Creativity: How Do You Maintain Your Creativity After Leaving College?

I have personally explored what are some of the ideal situations for creativity and innovation, and in what situations it flourishes. What I have discovered is that several types of collaborative conditions support new ideas and inventions. A Harvard Review story noted that collaboration was a key ingredient for innovation.

Steven Johnson, in his recent book “Where Good Ideas Come From”, theorizes that two examples of these innovative environments include large cities (urban communities), and the Web. Why? Because numerous connections are made and remixed in these densely populated environments, the result being a sort of hybrid melting pot of ideas and solutions. That is one of the reasons I am grateful for my NYU experiences. After leaving New York University ( NYU), I was wired to continue improving myself creatively.

Techniques that work best for me personally are immersion experiences. These experiences require me to have a very focused experience in a specific subject area for several hours or days. These events free up my mind and stimulate imagination and ideation.

For example, I have worked with TV entertainment personalities, and some are celebrity Top Chef’s.To gain a sharper perspective into their world and stimulate my creative side, I volunteered at a non-profit soup kitchen and spent months working different commercial kitchen tasks until I fully understood the subject area. It helped me to understand my client(s) better and ideate on many different levels in and outside of the office.

Physical activities such as rigorous mountain biking that requires total focus and risk, obstacle course mud races, long boarding, indoor rock climbing, yoga and others all help me think more strategically and ideate better.

Music has also made a profound impact on my thinking. I frequently go to live EDM, Indie, hiphop, and alt rock music performances and festivals (attend the Bonnaroo Music Festival annually). These immersion events help stimulate creativity through chance conversations, sharing experiences, and staying in the loop of cultural trends. As Steven Johnson noted, “numerous connections are made and remixed in densely populated environments, the result being a sort of hybrid melting pot of ideas and solutions”.

Black Keys, Detroit 2014 Photo: peter sabbagh

Learning to play (teaching myself) a musical instrument has also made a large improvement in the way I listen to my environment professionally and personally. It also supports ideation, perspective, problem solving, collaboration, and listening skills.

Finally, finding professional opportunities to work cross culturally and in foreign countries has had an amazing affect on increasing my creativity and resourcefulness.

What do you do personally to increase your Creativity?