Environment plays an important part in helping you unlock your creativity.

- Your Creative Space
You need a physical setting that makes you feel free to create.

- All Five Senses
All five senses have an effect on your creativity.

- Colors and Creativity
Certain colors play a part in influencing creativity.

- Choose Your Friends
The people you associate with can encourage and influence you to be more creative.

- Time of Day
Most people find that they're most creative at certain times of the day.

Conclusion
At times when you suddenly feel a burst of inspiration that seems to come from out of nowhere, take a look around and consider what environmental influences may have played a part.

Free writing helps you to stimulate your creativity and come up with new ideas.

- Why Free Write?
Free writing helps you to shut up your inner critic and just write. In addition to being a type of training, it can also generate new ideas.

- How to Free Write
Set a timer and write. Don't stop writing until the time is done. Don't go back and edit but just let the words flow.

- Coming up Blank
If you don't know what to write, continue writing the same word or phrase over and over again so that your brain keeps moving.

- Your Free Writing Topic
You can either choose a topic on which to write or just let the words flow.

Conclusion
Free writing improves with practice.

Introduction
A good way to introduce new ideas or discover new ways of looking at things is to introduce random elements.

- Why Randomize?
Randomizing the creative process helps you think of ideas you otherwise wouldn't have considered.

- Random Words and Images
Choose a random word or image to use as a starting point for the creative process.

- Making New Connections
Mix up various elements randomly to create new associations and connections.

- Pick a Number, Any Number
When faced with choices, pick a random number to help you decide.

- Finding Random Elements
There are many ways to generate random elements by taking advantage of technology.

Conclusion
Randomizing may not produce 'good' work but it will get you thinking differently and help you generate ideas.

Introduction
One way to come up with new ideas is to take a commonly held assumption and do the exact opposite.

- Examples of Opposites
Examples of taking the opposite tack and creating new, original ideas.

- Destroying Common Assumptions
You can find these original ideas by taking a simple phrase and turning it around. The opposite doesn't need to be accurate to stimulate your creativity.

- Experimenting with Opposites
You can use the opposites approach in many different ways to come up with ideas.

- Comparing and Contrasting
A similar approach is to take two things that are unlike each other and discovering their similarities. You can also take two things that are similar and show how they're different.

Conclusion
The opposites approach is especially effective for brainstorming.

Introduction
Children are naturally creative, so it helps your creativity to make your mind more like that of a child.

- Everything Is Play
To children, everything is play and everything is a game.

- No Self-Control
Children lack the self-control that adults have.

- Process over End Result
A child is more interested in the process than the end result.

- Questions to Help You Think Like a Child
Questions to stimulate your childlike creative mind.

- Get out the Board Games
A good way to nurture this inner child is to play children's games.

Conclusion
An even better way to do this is to actually spend time with kids playing and making things.

Introduction
A mind map is a visual brainstorming tool made up of bubbles that contain ideas and lines that connect these ideas.

- The Advantages of Mind Mapping
A mind map represents the mind's thought processes better than a list. You can create and view mind maps quickly. Mind mapping turns brainstorming into a game.

- How to Mind Map
Start with a central idea in the middle and branch out with related ideas.

- Mind Mapping Tools
There are many mind mapping tools that make the process easier and more fun.

- What to Mind Map?
You can use mind mapping for any project, idea or problem. It can be done collaboratively as well.

Conclusion
Make your mind maps as visually interesting as possible.

Introduction
SCAMPER is a method for exploring a topic in order to generate new ideas.

- The SCAMPER Method
At each stage of the acronym, ask key questions about the topic or object.

- S – Substitute
What materials could you substitute for others?

- C – Combine
What new ways can elements be combined?

- A – Adapt
How can it be adapted for other uses than the one for which it was intended?

- M – Minify / Magnify
Which elements can be minified or magnified?

- P – Put to Other Uses
In what other ways could you use it?

- E – Eliminate
What elements can you eliminate to streamline or simplify?

- R – Reverse
What happens when you turn it around and do it backwards?

Conclusion
These are just sample questions. You can find more or create your own.

Introduction
When creativity doesn't come, it's usually because there is a barrier that's blocking the flow.

- Stuck in a Rut
If you do things in the same way each time, you may feel stuck in a rut.

- Silence the Inner Critic
You may have an inner critic that tries to edit while you work.

- Focusing on the End Result
In order to work creatively, you need to enjoy the process and not just focus on the end result.

- Other People
The opinions and possible judgments of others could be keeping you from getting your work done.

- Self-Limiting Beliefs
Beliefs that you hold about yourself and your creativity may be stopping you.

- Lack of Fun
You may have lost interest in the project.

Conclusion
Creativity is something you practice and as you do so, it gets easier to let it flow.

Introduction

Now that you've learned about creativity and how to exercise it, it's time to put this information to use.

- Scheduling Your Creative Work

Decide on a regular time of day for your creative work and decide what activities you'll do during that time.

- Your Idea File

Keep a running file of ideas to draw on when you need them.

- Creativity Tools

Decide which tools you need and research what's available to choose what's best for you.

-lKnow Your Enemy

Identify the barriers to creativity that are most dangerous to you and decide how you're going to deal with them.

- Always Seeking

Always look for new ideas, creativity exercises and tools.

- A Creative Journal

Keep a journal documenting your creative work.

Conclusion

Apply the same methods to all areas of your life.

In this course book you will find detailed lecture notes to support the videos.

This workbook is intended to provide you with exercises to help unleash your creativity.