sources of creativity

TO THE CRAZY ONES.

Here's to the crazy ones.
  The misfits.
  The rebels.
  The troublemakers.
  The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules,
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
  disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.

Because they change things.
  They invent.        They imagine.        They heal.
  They explore.        They create.        They inspire.
They push the human race foreward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
  Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who think they are crazy enough to think they can
change the world, are the ones who do.

So NEVER MIND THE QUANTITY, THINK FOR YOURSELF,
Dare to think different

(sent by Eldon Hutzedon)

Humour, the ability and willingness to laugh about silly things is an important source. Just think where you have learned most, in classes with a grim atmosphere and strict teachers or classes with a relaxed atmosphere and teachers with sense of humour.
Fantasy, Get back the fantasy and imagination from childhood. The best realities have been started as silly fantasies. The imagination is as big as you have explored it, and behind the horizon there is more. A universe full of pictures and dreams.
Dare to go crazy. Besides our serious grown-up side there is a crazy side. It does not mean that you have lost all control of yourself, it just helps to regard situations in a relaxed manner. And when somebody or some idea is labelled as crazy, check carefully what kind of craziness you are dealing with.
Activate your sense of Wonder. Marvelling about things is a spontaneous reaction to something new. Quite often we do not see the new and original in a 'familiar' situation, because we do not really look. Perhaps the most precious gift children have is their sense of wonder about the seemingly everyday, normal things, like the strength of the fragile spider's web. When we were children everything was once new, and probably there is still so much new, if we just care to look.
Accept failure and do not be afraid to make mistakes. Instead find ways to use mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. Townsend, once the successful CEO of Avis said that of every three decisions 2 were wrong on an average. Yet thanks to the openness with which things were discussed, the mistakes did not have to be made.
Accept people and situations they way they are. Creativity means accepting reality and then trying to change things for the better. Things that irritate us we may want to change and if it does not work we try to ignore them. Ignoring them does not make them go away. Accepting them and using them to improve myself is where creativeness can do marvels.
Use trust as the basis of your dealings with others. Consider your reactions when you meet a stranger. Distance calls force resistance. In team work trust in each other is necessary to dare to be creative. People with new ideas are very vulnerable. When you have trust in yourself, you will also dare to trust others.
Visit a patent office, you will be amazed by the number of ideas just waiting to be tried.
Ask questions. When something is not clear or you do not agree with it ask Why, what, when, where, who or how. Questioning people is a free way of getting new ideas. Questions create openness and tell me how others think. People who have all the answers do not help me much.