Introduction
I plan to get an internship in biomedical research eventually and a large skill that is needed to conduct meaningful research is creativity. Unfortunately, creativity is not a strength of mine, so I plan to find ways to strengthen this skill to help myself be more successful in my future endeavors. Some ways that I could potentially increase my proficiency in creativity is by adding activities into my everyday life that can strengthen this skill. Some activities that help boost creativity include writing, drawing, meditating, and reading.
Background Information
I have found information from many different websites including job sites like Indeed and websites that discuss psychology. The research I found is over how to strengthen your creative skills through everyday activities. I wanted to find activities that can be integrated into my daily routine so that I can continue to work on my creativity after the 5-day period of this project. Creativity has always been a skill I have lacked in, and I feel it would be helpful in more than just the professional side of my life to improve this skill. I found that there are many things you can do to help open your mind to “outside the box” thinking. A lot of the research I found mentioned activities that set your mind free by helping you get out of the normal narrow thinking that is task oriented. Lots of these activities can also help boost your innovation and cognition skills, which go hand and hand with creativity. One source I found said that creativity can be hard as an adult because we subconsciously think in the constraints of society, but as a child we didn’t get embarrassed as easily or ridiculed as much so it came much easier at that time in our lives. Children look at things with imagination while adults see what things are and don’t normally allow their brain to dive any deeper so I plan to do activities alone that will help my mind freely wander and wonder about anything and everything to help it get out of the habit of narrow-minded thinking. I plan to do these activities in my room because I believe it is a safe positive space.
Proposal
In what ways can I begin to prepare myself for an internship in biomedical research by improving my creativity?
I plan to use activities to practice creativity and eventually break my uncreative habits by opening my mind to outside thinking. I am planning to use consistent practice to help improve this skill over time. I am using information that was investigated about the psychology behind creativity to help myself find the best ways possible to improve my creative thinking in every aspect of my life. One factor that has contributed to my investigation is how society has affected my creative skills. Sources about self-improvement and the way your mind fights creativity will help me to be successful in this self-improvement journey. These sources may be journals, blogs, or career websites. Over a five-day period, I plan to practice a different creative thinking activity each day to help my mind improve in this skill.
Day 1: I plan to journal and write whatever comes to my mind for at least 15 minutes without any topic, restrictions, or editing in place.
Day 2: I plan to practice creative drawing. For this activity I plan to use the “Complete the Picture” exercise found in an article titled “7 Fun Exercises to Quickly Improve Creative Thinking” that is sourced below. In this activity you have multiple pieces of papers with 1-line scribbles on them, and you have multiple cards with simple phrases on them. You will grab a random card and piece of paper and must make a drawing from the one lined scribble that demonstrates the phrase. I anticipate this one to be more difficult for me but believe it will be very useful.
Day 3: I will spend at least 15 minutes meditating in silence to let my mind wander.
Day 4: I will read for at least 30 minutes because reading other’s creative writing can help improve your own.
Day 5: I plan to spend 30 minutes of my time listening to jazz improv. I chose this one because I used to play in a jazz band and enjoyed jazz music, but improv was always more difficult to me because it requires lots of creativity, so I plan to listen to it to let my mind explore all the different noises and sounds to help boost my own creativity. After the 5 days ends, I do plan to try to continue this by trying other exercises and using the ones that I found helpful over again. I plan to take pictures of the final product of each exercise (if there is one) or of me doing the exercise I’ve done to show how I am doing it and to document it. I plan to begin this 5-day observation period on Monday March 28th.
Conclusion
If I don’t work on my creative thinking skills now, I will always lack them and that will affect all my future careers and research in a negative way therefore this is something I plan to continue long after this assignment. It is important to continually grow, learn, and improve, this world is always changing, and I don’t ever want to be stagnant in it.
18 creativity exercises to improve creative thinking and problem-solving at work. Indeed Career Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/creativity-exercise
7 fun exercises to quickly improve creative thinking. Artwork Archive. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/7-fun-exercises-to-quickly-improve-creative-thinking
Cherry, K. (n.d.). Boost your creativity with these 10 psychological tricks. Verywell Mind. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-most-unusual-psychological-tricks-to-boost-your-creativity-4022442
Zook, J. (2014, August 14). 6 ways to boost your creative thinking. Inc.com. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.inc.com/jason-surfrapp/6-ways-to-boost-your-creative-thinking.html
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