How does one develop creativity? By habitually taking creative approaches to life's challenges. To make this habitual, you just need to use certain techniques for a few weeks each, until they become a normal part of your thinking. One such technique is outlined here.

Develop Creativity By Changing Your Perspective

Suppose you work for an animal shelter and your goal is to place more dogs and cats in good homes. The usual perspective might be to think about how to "sell" people on the idea of adopting the animals. But what if you thought about it from the animal's perspective? You imagine what the animal would be looking for in a human.

That could lead to a new advertising campaign with "Human Wanted" advertisements. "Large collie looking for a human caretaker with a yard and time to play with me, with or without children. Can offer love and affection in exchange." "Small Persian cat looking for a man or woman with an apartment or house. I prefer to stay inside, and require at least one window that allows me to take my nap in the sun. Will purr when petted."

How do you change your perspective? What new perspectives can you adopt for creative purposes? This is something that needs to be demonstrated more than explained. A change of perspective can involve looking at a problem or issue from some other place (literally or metaphorically), with other eyes, from a different point in time, or with a wider or narrower view. Also, it's important to note that it isn't about then satisfying the goal FROM that other perspective, but about suggesting new ideas. Lets look at another example.

Suppose an investor is looking at houses in a neighborhood. He isn't sure if he wants to be a landlord or just buy a house to fix and sell, but he starts with the usual perspective of "How do I make money with this?" Then, remembering that he's trying to develop creativity in his approach, he considers other perspectives.

"What would renters like him to do?" he asks. It occurs to him that some would like to buy instead of renting. That suggests that there might be good profits to be made buying and then selling on easy terms to those who want to stop being renters.

What would the neighbors want him to do? This question reminds him of a comment one local made about the trashy houses bringing down property values. That gives our investor a new idea: buy the three worst houses on the street and make them look good. In this way, the value of each of them would likely be raised more than if he just fixed up one, because he improved the appearance of the whole street. His example may even encourage others to clean up their properties.

Notice that these two perspectives still relate back to his primary one of making money. But this won't always be the case. For example, if he imagines looking back on his investing activity from thirty years in the future, he might realize that he doesn't want to be involved in real estate. That might lead him to ideas for a life that is more fulfilling for him. An imaginary perspective from high above, looking down on the neighborhood, might encourage him to build homes that don't impact the environment so much.

Perhaps the most famous example of using an imaginative and even "crazy" perspective is that of Einstein visualizing himself riding a beam of light. That helped him create his theory of relativity. It's a great demonstration of how to develop creativity by using simple but powerful creative problem solving techniques.