Creativity is essential for web development.  Whenever you feel like your sagging, throw off old notions and create something new.   By John Bolduan RealWebMarketing.com

If you have children or have ever watched someone else's children for any length of time, you'll find that they have a creative bent. Well, we all do, but as adults we often abandon this like the childhood we left behind. Creativity is a God-given gift that we all should cultivate on a regular basis. Children do. They will freely experiment with games, imaginary places and people without regard to what others think about them. It's an amazing thing to watch. It always fun to see what they'll come up with next! It's in the unstructured play time of summer that I notice this the most. It's this freedom that develops into some elaborate new ways of thinking. Shouldn't we still be like this in our adult lives?

I like the way the internet is structured. It has some logical connections but also has some non-linear ways that help spawn better creativity. Once nice thing is that if you create something new on the web, you can get instant gratification as it is available online. As mentioned before, many of us let go of the free thinking of childhood which makes us boring, stiff adults. I believe you can fight this in one area which is web development. It's essential that what you put online has some resemblance to you, a unique human being! I truly believe that visitors to your website will respond to a new perspective that you and only you can share with the world. Unlike the extremely calculated websites that have all the answers, but no heart beating behind it, you can have one that people can relate to. 

So what are some ways in which we can induce our minds to more creative thinking? I don't have a lot of answers, but I can speak from experience on what I do to be more creative online.

Set yourself free from your preconceptions.

I would suggest that anyone who desires to be more creative do some things that can't be measured in numbers. The most important inventions ever created had nothing to do with an original monetary reward, but rather it was to fulfill a need. Like a very young child, set yourself free from preconceptions of who you are supposed to be and just be you. I love the way kids aren't as aware of themselves as adults are. They have no position, limited responsibilities and one of their main missions in life is to play! Can you take yourself back to a place where you were like this? Do you remember the feeling? It's that kind of mindset that will free you from doing what you're supposed to do and do what is fun instead. This is the place where you can do things differently without judgement. Get very quiet and take yourself back to when you were just playful and you were loved for who you were and not what you produced. Be a kid again for just a little while. Stay there for a time and look at what you do in new ways! 

Be ridiculous and experiment with absurdity.

In order to free ourselves from what we think is normal behavior, we must entertain the ridiculous notions about what we can do online. There are no limits to this thinking. Be as outrageous as you can. What you'll find is that you'll probably be laughing at some of the ideas you come up with. It's in that laughter that helps us look at things in a new way. Children laugh over the most ridiculous things that make no sense to us as adults. But do you notice how often they see something that you missed. If you're like me, you can't stand people with little sense of humor. Most adults don't laugh enough. They go through their day with a sour expression or take themselves too seriously. I've found that the most successful people in life are the folks who can laugh at themselves. When you laugh, you're going to be more creative overall and have a higher quality of life too.

This is just a start. There are many more ways that people get into the creative mode. It's been written about for centuries. It's the mysterious, non-linear thinker that has created some of the best innovations throughout time. You'll find some good advice online regarding creativity, but some of the best advice is inside you already.