How to Use Your Whole Brain to Be More Innovative and Creative

Just like any organ in the body, the brain gets tired.

You think. You analyze. You solve problems. You keep pushing your brain to do more and more.

In some ways it’s good, because you’re not allowing it to be complacent or get stagnant. You’re moving it to the next level.

On the other hand, you can overwork your brain, where the more you push it, the less productive it is.

Your brain is lazy. It likes doing the same things. When it does the same thing over and over, it creates patterns and routines, which saves you time in your day…a lot of time.

However, doing too many patterns and routines leads to complacency. It creates boredom.

Your brain likes to be used. It enjoys doing different things and pushing its boundaries, because it grows in the process.

It creates new ways of doing things, a fresh perspective, or another view point. It invites creativity and develops innovation.

As a child, you used these things daily. You make a rocket, car ramp, or castle out of a box. Your imagination took you places. When your parents saw the box, they likely thought, I never thought to do that with that.

As a parent to a young child, I’m astonished at how his mind works. How he comes up with the ideas he has. Where he thinks of his questions to ask. It ignites another side to me, as I’ve forgotten I know how to create a really cool thing from a seemingly boring box.

How to transform it into a wonderland that’s capable of anything. That can be a fortress one minute and a racetrack the next.

I tend to use the same parts of my brain daily in my business…analyze, problem solve, discuss, and converse.

Children help you tap into that creativity, innovative, and fun side. And thankfully, I have one that helps me balance this out daily.

When we allow ourselves to tap into our whole brain, it sparks another side of yourself that you might have forgotten existed. It allows you to dive into a part of yourself that you don’t use daily. And just like with anything when you don’t practice using it, it falls away.

Just like when you learned another language in school. When you don’t practice using that language, you forget you know it. Then when you pick it back up, initially, it might be challenging. But the more you use it, the easier it becomes.

When you don’t practice innovation, creativity, or analysis, you forget you have those abilities and they fall away. So when you begin using them, it might be a bit challenging. In fact, you might say, “I’m not good at this.”

However, it gets easier the more you do it.

Allow your brain to ignite those parts of you you’ve forgotten about. Allow your imagination to flow.

You don’t need a child at home to help you tap into your whole brain.

Here are a few ideas to help you tap into your whole brain:

1.      Games and puzzles are a great way to use different parts of your brain and to keep yourself mentally challenged. Crossword puzzles, Sodoku, or brain teasers.

2.      Take a box (any size, any shape) and see what you can make out of it. Don’t analyze. Don’t judge. Just get crayons, scissors, and tape and go at it.

3.      Get paper and pencil and start writing. Draw a picture, write a story, or start a book. Just put pen to paper and see what comes out

Let your imagination go. Don’t edit. Don’t stop it. Just let your brain be free and see what you come up with.

It just might be the most amazing thing yet.

You want to keep your mind fresh. Keep it learning, growing, and creating, for this helps you make better decisions, solve problems faster, and get things done quicker.

Creativity and innovation will help you at home and work, with your clients and kids, and most of all, it will keep you using your whole brain and allow yourself to continually bring new ideas to projects, new perspectives to the mundane, and new views to what you’re capable of.

Develop. Create. Innovate. Ignite your whole brain to a better you!