Creative Thinking expert Jim Connolly shares hundreds of free, Creative Thinking ideas, tips & resources.

Stop buying crap: You’re already creative

Jim Connolly February 24, 2026

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There’s a creative thinking industry out there, dedicated to selling you junk you absolutely do not need. Yes, anyone can learn to think more creatively. But there are only around a dozen core techniques that are proven to work.

Each of these techniques can be explained… in minutes.

Oh, and you almost certainly already use them and/or know them. They include versions of the following.

Breaking a concept down into its most basic, undeniable physical truths to rebuild it without the baggage of ‘it has always been done‘.
Draw connections between unrelated domains to transfer insights from one field to another.
Think inside the box. Use limitations as creative fuel by forcing yourself to find novel solutions within specific boundaries.
Deliberately view problems from different angles, roles, or timeframes to break habitual thought patterns.
Mix and merge existing ideas, concepts, or elements in unexpected ways to create something new.
Change how you define the problem itself rather than just seeking solutions to the obvious question.
Step away from active problem-solving to let your unconscious mind make connections while you rest or do unrelated activities.
Connect two previously unrelated frames of reference or matrices of thought to create insights.
Approach familiar subjects as if encountering them for the first time, suspending assumptions and expertise.
Change your physical surroundings, routines, or inputs to disrupt patterns and stimulate fresh thinking.
Generate many different ideas without judging them initially, prioritizing quantity over quality to explore possibilities.
Use a deliberately impossible or absurd statement as a stepping stone, to bypass logical barriers.

That’s pretty-much it. Every so-called creative thinking expert out there is selling you a version of one or more of the above.

Why then, is there a billion dollar creative thinking industry, when there are so few effective, creative thinking techniques?

Simple.

The creative industry’s business model works,
because their products fail.

Here’s what happens.

Someone publishes a book, develops a training program or whatever, about one or more of the above techniques.
They make it feel like their own work or insights, by rebranding it and giving it an eye-catching name.
The author simply repackages one or more proven techniques, so it sounds different. As the techniques can be explained in minutes, they pad their product out with interesting anecdotes. These stories are often 90% or more of the content!
Their product is then marketed as the answer you’re looking for. They know you’re looking, because everything else promising you a great creativity breakthrough failed.
Naturally, their product also fails you.
Their failure makes you feel like you’re missing something.
So… you buy the next product.
Start again from the top.

If you want something interesting to entertain you and provide some new buzzwords, you’ll almost certainly find it. Just be aware that unless you don’t already know the BASICS of creative thinking, you’re paying for entertainment.

The solution starts here.

Study the masters, instead!

If you want to increase and improve the quality and volume of your creative output, study the masters, not the methods.

For example, study Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, written after days and days of speaking directly to Jobs. Not a video or article from a content provider with ‘The secrets of Steve Jobs’ success’.

Study Andy Warhol’s body of work and read his well-documented approach to creating, not some podcaster’s take on how to create like Warhol.

Study the masters. Learn the dozen or so basics of creative thinking. Then allow your wonderous mind to percolate on it, combined with your very own lived experience.

That’s creative thinking gold dust, right there.

Misfits: The people who make a difference

Jim Connolly February 16, 2026

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Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about misfits. I think of misfits as people who do things their own way. People who stand out from the crowd. People who tread their own path through life.

It started with some research I was doing. I was looking at common factors behind the people who achieve great success in their chosen field.

And in 100% of the cases I studied, they were misfits. From Shakespeare, Dieter Rams and Steve Jobs, to Grandmaster Flash, Richard Feynman, Picasso and Robin Williams.

This is true, regardless of whether the person is a musician, politician, activist, industrialist, designer, writer, actor, or whatever.

The only exception I could find were sports stars, where genetics played a huge part. But even then, the very top achievers in sport are often misfits; people who demonstrated a rare level of commitment, focus, grit and determination.

The creative adult

There’s a wonderful old saying that goes like this: The creative adult, is the child who survived.

I love the idea of the child who survived. The kid who grew-up, whilst still hanging onto their child-like imagination and curiosity. Schools tend to try and make kids conform to a measurable norm. Teachers and fellow students make life tough for kids who are different. So, kids soon learn to fit in. This robs many children of their chance to be their unique-self… the misfit they were born to be.

Just as the creative adult, is the child who survived, I think the same is true of misfit adults.

Embrace your inner misfit

You were born unique. Plus, your life experience was, and remains, unique. That uniqueness is still within you. Yes, it may take time, but you can reconnect with it.

How?

A great place to start is to observe the freedom with which your kids, siblings or grand-kids behave. Look at how they create. Observe how curious they are and how much fun they have. There’s so much we can learn from them.

In the age of AI, those of us who choose the less-travelled path of originality, have a fantastic opportunity. It’s an opportunity to stand out and make a difference, simply by being ourselves. By being the unique misfit we truly are.

Increasing numbers of people are choosing to hand over as much of their work and their thinking as possible, to AI. And AI is becoming increasingly capable of doing more for them.

In every area of creativity, there has never been a better time to be a misfit. It’s increasingly rare. And increasingly valuable.

PS: Here are 15 ways creative misfits stand out.

Photo by Bob Jenkin

Consumption devices are production devices

Jim Connolly February 10, 2026

Creative inspiration comes from many sources. Including our phones and tablets.

However, our phones are getting a lot of bad publicity at the moment. This seemed to have reached it’s peak in late 2025. By then, social media and YouTube was flooded with influencers, making almost identical points. We need to limit our screen time to 10-15-minutes a day, etc. We also need to remove social media from our devices, as it wastes our time and makes us doom scroll.

Interestingly, they’re pumping their message out on the time-wasting, productivity-destroying, doom-filled platforms they’re telling us to delete or largely ignore.

I know. The irony.

Here’s the thing: As creatives, we rely on consumption for our production. We need creative inputs, to inspire creative outputs. It’s what people do every time we read a book (a consumption device) and find something helpful in it that we can use.

The key here, as with everything, is balance. We all know people who seem to spend too much time looking at a screen. And there certainly is a lot to be gained if those who over do it, reduce their screen time significantly. Especially children below a certain age, and anyone who consume material that makes them feel anxious or lowers their self-esteem.

But for those of us who want to enhance our creativity, our phones are extremely useful. For example, this article is being written on my phone. At least half the articles on this site were either written, researched, or both written an researched on a phone. I also use my phone to capture ideas using its voice recorder, camera and notes app. I use social media to share useful information, and to identify common challenges, which I may be able to write a useful article about.

General advice is exactly that. General.

If your experience and productivity from your phone usage is positive and it’s not causing you to be anxious or feel bad about yourself, you’ve probably got the balance right… for you.

Photo: Tony Schnagl from Pexels:

Use creative thinking to sell more art

Jim Connolly February 2, 2026

You’re an artist. That’s great. I love artists. I work with artists. Here’s the thing: please don’t become, or remain, a starving artist.

There are a number of steps to becoming commercially successful artist. Today, I’m focusing on just one of them. It’s all about you: the story behind you the artist. And all it takes is a little creative thinking.

Let’s go!

There is something most popular artists have in common. No, it’s not that they’re outstandingly gifted. Many, like Banksy, are more copyists than artists.

The common link is the story the artist has crafted about themselves. It’s a story that art buyers find compelling, connect with and buy.

The thoughts and feelings associated with the artist, shape the art buyers perception of the art. It provides the lens, through which they see and value the art.

These stories are crafted from a kludge of things. Such as the way the artist looks, their fashion choices, their outrageous stunts, their polarising views on almost anything, their anti/pro (whatever) stances, their love of animals, their outspokenness, their edgy personality, etc.

Anything that makes them seem like a more interesting, unusual person, makes their art more compelling to a subset of art buyers attracted to the story.

Take Banksy

The artwork below isn’t from Banksy also known as Robin Gunningham. No. It’s from the French artist, Blek le Rat: real name Xavier Prou. Unlike Banksy, Blek le Rat didn’t craft a compelling story. He just put his work out there as people passing by watched him. Around 15 years later, Banksy copied the style, added a compelling story and took it to the bank (pardon the pun).

Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blek_le_Rat#/media/File:Blek_Le_Rat.jpg

There are countless other examples, where the artist’s story was 80 or 90 percent responsible for the artist’s fame and fortune. We see this widespread today, with so-called artist influencers. They will do or say almost anything, to build their story, grab attention and grow huge followings. And sell a ton of art along the way!

Enough about other artists.

Let’s focus on you.

The story of you… the artist!

If you want to sell more of your work, to people who will become collectors of your art, give them a story about you.

Not a story about you. You’re doing that already, whether intentionally or not.

I’m referring to a story about you the artist.

Get creative. Craft elements of your life/work into your very own, uniquely you, story. Use your creativity to show the world the artist behind your work. It will change how they feel about you, and your work. And feelings motivate people to buy, far more than logic. This is especially the case, when it comes to art.

Uncreative branding: How to avoid it!

Jim Connolly January 22, 2026

creative thinking, branding, uncreative, commodity

Friends. Here’s how to avoid being yet another victim of toxic branding advice.

If you’re following advice that’s from a video with hundreds of thousands of views, or following the advice from a book that’s read by hundreds of thousands of people, you’ll simply be copying the same branding strategy as millions of others.

Think about it.

When you feed your mind with identical advice to the masses, you’ll fade into an ocean of beige.
You’ll have an instantly forgettable brand.
And you’ll have just turned your art, your work/products and your business into a commodity. Ouch!

The reason there’s an entire branding industry, is because this type of mass-market crap doesn’t work. People watch the video, read the book, attend/buy the course… only because the last one failed. The next one will fail, too. And the next. Repeat.

The branding industry works for so-called branding experts, because their advice doesn’t work. If it worked, everyone who followed the advice from all those best-seller books, or watched those videos, would have a kick-ass brand. They wouldn’t need more branding books, videos or courses.

Successful branding isn’t a DIY project

To craft your unique brand, get advice that’s specific to you, your art, your work/products, your goals and your personality.

Anything less is not just ineffective, it’s toxic.

P.S. You’ll find this really useful. Stop buying crap: You’re already creative.