I don’t know about you but when I get into a negative mood I find it hard to come up with new ideas or be creative. If you look at the research that’s been done into this, it’s quite confusing.
Some researchers have found that people need to get themselves into a more resourceful and uplifting mood before they are able to feel creative and produce ideas.
But researchers in Europe claim to have found that bad moods can improve creativity. The research showed that negative emotions can lead to more persistence in problem solving. Once you get started, and focus, then the negative emotions tend to slide away.
So what this really means is that you just need to get down to business and hopefully your negativity subsides which then leaves your mind free to explore for solutions.
Really, the main thing is that entrepreneurs or start-up owners don’t wait around for the perfect mood before they try to generate new ideas or solutions.
Some research suggests that when you are happy, you release more dopamine (a neurotransmitter linked with motivation) which actually boosts activity in areas of the brain that handle creativity, decision-making, learning and processing.
So if a good mood ramps up your creativity, how then do you take advantage of this to slip into a more positive state?
I don’t think there is one easy answer to this. Each person is different and what works for one individual may not turn on another. It’s best to experiment with a number of different approaches to see what works best for you.
We’ve been trained to always come up with the right answer and the need to be right permeates our thinking. But this need to be right actually blocks our progress. We need to make mistakes – it’s part of our learning. Sometimes it’s important to just suspend judgement and the need to be right all the time and experiment with different approaches.
For some people a fast way to change your mood is to listen to music. You can tune into anything that makes you feel upbeat.
Other people find reading something funny such as the comic strips or light humour and anecdotes may pull them out of a blue funk.
Visualisation and deep breathing in the morning may well help to spur positive emotions, ease stress and help build confidence and calmer feelings. This doesn’t have to be long session – even 10 minutes will be enough.
Some people are so desperate to get themselves out of a low emotional state that they resort to hypnotising themselves. This is not the same as directed hypnosis but rather a source of inner conversational hypnosis where you talk to yourself (inner dialogue that all of us to everyday anyway) to help change your emotional state.
What works for some people is brute force. They might set a quota of ideas and stick to it regardless. I’m not sure how well this is going to work if you’re not in a positive flow. Another way: set a timer for 30 minutes and come up with as many ideas or solutions within that limit.
Whatever works for you the point to remember is that it’s no use waiting around for hours or even days until you recover from a negative emotional state.
You need to try different things to ditch your bad or ugly moods. With the transformation to a more positive emotional makeover, it’s possible to rocket your ability to produce better ideas and solve problems. Rather this than fall prey to a paralysing slowdown where your creativity falls apart or deserts you.
