How to ‘kick’ start your creativity (or what I learned from Roger von Oech a creativity consultant)

The ‘kick’ is a reference to Roger von Oech’s book A kick in the seat of the pants. A patient goes to see a doctor and he tells the doctor that he is stuck in a creative rut. He can’t think of new ideas and he has tried a number of things without success. Suddenly, the doctor gives him a kick and gets the patient out of the creative rut.

Roger is also the best selling author of A whack in the side of the head, along similar lines, the book provides specific tactics and strategies to be creative and generate ideas. This book outlines a specific framework that breaks down the creative process into four roles: the Explorer, the Artist, the Judge, and the Warrior.

Let’s take a look at each role and the specific tactics that I will be using when I go through the creative process:

the Explorer

The Explorer is the first part of the creative process. They are looking for new information from which they can generate ideas. Think of the Explorer similar to a real explorer. The explorer is looking for new land, for undiscovered parts of the world, for new things. As an Explorer, you can also find new sources of information. For example:

• Use obstacles to break out of ruts. You…