Do you think you can have too much creativity? Creativity is the ability to turn an idea into something real and tangible. So, if you find yourself stuck in the idea rut and haven’t actually found a way to turn your ideas into reality, you are likely really not suffering from too much creativity but instead a lack of focus. This can be the result of a lack of understanding of your goals.
1) Get Off the Idea Treadmill
Some people mistake the ability to generate ideas with creativity. But, the fact is, to be creative you have to be able to do two things; think and produce. Without the production part, you’re not being creative – you’re just dreaming. To move from dreamer to creator you have to act.
2) Focus Your Objectives
If you’re having a hard time getting to the action part, try refocusing your objectives. Write down what your goals are for even trying to come up with a project. Make a list of the ideas you’ve come up with thus far and see how they align with your objectives.
3) Get Feedback
Ask other people to give you feedback about some of your ideas by sharing them along with your objectives for the idea. If you ask your clients and customers what they think, or colleagues what they think, it will help you narrow down your ideas.
4) Pick One Idea to See to Completion
Now that you’ve focused your ideas to meet your objectives, pick one idea to see through to completion. Remember, without completing an idea, you’ve not really fully participated in the creative process. You have to think and produce to really truly be involved in creation.
5) Develop Actionable Goals
Now that you have chosen an idea, it’s time to develop your goals into actionable steps to see the entire idea to fruition. A goal is not truly complete until you know exactly what steps you need to take to realize it.
6) Identify Resources
When you know what you’re going to create and what steps you need to take to get there, figure out what resources you have and what resources you lack. Identify ways to fill the gaps. Maybe you need to learn something new, or perhaps you need to outsource a few of the actionable steps to reach your goals.
7) Set Time Limits and Deadlines
Once you’ve put into order the steps necessary to develop your idea into a true creation, you need to give each step a deadline. A great way to do that is to determine when you’d like to “launch” your new creation – the day you want it finished and ready for the world. Then work your way backward through the steps until you arrive at today, your beginning.
8) Preserve through to Completion
The very final step toward truly being creative is to not give up. You may have setbacks and your time line might even be off a bit, but you need to do what it takes and complete all the steps so that you can experience the final results of your creation: a finished project. Only when you have something that other people can see, hear, smell, taste or touch are you done.
Creativity is about the creation process, and if you’re doing it right, you simply cannot have too much creativity. If you’re having problems, you need to focus yourself on both sides of the process of creation: thinking and doing.