Creative people are really good at solving problems.

They come up with novel and useful solutions that allow them to cut costs, become more efficient, and simplify the processes they work with.

However, a lot of people believe that creativity is an inborn talent; that some are born creative and can use that gift in the areas they choose, but others aren’t.

But I believe that creativity is something you have to decide to want to do. That’s the only way for you to discover how creative you are and to pursue the development of this area. You don’t have to be an artist in order to be creative, and you don’t have to want to work in art to explore your creativity.

You can be creative in almost anything you want. In fact, creativity is something you can get better at through practice, and the more you apply yourself to it, the more creative you will be.

In this post, I am going to share with you four tips to help you become more creative in your life and business.

1. First Why and then How

The best way to become creative at something is to know your why for it.

If you want to simplify your life and lead a minimalist lifestyle, then you must know why you want to have this lifestyle for yourself. What drives you to want to live on less? What are the values underlying this lifestyle change?

Similarly, if you want to increase your sales and find creative ways to do so, then you must know why should your customers (and your employees or yourself) care about the product? Do you believe in the product? Are you passionate about the product? Is it useful?

Knowing your why will simplify the process of creativity.

It’s really hard to be creative at things you don’t like. You probably had an experience in school or college where it was incredibly hard for you to be creative in the classes you didn’t enjoy. And you didn’t enjoy them because you didn’t have a good reason to do so. You didn’t have a clear why.

On the other hand, if you know your why and you’re clear about the reasons for why you should keep pursuing it, then the how will come much easier to you. In fact, once you’re committed to a new idea and you’re passionate about it, you will certainly find creative ways to help you keep moving things forward.

2. Improvise

Being creative requires being able to figure out as many solutions as possible for solving a particular problem.

And in order to push your thinking in this creative direction, you must be able to improvise. And improvisation, to me, refers to a process of spontaneous and uninhibited flow of ideas. The more you get in a “flow” state, the greater your ability to get in the zone and unleash your creative potential.

But you must be able to unstifle yourself.

If you’re feeling stressed out and you have a tight deadline you need to meet, then you probably won’t have much room to be experiment with your solutions.

Creative moments normally come when you’re unstifled. That’s why improve actors are so creative. They have no script, no planned sequence of events, no idea what character they will take on, and they come up with the funniest most creative scenarios.

Another reason why it might help you to try improvisation is because if you’re too attached to the outcome, they you won’t be creative. You’re too serious about achieving the goal that you desire and you probably want to do so as quickly as possible, and if you’re too attached to the outcome, you’re probably not giving yourself a chance to be creative.

It’s really hard to be creative when you’re stressed out. So relax and approach your task with a fun attitude. You will surprise yourself with how creative you will be.

3. Write

If you’re a reader, I assume that you like to write. You don’t have to be a writer, but I think you enjoy expressing yourself and your thoughts on paper.

And if you want to become creative, then you should certainly exercise your “idea muscle” as James Altucher likes to say.

For the idea muscle exercise, James recommends that you write down 10 ideas every single day for how you want to improve your business, for example. These could be marketing ideas, management ideas, pricing ideas, etc. And do so every day. At the end of each week or each month (however you like), sit down and go through all of the ideas you have written down and pick out the three or five best ideas on your list and create a plan of action.

Trust me, reading over your idea at the end of each week or each month will be an exhilarating experience. You will probably be surprised by how many creative ideas you were able to generate.

4. Learn From Others

If you want to be creative and get really good at it, then you have to stop thinking about being original…at least in the beginning.

In order to practice creativity, you have to see what others are doing and learn from them. Youtube is a great way to learn how to do all kinds of creative things. So take advantage of it. You can also learn from people you respect and view as mentors. How do they go about conducting their business? What creative solutions have they found to personal or financial problems? You can also learn from bloggers and read their blogs…like the one you’re reading right now J

So after you learn how things are done, you can begin to add your own twist or flavor to it. Try to do things in your own way. That’s a creative effort in its own right. Again, you don’t have to come up with something original in order to be creative. You just need to find something that you can make work for you.