DECISION MAKING is everything. The quality of your decisions affects your career, health, relationships, happiness—you name it. That being said, do you consider yourself do be a good decision maker?
It’s fine if you don’t, because in this article you’ll learn exactly how you can improve your decision-making processes (Hint: It involves you using your creative potential).
Why Is Creativity Important in Decision Making?
Being able to think with imaginative skill helps us make better decisions in life and business. There are many reasons why creativity is important.
It Helps Solve Problems
The world’s greatest thinkers used their creativity to solve challenges that humanity once faced. Without our innate human talent for creative thinking, the world wouldn’t be as advanced as it is today; We wouldn’t have cars, nor would we have phones.
This brings us to our first point: For a strategic decision to be made, you must first define the problem. What is it that you need to make a good decision on?
Let’s say you’re in the year 1885 and you’re looking to invent a new mode of transportation, one that is faster and more efficient. At that point in human history, the transportation options you have at your disposal are a train, bicycle, and your own two feet. You’re tired of always waiting for the train, and don’t want to walk or use your bicycle because it’s exhausting.
A problem statement along these lines is what Carl Benz defined for himself before going on to invent the first gas engine vehicle. It was only once he defined the problem that he could start using his imagination to come up with a revolutionary solution.
It Allows You to See Different Perspectives
A well-known Albert Einstein quote reads, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” And this is true. We can’t engage in active problem solving when we are in our default mode network.
The default mode network is linked to usual, everyday consciousness and kicks in when our attention isn’t focused on anything. When we are in this state, we think in ways that are familiar and habitual to us.
In order to make strategic decisions, you have to escape this mode of thinking and actively think outside the box (Although some research would disagree with this1). This brings us to our second point: For an effective decision to occur, you must find ways to take on different perspectives.
You can look at life through a different lense in many ways, but in order for it to become a habit, you must take the time to build your imagination often.
How Can You Build Your Creativity to Become Better at Decision Making
Finding creative solutions doesn’t come easy. With practice, however, anyone can take a given situation and use their creative skills to make a good decision.
1. Engage in Divergent Thinking
Divergent thinking is a creative decision-making process used to generate ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It’s often used by creative thinkers in the preparation stage of decision making.
Divergent thinking works by defining a problem and then brainstorming potential solutions. Rather than making habitual decisions that will affect you negatively in the long term, you’re using your critical thinking skills for information gathering to find the best solution. Research shows that it is a skill that can be improved. 2
Let’s say you want to quit your job and work for yourself, but haven’t found the courage to start your own business yet. You’ve hesitated in the past because you didn’t know what business ideas will work best for you. The divergent thinking process for this situation might look something like this:
- I’ve always been passionate about fitness, so I could open a gym.
- I like working with kids. Why not open a day care?
- If I enjoy optimizing business operations, I should become a consultant.
When you brainstorming for potential solutions, you’re writing down all available information until you feel confident enough about one of the ideas to make a final decision. How can you use divergent thinking in your life or business?
2. Talk to Creative People About Your Situation
The creation of new ideas comes easy to people who have experience in solving difficult problems. Rather than asking yoursef, “Why am I not creative?“, see if you can talk to a creative person about your situation.
Reach out to someone in your circle of friends and acquaintances who need to come up with imaginative ideas on a daily basis:
- Artists and painters
- Business leaders
- Pastry chefs
- Architects
- Musicians
By talking to these people, you will be able to see how they go about problem-solving, which allows you to take on new perspectives. Chances are that they might not come up with innovative solutions on the spot because they don’t understand the challenge you’re facing as well as you do. It is therefore important that you explain your siuation carefully and with as much detail as possible.
3. Take a Break from Your Smartphone
The best decision makers in the world will tell you that it’s impossible to generate creative ideas when you’re constantly checking and using your cell phone.
In How to Break Up With Your Phone, author Catherine Price shares how her smartphone impacted her focus:
“I found evidence that there might indeed be a connection between my diminished attention span and the time I was spending on my smartphone and other internet-connected wireless mobile devices (which some researchers quasi-jokingly refer to as WMDs). While research on these devices is in its early stages (unsurprising, given that they’ve barely been around for ten years), what is known so far suggests that spending extended time on them has the power to change both the structure and function of our brains—including our abilities to form new memories, think deeply, focus, and absorb and remember what we read.”
If you’re serious about building your imagination and appreciate the value in generating original ideas, consider taking some time away from your cell phone.
Packed with tested strategies and practical tips, this book is the essential, life-changing guide for everyone who owns a smartphone. Is your phone the first thing you reach for in the morning and the last thing you touch before bed? Do you frequently pick it up “just to check,” only to look up forty-five minutes later wondering where the time has gone? Do you say you want to spend less time on your phone—but have no idea how to do so without giving it up completely? If so, this book is your solution.
Tell your friends and family that you won’t be available for a couple of days because you want to focus on an important life decision. They will appreciate your honesty and will respect your decision.
Creativity is Important in Decision Making Both in Life and Business
Your creative process holds answers to the problems you’re facing in life and business. It doesn’t matter if you’re a student, labourer, or business owner; Creative work is the key to overcoming a recurring problem and the solution to designing a better life for you and the people that surround you.
There are many different ways to improve the nature of the decisions you make, but the perhaps best ways to stimulate your creative mind are …
- Engaging in divergent thinking
- Talking to creative people
- Taking a break from your phone
Practice these creative activities consistently, and good decision making will feel like second nature.
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References
- Beaty, Roger E. “Creativity and the default network: A functional connectivity analysis of the creative brain at rest.” Neuropsychologia, Nov. 2014, pp. 92-98, doi:doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.09.019.
- Hainselin, Mathieu. “Improving Teenagers’ Divergent Thinking With Improvisational Theater.” Frontiers in Psychology, 25 Sept. 2018, doi:doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01759.