It takes more than confidence and persistence to stay on top of the cannabis industry. Creativity plays a big factor in ensuring a cannabis company has a competitive advantage. Therefore, it’s pivotal to exercise your cognitive flexibility, so you don’t lose it.
From products to marketing, cannabis companies need to be creative to survive and thrive. Additionally, if you’re looking to transition into the industry, a creative mind is a plus for all cannabis jobs. So, we’ve created a guide on the five best ways to boost creativity to give you an edge. Cannabis consumption while doing these exercises (at home) is optional.
Creativity is Unlearned
As children, our minds run free with ideas, and we analyze them. However, in an educational setting, we are conditioned to regurgitate facts and spend less time experimenting. Being stuck in a strict structure dilutes the creativity we began with as children. This can happen at school, at work, or under any other system that doesn’t allow you to experiment with your ideas. We all have the potential to be innovative, but we have to exercise our creativity. And, in the cannabis industry, creativity is everything. There’s more potential for success in being a tastemaker in the space than being a follower. Whether you’re searching for available cannabis jobs or you’re already in the industry, exercising your creativity is a must.
1. Make New Connections
Coming up with novel ideas is all about making connections. To boost creativity, you have to actively practice forming new links, especially between things that aren’t similar. For example, you can find two random objects and see how many ways you can combine them. Additionally, you can go bigger by seeking out new experiences and analyzing them. People that have novel experiences and study them, making connections with other moments in life, can synthesize new things. Translating this to the cannabis industry, you can think about what’s available now and make connections to unmet needs.
2. Use Focus v. Diffuse Mode
For those pursuing cannabis executive jobs, achieving and sustaining success requires creativity. And, knowing how your brain works is crucial to boosting your creativity. There are two modes of the brain: focus and diffuse. In focus mode, your mind maintains one point of attention, concentrating its skills in the prefrontal cortex. Extraneous information is swept aside so you can handle a task efficiently. However, there is not much room for creativity within focus mode. Enter diffuse mode, where you allow your brain to wander freely. So, activities like yoga, meditation, listening to music, and working out are examples of when your brain can go into diffuse mode. While in this mode, your brain makes connections at random, creating new links, allowing you to be more creative. Learning to utilize both modes of thought will help you produce novel ideas and hone in on them. Something as simple as taking a break will activate your diffuse mode of thought.
3. Divergent Thinking
Training yourself to be a divergent thinker will help to boost creativity. Divergent thinking is a thought process where you produce a variety of possible solutions in a free-flowing approach. Simple divergent thinking activities include writing in a journal, creating brainstorm maps, subject mapping, and free writing. By becoming a divergent thinker, you’ll achieve richer patterns in your thought process. Not only does divergent thinking aid in coming up with innovative cannabis products, but it also helps with creating more efficient methods in manufacturing, cultivation, testing, and so forth. With consistent practice, you’ll be able to produce original solutions to problems that come up in the world of cannabis.
4. Six Hats Technique
Boost creativity by using the Six Hats technique when considering a solution, product, or process. In using this technique, you’ll wear different hats to look at a situation from the following angles: objective, emotional, negative, positive, creative, and broad. By utilizing this method, you can welcome different thinking styles and paint a comprehensive picture as to how a cannabis product or service will be received. Additionally, you can use the Six Hats method to look at a product from the perspective of six different types of customers. Not only will this method allow you to be more objective, it helps in producing more original goods.
5. Look for Sources of Inspiration
We can’t live in our own bubbles all the time, as that drains creativity and the ability to connect. To boost creativity and maintain it, you have to keep your tank of motivation full. Therefore, you have to find inspiration outside your workspace. It can be anything that sparks your imagination, including music, podcasts, books, and movies. There’s art all around us, so take the time to appreciate and analyze what moves you. For example, if there’s a song you admire, study the lyrics, and even the instrumentals of the song to see how it conveys certain emotions. Something within the art you are digesting may inspire you directly or indirectly when you start thinking about your cannabis company again. The more we experience and analyze, the better connections we can make, and the more creative we may become.
Cannabis Staffing
Our cannabis staffing firm believes that exercising your creativity will help you stay fresh in the industry. If you’re looking for cannabis staffing solutions, we specialize in cannabis executive search, direct-hire, and temporary employees. And, if you’re looking for a cannabis job, we can help find you the right fit. Please contact us today at contact@cannabizteam.com for all your staffing solutions.
