge and gives you information that was outside your reach. You will solve more problems when you are exposed.

5. Write anything

The human mind is always a busy place with so many fantasies. Convert your thoughts to written words, write almost everything and anything, and you will be surprised when you sit to analyze all you have written. It could be a short phrase or inspirational words, whichever one, this will help you analyze your thought process on anything you engage your mind in. Certainly, you will discover useful insight that may never come when you consciously prepare to write on a topic. 

6. Take some exercise

By exercising you can improve your creative mind and think outside the box. Exercise is good for the body to keep you fit, what you may not know is that it also improves your mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function. It was also discovered in a research study that exercise can alleviate symptoms such as low self-esteem and social withdrawal. Exercise allows your conscious mind to access fresh ideas that are stocked in your subconscious. Do take a walk or mount on a treadmill to unlock your mind whenever you feel a head block.

7. Eat healthy food

Do you know that you can help improve your creative mind and think outside the box by what you eat? Eating healthy fruits and snacks not only boosts your cognitive abilities but also your physical strength. Fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that can help your brain function at its best. They can also help improve your mood, which is essential for creative thinking.

8. Be inquisitive

Being inquisitive is associated with creativity, it makes you open to new experiences. When you are inquisitive you are more likely to discover new and interesting knowledge which can then be combined creatively. Ask yourself questions about aspects of life, you could arrive at answers and get inspiration. Apply this mindset in your day-to-day activities, in what you read, watch, or hear. This helps to improve an individual’s problem-solving ability and unlock the closed mind.

9. Brainstorm with friends

There is an adage that says “iron sharpens iron”. When you interact with friends or colleagues at your workplace, you share striking opinions that may be of great help to improve your creative mind and think outside the box. You can bring up ideas or ask questions on topics where you need more clarification while you all brainstorm on them.

Through this, you will be able to see things from their point of view, understand their personal belief and notice how each person thinks. Connect the dots in contrast to what you already have and see how better your skills in problem-solving improve.

10. Study other cultures and belief

A person’s belief system has a way of conforming his thought life into a mold, which certainly limits the way one thinks. That is why you should open yourself to discovering how wealthy other beliefs and cultures are, dedicate your time to studying them, and harness bulks of creative ideas that could be of help to you. Apply the good ones to your life and engage them in thinking out of the box, they will be of great help in solving problems when they arise.

11. Meditate

It is discovered from a study that when people meditate, it gives them a better experience when brainstorming and increases their creativity level. Meditation helps strengthen the mind to bring about more creativity. When a person meditates, he gives the mind a sense of calmness that is required to allow creativity to flow from the depth. it also helps you to reflect on past events, your actions, and your thoughts so you can reconsider them for improvement in your life.

12. Create a free time

Sometimes having free time and separating yourself from a busy work environment is imperative in helping you improve your creative mind and think outside the box. It relieves your mind of mental stress and helps the brain recover to a healthy state. Using your free time well also helps you relax the mind and regain the happiness needed for creative thought. 

13. Keep a note and pen 

Sometimes interesting ideas pop into the mind when you aren’t thinking about them, it could be while sitting under a cool shade, or at night when you are about to sleep or you just rose from the bed. Those ideas can easily fade away when you don’t take a record, no matter how interesting they are. keep a pen and a note to write down your ideas or use your phone notepad as a substitute. They could be helpful when you run short of ideas.  

14. Change your environment

Inspirations and creative ideas come when we move out of our comfort zone. Imagine sitting by a lakeside to appreciate nature or viewing a city from a mountain top, the inspiration or creative ideas you get cannot be the same as reading a novel. You could travel to a new environment, and visit art galleries and museums. This has a way of improving your mental skills to add to your level of creativity. 

15. Practice daydreaming

A study on daydreaming shows that people spend about 47% on average of their wake time on daydreaming. A little drift of attention from work to a more deep personal thought will do. Practicing good constructive daydreaming on daily basis will positively impact your mind with a good sense of creativity. It could be at your workplace, just a little snap-off will do, and when you resuscitate don’t forget to jot what you got.

We encounter challenges or problems either at work or at home almost daily that will require an immediate response from us. Some of these challenges may be tough and require you to think out of the box. Having problem-solving skills is a good start for a solution to every problem.

Although, one’s intelligence will play its role you have to improve your creative mind and think outside the box to prevail. Developing personal skills in solving a problem is what anyone can do, engage yourself with these tips and see the result.