How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 151

These four steps are described in more detail below.
Schedule a regular time to practice your craft --whether it's writing or
anything else -- and show up, even if you're not feeling creative.
Step One: Gather Information on Your Subject Matter
The first step in unleashing your creativity involves gathering
information about the topic at hand.
Read everything you can on your subject matter:
- Go to the library and check out books;
- Go to your neighborhood bookstore and browse through interesting
reading material;
- Read magazine articles;
- Subscribe to a newsletter;
- Surf the internet for information;
- Subscribe to blogs dedicated to your topic.
You can also talk to people who have knowledge on the topic and ask
them lots of questions, go to a lecture, enroll in a seminar, and even
take an online class. The more you know about a topic, the more likely
you are to come up with creative ideas for that subject matter.
("Working it all out . . . ", courtesy of Lost in Scotland).
Creativity Tip:
Play Baroque Music
Baroque music-such as Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" and Pachbel's
"Canon"-has been shown to synchronize brain waves at about 60 cycles
per second, a frequency associated with increased alpha waves. In turn,
alpha is a frequency of mind associated with enhanced creativity.
Step Two. Digest the Information and Apply Creativity Techniques
The second step involves digesting and working with the raw material
that you gathered in the previous step.

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