Ideas on Ideas.

Eric Karjaluoto's blog Ideas on Ideas is a new addition to my RSS feeds. He writes interesting material about design, advertising and creativity. I just read a post about his book on creativity in which he bemoans the fact that he has stalled half way through. I know that feeling.

He offers a list of techniques for breaking loose of the creative doldrums - these are the headings. You should visit for the meat and potatoes.

1. Break the pattern
2. Try working backwards
3. Tidy your workspace
4. Take something away
5. Mix-up your tools
6. Look differently
7. Talk it out
8. Prototype
9. Reorder the pieces
10. Start again
11. Throw away the part you love most
12. Go for a walk
13. Introduce something random
14. Make more
15. Make some rules
16. Set a deadline
17. Breathe

It may be unintended by Eric but I think his last item on the list is incredibly important. The Buddhist technique for focusing or being in the moment is to be conscious of your breath. Being present is very important to creativity -and I suppose this also connects to the ideas of Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi - flow…

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