I have a great idea. In fact, I have more than one great idea. What about you?

Even if you do not consider yourself a creative person, I bet that you have had a few great business ideas, tens of interesting ideas for a book or a movie and thousands of creative ideas of various kinds and sizes.

The fact is that ideas happen all the time. They flow freely – interrupting serious business meetings, lurking around while we are taking a shower, changing our daily plans and challenging the way we do things.

But there are the times, when we desperately try to come up with something original and it does not work! Our mind simply refuses to be creatively-productive. It happens to me once in a while (for example, when I am trying to think of a topic for the next post).

I found that when I feel stuck and uninventive I usually follow what I call “10 Un-Rules of Creativity” and they help me overcome a mental form of creative paralysis. These are actually the guidelines that many graphic designers, architects and writers already use. But I believe that whether you are trying to come up with a new marketing strategy, write a piece of software or think of fun things to do for the weekend – you can benefit from applying them in your life.

1. Give yourself permission to be creative.

Many people who start learning about self development mistakenly believe that they lack creativity. Well, it turns out that you do not have to be a special kind of person to be creative.

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When we think of creativity, we think about people with “creative” professions like painters, writers, composers or designers. But in reality, creativity is not a skill, reserved to a small group of people. It is our inborn right to be creative, to use our imagination and to invent and re-invent our life!

1. Patience.

2. Focus.

3. Flow.