Many people believe that creativity is a mysterious gift you are either born with or without, but the truth is far more encouraging: creative thinking is a skill you can absolutely learn. Much like a professional comedian who seems effortlessly funny but has actually spent years training their brain to find the humor in every situation, you can cultivate specific habits of mind to spark innovation. By adopting a highly organized approach to your thoughts, you can eventually achieve a sense of natural spontaneity.

Train Your Brain Like an Inventor

To begin your journey, start looking at the world as a draft waiting for an edit. You can build the mind of an inventor by practicing the redesign of everything you see, from the way cars are built to how efficiently food is served. If you commit to this mental exercise every day for just three weeks, it will transform into a permanent habit.

Another way to enrich your thinking is to shift your perspective. When you encounter a new idea, don’t just settle for your first impression; instead, ask yourself how a Martian would view it or what the Buddha might say. By internally exploring the opposite perspective of any situation, you will find that you always have something unique and insightful to add to a conversation.

The Power of Systematic Creativity

Creativity doesn’t always require a lightning bolt of inspiration; sometimes, it requires a system. To practice systematic creativity, try a simple exercise using 40 cards—split between nouns, verbs, adjectives, and random words. By shuffling these cards and forcing yourself to write a short poem using the words you draw, you train your mind to find a poetic use for any concept. This structured method is so effective that it has even helped writers produce published poetry.

Solving Problems by Challenging Assumptions

To truly innovate, you must move beyond simply knowing about techniques like “attributes listing” or “concept combination” and make them a habitual part of your thought process. One of the most effective habits is “assumption challenging”.

Imagine you are trying to invent a new kind of bicycle. Instead of starting with the traditional model, challenge every basic assumption by asking:

• Does it actually need wheels?
• Does it have to be used outdoors?
• What if the bike stayed inside and pedaling it powered a video screen that let you “steer” through different worlds?

While not every thought will be a masterpiece, training your mind ensures you have enough ideas to increase the likelihood of finding a truly useful one. What looks like “spontaneous” brilliance to others is actually the result of your dedicated brain training.

Think of your creativity like a well-worn hiking trail through a forest. At first, the path is overgrown and difficult to find, but the more often you walk it—challenging assumptions and shifting perspectives—the clearer and more effortless the journey becomes until you can navigate the woods in your sleep.