“But I haven’t got a creative bone in my body …” I hear people say.

Chances are no, the last time I checked the human skeleton isn’t formed with one. But we all have the potential of creativity within us.

Creativity is not the exclusive domain of poets, artists and musicians. It is the catalyst for progress in every industry and field. Albert Einstein is often quoted for his views on its importance to his work and scientific research.

Creativity is the phenomenon of bringing any new and valuable/useful ‘something’ into the world. It includes using imagination to be inventive, problem solving, finding solutions, generating ideas, recognising possibilities and alternatives and offering original or new ways of seeing or doing something. And I love working with it.

Coaching Creativity might sound questionable. Is it really possible to force that often-elusive gift of inspiration and call forth the muses? Unfortunately if we just wait for inspiration to strike like a lightening bolt from … well, wherever it comes from, we could be waiting a long time.

“We have to put ourselves in inspiration’s way”, the first thing I was told when I embarked on my MA in Creative Writing many years ago … through a deliberate and continual practice of our work, whatever that might be. This is a sentiment echoed from many of the greats. Acclaimed American author and social activist, Jack London wrote in 1903, “Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club, and if you don’t get it you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it.”

Making time to work and focus on the areas of our Business, our lives (our art) which will benefit from creative problem solving and innovation, is one of those very important (but often not considered urgent) tasks we looked at last week.

The busy lives we lead and the often resulting stress are not conducive to creative thinking. Research shows that time pressures and deadlines hinder creativity. Our modern tendency to multitask, our growing addiction to technology and living on the precipice of physical or mental ‘burnout’ are further threats to our resourcefulness, imagination and inventiveness.

These are the foundations for breakthrough ideas, helpful answers and even simple refinements. Most problems or challenges have multiple solutions when we look for them. Allowing ourselves the space and time to do this is key. Providing these and fostering support for the process itself are just some of the ways that Coaching encourages creativity.

Some top tips to spark and enhance the creative process:

Brainstorming. A tool I employ whenever generating options in a typical coaching situation. Letting ideas flow out, pop up and generate others is a great base in the search for solutions. This process involves sidestepping our internal filter and allowing anything to come out. Even the craziest ideas can contribute to a useful ‘way forward’. It has to be exhaustive. Often the thoughts that emerge at the very end, beyond when we think we’re tapped out, are the ones that most influence the outcome.

Permission to Play. Allowing ourselves to tinker with ideas and access that childhood freedom to imagine and act upon it, is a powerful part of the creative process. It requires a mindset of openness to new ideas, embracing mistakes and the unexpected. I personally recommend the techniques of Improvisation as tools for creative idea-making (see Improv Bermuda). All too often our inner critic or fear of judgment damns ideas before they can germinate. Walt Disney employed a creative process of different stages: a dreaming phase to come up with wonderful ideas, a planning stage which set about turning those dreams into a logistical reality and then a critical phase, to test the strength of the plan and see where improvements needed to be made. The beauty of his strategy is that the critic can only ever judge the plan, not the original creative dream.

Clear the Fluff. Writer Julia Cameron, author of the best-selling creativity guide, ‘The Artist’s Way’ says that ‘morning pages’ are the cornerstone of her creative practice: three pages of handwritten stream of consciousness, first thing in the morning. Not intended for anyone to read or even be ‘good’, just to get it out. To clear our mind of whatever chatter is going on in there. This unloading exorcises draining thought loops, unhelpful preoccupations and serves to refocus us to what is important about the day ahead. I see it as skimming off the top layer of froth before revealing the good stuff.

Meditate. Many highly successful people cite meditation as an inroad to creative thinking and good practice: Bill Ford, executive director of Ford Motor Company, Oprah Winfrey, Def Jam Records’ co-founder Russell Simmons … to name a few. Much lauded film director David Lynch is a strong advocate for this. In his book, ‘Catching The Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity’ (Penguin, 2006) Lynch writes on how meditation (for him, Transcendental Meditation) penetrates the upper layers so that we can dive into the depths of our subconscious to find our very best ideas.

Sleep. My best ideas happen in the middle of the night. I have written before how sleep is crucial to learning and creativity. During sleep we consolidate and synthesise memories and new information, so getting enough of it is key to our creative well-being. Writer Stephen King shares that sleep is an essential part of his creative process, for releasing what he calls the “repressed imagination”. I often deliberately use sleep as problem solving method. Posing a question to the subconscious as I switch out the light will often procure an inspired answer, albeit waking me up at 4 in the morning. I always keep a notepad by the bed. (Having handy places to record ideas at all times, some old-school moleskine-type book or even an app for catching inspiration as it occurs is highly recommended.)

Think Happy Thoughts. Just like they made Peter Pan fly, so can they assist our ideas to do the same. Studies have shown that happy emotions promote creative thinking. Other studies show that feelings of love and compassion for others also positively affect our creative output. Find ways to even come at ‘problems’ with a positive and loving attitude to aid in stimulating creative solutions and ideas.

What goes in comes out. Filling ourselves up with beauty, great art in all its various forms, inspired thought and writing, inspiring conversation and people is going to have a positive influence on what we output. We might fear that others’ work will lead us and quash our individuality but some argue there is not true originality, all ideas come from what already exists. Many creative greats will readily admit their influences. As filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard said, “It’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to.”

Notice what you notice about your creative thinking. What enhances it? Are there certain times of day or particular circumstances in which you better find your flow or feel more in tuned with your creative capacity? Perhaps keep a creativity journal to recognise these patterns. Make a note of what works best for you … and make a point to do more of them.

Julia Pitt is a trained Success Coach and certified NLP practitioner on the team at Benedict Associates. For further information contact Julia on (441) 705-7488, www.juliapittcoaching.com.