This article was originally written for FirstGenerationStudent.com, now a part of ImFirst.org.

What do a giraffe, a paper clip and a banana have to do with college success? I don’t know, but if you are a creative thinker, I bet you can come up with a connection. Linking unlike objects and ideas together is a surefire way to build your creative muscle, and thinking creatively is an essential skill for success in college. Below you will find several proven creative thinking exercises.

Let Ideas Flow

One of the first rules of thinking creatively is to let ideas flow without judging them before you even commit them to paper. Be courageous when you start generating ideas by writing all that come to mind. Don’t worry about how silly or outrageous an idea is (save editing for the critical thinking stage). For instance, if you are brainstorming ideas for a paper in an American history class, write down everything you know or want to know about the topic for five minutes. When that time is up, review what you have written to see if anything sparks your interest. If not, try it again for another five minutes. Maybe your list will include the recent movie “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”; while this is a topic that’s not exactly acceptable for a college essay, the idea may lead you to think about the role of media during the Civil War—that’s doable!

Think in All Directions

Mind mapping is a creative thinking strategy that helps you see connections between ideas, and it’s great for visual learners. To create a mind map, start with a main idea in the center of a page and then branch off from the center with additional ideas by drawing lines that connect them to the main idea and/or to each other. A mind map can be comprised of simple circles linked together with lines or it can be an elaborate picture of differently-colored lines, arrows, symbols and circles. Your goal should be to create as many links as you can on your page—one idea should lead to another and another.

Reframe the Picture

Your college experience will certainly include the unexpected, from a failing grade on an assignment to a missed opportunity for an internship. Reframing the picture is not only a way to handle the unexpected; it’s also part of thinking creatively. Instead of wallowing in your disappointment, think creatively about the situation. Ask yourself questions such as “What can l learn from this?” or “How can this help me?” will help you see the issue in a different light. Creative thinkers learn to reframe issues so they can generate more ideas. For example, have you ever thought about how taking out a student loan can help you learn how to be more financially responsible or how not getting that class you wanted could lead you to take a class that sparks your interest in a different career? Often, we get stuck by framing things in a certain way, but learning to see a situation, problem, issue or even an assignment differently can help you approach it with renewed interest and enthusiasm.

Trade Places

We all know people who think very differently than ourselves. Channel your inner “Oprah” or “Mark Zuckerberg” the next time you have a problem that needs some creative thinking. Ask yourself “What would _____ do in this situation?” and start listing possibilities. For example, how would Martin Luther King, Jr. handle the lack of student parking on campus? Would his first words be “I have a dream … that all students will have a parking space of their own?” How would Walt Disney fix that same problem? Would he build amusement rides from off-site parking lots so that students enjoy the commute? When you get stuck trying to generating ideas, take a moment to mentally trade places with someone else and view the problem through their eyes.

Now, have you found a connection among the giraffe, the paper clip, the banana and college success? Here’s a possibility: a giraffe sticks its neck out to reach the tops of trees, and you can do the same to reach your goals; a paper clip holds items together, and you can do the same as you connect your classroom experiences with the real world; and finally, a banana is appealing, and you will be too as you begin to flex that creative muscle!

Now, it’s your turn to share your creative thinking. Leave a comment!