When I was at the Pop Art exhibition in the Gold Coast (KR Connect 3^rd May ’23, https://krconnect.blog/2023/05/andy-warhol-on-the-gold-coast.html), I picked up a pack of 50 cards by Nik Mahon.  A pack that promised to Change Your Ideas – and to boost your Creativity.

Nik recommends that when you’re staring at the proverbial blank screen / piece of paper, take this deck, shuffle the cards and deal them one by one until a great idea is born.

The cards have a simple idea on one side and a well written explanation on the other side.

Here are Nik’s 50 Tips to liberate your creative self.

• Take a break
• Put it to bed
• Rephrase the problem
• Tackle the real problem
• Challenge your assumptions
• Reverse your assumptions
• Break up your routine
• Find a role model
• Hire a hero
• Employ a metaphor
• Reinvent the wheel
• Do the opposite
• Consider your glass half full
• Take a risk
• Turn it on its head
• Build it
• Visualise the problem
• Take a walk
• Expand the problem – or shrink it
• Keep it simple
• Have fun
• Piggy back ideas
• Adapt or combine
• Live the problem
• Try something different
• Embrace naivety
• Think like a child
• Use random words
• Play with crazy ideas
• Keep asking questions
• Work with what you’ve got
• Break the rules
• Follow your instincts
• Don’t prejudge your ideas
• Throw it away and start again
• Let your subconscious work for you
• Make the impossible possible
• Fly in the face of the acceptable
• Start at the end
• Connect the unconnected
• Bank your ideas
• Generate 20 ideas in 20 minutes
• Create a Mind Map
• Picture it
• Take a lesson from nature
• Learning something new every day
• Let your dreams do the work
• Set yourself a time limit
• Prepare to unlearn things
• Learn from the masters