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

Protect your creative freedom

Jim Connolly April 19, 2026

creative thinking, creative freedom, jim connolly

Your art has value. And your creativity deserves to be rewarded. To help you get the balance right, I’ve put some ideas together on how to become both creatively free and financially secure.

As creatives, we think a lot about how to sustain what we love doing. How to monetise our art. And how to build a framework that lets us keep making it.

Most of us don’t dream of building financial empires. We dream of the freedom to work exclusively on projects that excite us and inspire us to do our best work. And to be financially secure enough to reject anything that compromises our vision.

In my experience, that’s what freedom looks like for many, probably most creatives.

Money matters, but avoid the money trap

As demand for our work increases, so do our commitments. There’s increasing pressure to produce and to deliver. Many successful creatives I know, found themselves less free when they were financially strong, than when they started out.

This happened to me.

I was working as a self-employed creative consultant in London. My work was in demand and earning me a fortune. Until I realised one day that I wasn’t developing as a creative professional. Instead, I was becoming a stressed, wealthy businessman. That’s not who I set out to be. So, I started again. This time, creative freedom was baked into my work. That was 30-years ago. I’ve been living and working a creative life ever since.

Before you develop a monetization model, make sure it’s one that provides you with freedom to create.

One that gives you the security to say no to the wrong type of clients and the wrong type of briefs or projects.
One that lets you pause, pivot or pursue something unexpected without panic.
One that creates the physical and mental space you need, for experimentation, rest and the kind of thinking where your best ideas are formed.

Because a creative, financially secure life, lived on your own terms, is what you deserve.

Overcome creative burnout: Here’s the only advice you need

Jim Connolly March 17, 2026

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Photo by @felirbe

I have some unusual advice for you, regarding creative burnout.

Dealing with burnout is something I get asked about at least once a week. However, I was sparked to share my only piece of burnout advice with you, after a video I saw on the subject from an artist/YouTuber.

The video offered X number of ways to overcome creative burnout. It was generic advice. No sources were given. There was no mention that if we feel burnt out, we should speak with our doctor. No mention that it could be a sign that we have a thyroid problem, a vitamin deficiency or even that it could mean we’re suffering from depression.

My only piece of creative burnout advice

Burnout is an occupational phenomenon, often known as work-related stress. It’s not a creative-specific thing. Creative thinking experts may have experienced it. But so have bus drivers, attorneys, clowns, chefs and those in every other occupation. Don’t ask any of us for this type of advice. We’re as unqualified as everyone else, when it comes to diagnosing or treating burnout.

Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko

Instead, follow a safe, treatment pathway

Speak with your doctor. They can provide you with the appropriate tests and if necessary, medication.
Depending on the results after your consultation with the doctor, you may then be advised to meet with a psychologist, psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

The immediacy of answers from YouTube, free of charge, makes YouTube (or high-ranking websites) an attractive option for us when we want advice.

But we need to remember that regardless of how many likes, subscribers or views someone has, unless they’re qualified, experienced, medical professionals, we should never take medical advice from them.

Stop buying crap: You’re already creative

Jim Connolly February 24, 2026

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Photo: Matthieu Comoy

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.

Uncreative branding: How to avoid it!

Jim Connolly January 22, 2026

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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.

This Anti-Creative era: How to survive?

Jim Connolly December 5, 2025

Anti-Creative, Creative thinking, Jim Connolly

We’ve entered what I call the Anti-Creative era. An era where true creativity is dying. I want to show you how to survive, and create your best work ever.

First, here’s my definition.

Anti-Creative: The homogenization of original thought, caused by the pervasive distribution of simplified, prescriptive, and iterative ‘creativity advice’, resulting in a decrease of novel output.

The seeds of Anti-Creative were planted by creativity-focused content providers. I’m referring to YouTubers, Podcasters, Medium publishers, social media influencers, bloggers, TikTokers, etc. We also see this generic content in books, TED talks and seminars. And it’s turned countless people in the creative industries into facsimiles of one another.

The fruit of Anti-Creative is everywhere

Think for a moment about the uncreative dross that’s out there.

For example.

How Anti-Creative has hit the music industry

Music today has some stand-out performers, doing interesting things with their sound. We could name them, too. That’s because there are so few. But there are no music movements out there, having a fraction of the cultural impact that early hip-hop, punk, new wave, acid, or grunge had. Artists and record companies are now making decisions shaped by decades of simplified, prescriptive, and iterative creative thinking advice. And so have their competitors. It’s now reduced one of the most creative industries in history, to a predictable enterprise.

How Anti-Creative has hit the car industry

Despite billions being spent on design and innovation, cars in every class are remarkably similar. You used to be able to identify any make or model of car from a considerable distance away. Today, Anti-Creative inputs have resulted in car companies making design decisions, based on the same simplified, prescriptive, and iterative creative advice as their competitors. It’s no wonder they’re almost making the same cars!

How Anti-Creative has hit housing

Look at recent housing developments. The majority, and in many places vast majority, are based around very similar designs. They lack imagination. There’s no creative attempt to make these developments beautiful and uplifting for the people who will live there. Yes, there are exceptions here. But exceptions are, by default, exceptional. Not common. Sadly rare. It happens because of this pervasive deluge of simplified, prescriptive, and iterative creative advice.

I could list more examples of a total lack of creativity everywhere: from fashion, coffee shops, street art, publishing and dance, to urban landscaping and even the total lack of thoughtful creative design in art galleries! Remarkably, this is also true of the look and layout I see, inside the offices of leading creative agencies.

Here’s the thing: if we follow the same script, we write the same story. Following the same generic advice only leads us to create work that is indistinguishable from the masses.

Entertaining, hard working, content creators

I said earlier that content creators are a huge reason why we’re in an Anti-Creative era. I need to add it’s not them individually. It’s their combined millions of hours of content, billions of pages of content, and how prescriptive and iterative their content is. Not one person producing content on the topic of creativity, is intentionally causing this Anti-Creative era.

Why are they producing so much stuff?

In every content niche, the most popular (highest earning) content creators have something in common. They’re the perfect blend of being charismatic or entertaining, with extremely high content output.

Basically, they’re interesting people, who work really, really hard!

If they fail to make enough content, the various algorithms will reduce the number of people it shows their content to. This reduces their income, directly and indirectly.

Surviving and thriving in the Anti-Creative era

After scratching my big, very dented bald head, I realised there’s a perfect solution. It’s something that is proven to work. That’s because the most creative people in the world still do it, and all creative professionals used to do it.

It’s this simple.

Do what creative people did before the advent of global digital communications. After all, we managed to be extremely creative and productive.

These suggestions should help you bypass Anti-Creative content.

The most obvious suggestion is to spend less time, or no time, consuming mass-produced, prescriptive and iterative creative thinking advice. This doesn’t apply to content on any other topics. It’s about shielding yourself from Anti-Creative thinking, not locking yourself away from enjoyment.

A proven way to become more creative, is to go direct to the source.
- Whenever possible, study masters, not methods. For example, study Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. Not a video or article from a content provider with ‘The secrets of Steve Jobs’ success’.
- Also, whenever possible, learn from those who personally knew the source. For example, I spent a lot of time working with my late friend, Keith Levene. Keith was a founding member of both the Clash and Public Image Ltd. If I were to write about how his genius helped my creativity, it would be first-hand.

Be very selective regarding who you take creative advice from. Even if someone is being sincere and trying to help. Remember, sincerity is not a test of truth. It’s possible to be sincerely wrong!

Keep a record of creative strategies, ideas or processes you use. The ones that worked wonders and those that didn’t. By doing this, you’ll build a 100% trustworthy log. Something you can learn from and rely on, to help you make better and better creative decisions.

I hope you’ve found my introduction to Anti-Creative useful. More importantly, I hope it inspires you to create better work, solve better problems and thrive in an era where we desperately need your creativity.

Note: Here’s more information on anti creative.

Image credit: Jim Connolly

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.

Uncreatives: Tech YouTube creators

Jim Connolly January 16, 2026

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I recently watched some YouTube tech reviews. I was in the market for a new, high-end tablet device and wanted to make an informed choice. As someone with a keen interest in tech, I knew exactly what to expect from tech reviews by YouTube content creators.

I knew that most reviewers would evaluate tablet devices as if their viewers requirements were just like YouTube content creators. That’s to say, people deeply interested in video shooting, editing and conversion, who love lots of benchmarks, and speed-test data for video production apps. (Plus a little on gaming and Netflix performance).

Of course, most of their viewers don’t make YouTube videos every day. So, how did this happen?

Here’s my theory!

An early, viral YouTube review included lots of benchmarks, showing how the device handled the creator’s workflow, which was mostly video production. Other creators copied the format. Today, that’s the standard template.

Why are they using templates? They’re under extreme pressure. They’re getting new devices to review all the time, which they need to spend hours learning about. Then they have a limited amount of time for the development work and production of the video. The sooner they publish their review, the less competition they will be up against.

Extreme pressure?

Oh yes!

As I have said before, YouTubers who work without a production team, work both long hours and extremely hard. They’re feeding Google’s YouTube algorithm, which is relentless if you want to get the subscribers and views you need, in order to make a significant income.

I know a few YouTubers, including one with almost half a million subscribers. Today, she makes a very good living and has a team working with her. Yet she’s still working hard to build her subscriber-base and feed the insatiable algorithm.

However, there’s no need for tech YouTubers to produce such similarly formatted videos. They could build their own template. A template that’s more aligned with what a typical viewer is looking for, before they make a purchasing decision.

Surely, there is an opportunity out there, right now, for a creative thinking, tech savvy YouTuber to own a massive slice of the market?

Could it be you?

After all, in the age of anti creativity we need more, unique material out there to combat the AI slop problem.

Photo by ilgmyzin

Anti Creative: The AI slop problem

Jim Connolly January 11, 2026

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The anti creative problem, and subsequent decline in creativity, is being made worse because of AI slop. Here’s a quick look at what you need to know.

What is AI slop?

AI companies scrape (copy) massive amounts of web content to train their models. The problem is, that content increasingly includes AI-generated text, rather than human material. In short, AI is now copying itself! This creates a feedback loop where AI trains on AI output. Over time AI models are losing the diversity and authenticity of the human creativity, which their models desperately need. The quality of AI output is currently degrading into what we now call AI slop, instead of improving as it had done previously.

How the anti creative problem is worsened by slop

Let’s quickly recall what the anti creative problem is: The homogenization of original thought, caused by the pervasive distribution of prescriptive and iterative ‘creativity advice’, resulting in a decrease of novel output.

Today, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of videos, social media posts, newsletters, articles and blog posts will be built using AI slop. A hefty subset of AI slop is aimed at artists and the those in the creative industries. What’s feeding the anti creative problem is that some of this incorrect, misleading content is convincing. Especially for those just discovering how to improve their creative thinking skills.

And worryingly, other slop content is on popular sites and endorsed at the highest level.

Yesterday, a reader sent me an article, which was around 80% written by AI… on a website that’s publicly endorsed by a Google Vice President!

Somebody simply gave that content a very light copyedit, unaware their AI content was slop! So, they’ve tried to humanize slop. It reads like crap, yet was published! This is happening more and more, as the quality of AI content (and answers) is getting progressively worse, not better. But many people will end up taking its bad advice, which they assumed they could trust, as it’s from a powerfully endorsed website.

It doesn’t stop there, with that one AI article. That article spreads in different ways, on different formats and get’s seen by a very wide audience.

Popular sites like that are targets for creative thinking content creators. They turn those posts into different forms of content. Videos, social media posts, YouTube shorts, Instagram/Facebook reels, TikToks, etc., which are then seen by more people. This further increases the pervasive distribution of prescriptive and iterative ‘creativity advice’, which I mentioned at the start.

How to avoid anti creative content & slop

I’ve already created 4, common sense, highly-effective ways you can successfully protect yourself from anti creative content. I’ve also found 2 articles that give helpful insights into the AI slop problem, which you may find useful. This is from Science.org: Resisting AI slop. And this one is from The Conversation: What is AI slop?

I hope you find this useful.

Photo by julien Tromeur

Don’t work for assholes

Jim Connolly January 6, 2026

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This site is focused primarily on helping artists and the creative industries. And in all those instances, you need to think long and hard before accepting commissions or projects.

Why?

Some clients are assholes to work with

They’ll do things like pay you late and use that as a control mechanism over you. Others are dull people and have a dull commission or project. You might get paid, but you’ll hate every moment of it. And you’ll never create your best work for assholes.

Your name, or brand, connected to subpar, uncreative work will lose you future opportunities and damage your reputation.

Some clients are wonderful

They’ll give you creative freedom, to do your very best work. They’ll remember they hired you because you’re the creative soul they need. They will pay you fairly, treat you well and you’ll be inspired to produce exceptional art.

Your name, or brand, connected with outstanding work will win you your next client, and the next, and the next… so long as you avoid working for assholes.

da Vinci learned the hard way

Apparently, Leonardo da Vinci said, ‘The Medici created and destroyed me’. They sponsored him, but for whatever reason, he also thought they destroyed him. That’s what working for assholes does.

Yes, if you’re 90-days away from defaulting on your bills, of course you should accept the commission or project, regardless.

My point is to learn how to identify the assholes and avoid them. Because if you work for a consecutive number of wonderful clients, you’ll never have to work for assholes again.

There will be a body of your best work out there, made with creative freedom.
Your best work will motivate your clients to tell everyone about you and your work.
That’s the type of word-of-mouth recommendation that opens doors for you.
It also hands you opportunities, which set your trajectory north, fast!

I learned all this the hard way, so you don’t need to. If you know anyone who might find this advice useful, be a friend. Share it with them.

Photo by Goh Rhy Yan