Gather lots of information about your subject matter. Study it diligently. Work hard. Follow Vincent Van Gogh’s advice: “If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well,one has at the same time insight into and understanding of many things.” Look at your topic from many different perspectives. How would a mystic approach this idea? How would a rocket scientist look at this? What would a child do? What would a very old person do?

    Meditate. Let your thoughts simmer as you go for a long walk. Get back to work. Create a hypothesis. Test your hypothesis. Relax. Inspiration won’t strike if you’re tense. Hang around with creative people. Go to a café frequented by artists and eavesdrop on their conversation. Be comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. Create a mind map of your subject matter.

    Remember that practice makes perfect. Sit down to create even when you don’t feel like it. Gather more information. Think abundantly: there are many ideas out there, numerous alternatives, several solutions, and endless ways to make things better. Know that there’s an unlimited supply of ideas. Buy a goldfish. Watch it swim around in its tank. Ignore people who try to dissuade you from following through on your idea.

    Remember that inspiration requires perspiration. Ask yourself: is there another way to look at this? What assumptions are you making? Challenge those assumptions. Read books on creativity.

    Apply the techniques taught in those books. Visualize. Listen to Baroque music. Put in the hours. What are you failing to see that is staring you right in the face? Read poetry. Be passionate. Sort through Rorschach ink-blots; what do you see? Break the rules.

    (The “Full Spectrum” photograph is courtesy of mdezemery).

    Jolts to your routine will lead to new ideas. Simplify: what can you edit out of your current idea to make it better? Exercise.

    Exaggerate. What if you were a thousand times smarter? What if you were two inches tall? Make the colors brighter. Now see it in black and white. Take risks. Get over the fear of being wrong.Believe in magic. Set a time constraint. Learn to juggle. Remember to feed your goldfish. Laugh until your stomach hurts.

    What common elements could you combine in a new way?Conduct experiments. Take note of what works and what doesn’t. Make small tweaks and try again. Take time off and put together a jigsaw puzzle. What if this problem had to be solved in the next half-hour? Set a quantity quota: what if you had to come up with twenty different ways of solving this? Discuss your idea with a friend who is very different from you. Follow Einstein’s advice: take a nap. What does your intuition tell you?

    What does your logic tell you? Are there any analogies you can draw from nature? Trust yourself. Give yourself permission to make something really special. Put on the judge’s robe and criticize your own work. Decide what works and what doesn’t. Keep molding your idea, adding a little bit here, and taking away a little bit there. Come up with a unique plan for getting your work out there. Now take your idea and implement it in the real world.

    Watch your idea take its first breath; its first steps . . . Do a little dance and thank the gods of creativity for their inspiration.

    收集一些關于你自己事情的資料、信息。勤奮、努力地學習它。文森特.梵高的建議：“如果一個人能掌握一件事，并能非常好地理解它，那么他同時也能洞察和了解其他很多事情。”從不同角度審視你所選的話題。神學家怎么想這個觀點呢？研究火箭的科學家怎么看呢？孩子會怎么樣做呢？老人又會怎么呢？

    沉思中。那就散步久一些，讓你的思維好好醞釀一下吧。回到工作上。做一個假設。測試一下這個假設。放松。人至緊則無智。多和那些有創造性的人在一起。多和藝術家一起去咖啡館，聽聽他們的談話。輕松面對您所不確定和不清楚的事情。在腦子里構建一個圖，是關于您之前收集關于自己事情的資料。

    請記住：熟能生巧。即使你不喜歡它，還是得要坐下來做一做它。收集更多的信息。想得再多一些。其實有很多種想法，無數種選擇，一些解決辦法和無數種讓事情做得更好的方式。要知道想法的出現是無窮的。不必理會那些勸止你按照自己意愿做事情的人。

    問一下自己：對于這件事情就沒有其他方法了嗎？你做了什么設想呢？試一試那些設想吧。讀一些關于創造性方面的書。

    運用書上所教你的方法。形象化一些就是：聽聽巴洛克音樂。聽它幾個小時。你所沒有看見的就是你現在面對開始的。讀讀詩。要充滿熱情地去讀它。好好斟酌一下你的日常事物。

    可能會有新的想法、思路。簡言之，你能用什么辦法把現在的想法做得更好？試一試。

    夸張一些：如果你是現在的千分之一那么小，你會怎樣做？抑或是兩英尺那么高？把事情弄明了一些。那么現在換個角度來看看。冒一下險，克服一下因犯錯而產生的恐懼。相信魔力。設置一個時間限定。學習一下玩戲法。記得喂你得金魚。如果笑，要笑到你胃痛。

    怎樣可以將普通元素以一種新的方式組合呢？做一些實驗。將哪一些有效，哪一些無效記錄下來。進行小的調整，然后再試一次。花一些時間玩玩七巧板智力拼圖。在接下來的半小時里，如果這個問題必須解決，你會怎樣做？設定配額數量：如果有20種解決這件事情的不同辦法，你會怎樣做？和與你持不同意見的朋友討論一下你的想法。接受愛因斯坦的意見吧：打個小打盹兒。

    你的直覺告訴你什么？你的邏輯怎么樣告訴你呢？從性質上可以得出什么類推法嗎?相信你自己。允許你自己做一些真正不一樣的事情。站在法官的角度來批評一下自己的事情。評判一下哪一些有用，哪一些無用。在你思想慢慢成型的過程中，在這里加一點，去掉那里一些。為自己的事情做一個獨特的計劃。那么現在就將你的想法在現實世界中實踐吧。

    關注你的第一次嘗試，第一步… …小跳一段舞蹈，感謝上帝的創造性，因為他們有如此的靈感。