In this lesson we look at some of the things that can nurture your creative life.  This includes organisational culture, the physical environment and your own habits and patterns of working.  Some of these will be under your control, others won’t be; however even for those things you can’t control, understanding them gives you the opportunity to work out ways to ameliorate any negative aspects and take advantage of the positive ones.  Of course once you have had that creative insight it is important to capture it before it is forgotten!

8.1 Introduction

Are there times and place where you feel more creative?

Through most of this course we have been exploring different techniques that can help you be more creative.  However, you can also try to make your environment and lifestyle more conducive to creativity

In this section we consider the way the organisational and physical environment can nurture creativity.

8.2  Habits

Bad ideas, other divergent thinking techniques are about breaking habits of mind, escaping that fixation on tried and tested ways that is the enemy of creativity.

However, in this section we’ll see how habits can also be used to foster creativity: from what you wear to where you sit and what you do.

8.3  Create and Capture

When you have had your inspired ideas, how do you capture them before they are forgotten.  There are some general principles, particularly avoiding early over-elaboration, but this is something quite individual: moleskin or computer, fountain pen or track pad; you need to discover what works for you.