This document provides tips and strategies for improving creativity. It discusses how lateral and vertical thinking can be developed through practices like copying works to build knowledge, keeping an ideas wall, and voicing ideas publicly. Regular creative exercises are recommended to train the brain, such as listing ideas daily or asking questions. Being in the right relaxed state and removing distractions can also help spark creativity.

1. The thinks you can think
if only you try…
Shelli Walsh, ShellShock Ltd

2. “Think left and think right
and think low and think
high. Oh, the thinks you
can think if only you try.”
Dr Suess

3. Learning thinking skills will improve: data
analysis, ad words campaigns, ideas for
content creation, ways to approach outreach,
ways to find new sources of traffic and ways to
raise the revenue and success of a website –
because that's what we are all here for, right?

4. Source: distractify.com
Children have brilliant creative minds naturally and unashamedly…

5. “Creativity is not a talent, it’s a way of operating.”
John Cleese
Credit: screen shot from Monty Python’s Flying Circus TV Show

7. Until you have learnt the
fundamentals and know how to do
something the right way, it’s very
difficult to do it to your best ability

8. Understanding how to
think will drastically
improve your
creativity.

9. Vertical thinking
Traditional thinking
Logical
Methodical
Sequential
Stops at first solution

10. Lateral thinking
Non-sequential
Non-selective
Removing preconception
Being wrong before being right
Open to all ideas

11. I recommend
reading this
book to learn
more…

12. We need copying to build
a foundation of knowledge
and understanding.

13. © Jim Davis
Copying
cartoons, like
Garfield, was a
foundation for
developing my
illustration skills.
I then progressed
to find my own
unique style.

14. I think I was
getting pretty
good after a few
years…

15. Getting into the right state is essential for reaching
our full potential.
Our states can be open or closed.
Being closed, stressed or under pressure usually
inhibits creative thinking.

16. Dopamine
Emotion
Relaxed Distracted
research would indicate
that the best
environments in which
to incubate creativity
are:
Always carry a notebook

17. Any activity where we are relaxed
yet focused on a mundane
function and not thinking is our
sweet spot for ideas:
In the shower
Exercising
Cooking
Listening to music
Driving
Swimming

18. Removing yourself from the usual
place of work will remove yourself
from distraction, help the brain to
break pattern which in turn will
switch into a more receptive state
for ideas:
Coffee shop
The library
A hotel
Or even a camper van…

19. Obligatory Breaking Bad shot…
Source: breakingbad.wikia.com

21. It is estimated there are 295 exabytes of
information in the world
This equals 315 times the amount of sand
in the world

22. There are no
new ideas.

23. Combinations of old ideas are
where new ideas are created.
Take an existing product and
improve it, add a unique twist to it
or combine it with another.

24. The very first mobile phone to
contain a camera was released in
Japan, in 2000 by J-Phone
After someone connected a digital
camera and a mobile phone as an
added feature to sell more phones

25. Ideas wall
Source: crazywalls.com
An ideas wall is a technique used to help make
connections between random bits of information

26. Read this in-depth article to learn how to make an ideas wall…
moz.com/blog/how-to-be-more-creative-in-your-online-campaigns

28. My advice above all else is to read
as widely as possible as I believe
this feeds a creative mind more
than any other activity.
You get out what you put in…

30. “Great minds ask great
questions”
Michael J. Gelb, Think Like Da Vinci

31. Always be asking:
What? Why? Where?
How? Who? When?

32. Source: distractify.com

34. The brain is a muscle. Scientific
evidence shows that synapses
forge physical channels through
the brain which become stronger
and more deeply ingrained the
more an action is repeated.

35. Through repeated
thinking skills you can
become more creative.

36. Ten Ideas exercise…
Waiters pad
List ten ideas
Train your brain
Every. Day.

38. Source: Airplane The Movie ©Paramount Pictures
Voicing an idea is like a fear of flying –
a leap of faith

39. Perhaps the most terrifying thing
humans can expose ourselves too
is the potential public humiliation
of saying: ‘this is what I think…
this is what I believe…’

40. Get out of your
comfortable cage
and push yourself

41. Ideas + action
= creativity

42. Source: distractify.com

43. The key to creativity is:
Learning the skill
State & Environment
Making connections
Feeding the machine
Overcoming fear
Practice
Action

44. Source: StarWars © George Lucas
“Do. Or do not. There is no try. ”
(Yoda voice optional)

45. Thought provoking short articles and practical tips about
being more creative to improve your online campaigns:
Sign-up for the weekly newsletter and get the free ebook at:
creativity101.com

46. Shelli Walsh
ShellShock Ltd
Creative online campaigns to engage
and produce measureable results
ShellShockuk.com