When going to work for The Container Store, one of the first things they do is introduce you to their foundation principles. Feel free to read them all if you want, but now I want to focus on one:

Intuition is defined as “the quality or ability of having such direct perception or quick insight.”. It is an almost magical ability to be able to see something or someone and make non-obvious, but absolutely true, insights. I’ve always been impressed by my wife’s ability to look at a person and almost immediately judge their current emotional state, even when it’s buried deeply beneath some kind of mask. The story that the founder of TCS tells is of Albert Einstein, sitting on a train watching another train moving and noticing how relative the motion is to each other, and coming up with the theory of relativity.

While some intuition is innate, most is a result of our own personal background. For instance, Einstein would never have thought of E=MC2 if he had not been studying physics and mathematics so intently his entire life. Without study Newton would have ended up rubbing his head after being bopped by an apple and cursing his bad luck.

Creativity, like intuition, is also thought of as a primarily innate ability. Some people just have an ability to see the world differently, and then transpose that viewpoint into artwork, illustrations, film or writing. Certainly, there is some truth to that, but it’s not the whole truth. There are ways we can supercharge what innate ability we have, however little it might be, by simply being prepared.

Since I’m focused on writing, I’ll concentrate on tips for that discipline. Writing a novel has proven tough; every time I sit down, no matter how much I have prepared, I find I need to invent new characters, locations and settings, or new details about existing ones. It can totally derail a writing session when you find yourself stuck, needing something to push the plot along, but unable to think of exactly how. The secret is to not only be prepared for the known, but also prepared for the unknown. You do this by priming your intuition.

Observe Everything

Real-world situations are in play all around you, all the time. Learn to pay attention. When you’re in the grocery store, what peculiarities do you notice about the customers around you, or the cashier? Describe how people look in your mind – what animal does that man’s nose remind you of? How would you describe her hair? Learn to do this all the time, and you’ll be building up a memory bank of characters and situations that may come in handy someday.

Ask Questions

Don’t be satisfied with what’s in front of you. Try to go deeper. You see someone acting oddly; ask why might they do that? You don’t need to know the truth (and in most cases should never ask), but by thinking up plausible reasons you exercise your mind at exploring ideas in real-time. This will come in handy when you’re writing.

Experience Things

Get out every once in a while. Take chances, experience new things. Do the unexpected. Do things you never wanted to do and probably never will again. This builds your life experiences, and exposes you to people and situations you’d never see in your normal life.

Be Introspective

Make sure you set aside some time each day to reflect on what you’ve seen and experienced that day. Time alone in your thoughts. I find that my commute to and from work is an ideal time for this. What this does is “set” the experience more concretely in your mind for future withdrawal.

I’ve found that when I put myself in a mode where I’m constantly paying attention to the points above, I can step over nearly every hurdle when trying to come up with scene, plot or character ideas. When I need something, it’s like they are on a shelf where all I need to do is reach out and grab them. This is intuition driven by purpose. Once the shelves have been stocked, even if I don’t have what I’m looking for I find it easier to build it from the parts and pieces of what I do have.

Most of this have this ability, but for most of us who do, it doesn’t come for free. We need to prepare for it. Set your mind on it and you’ll be shocked at how much it can change you, and how much you can accomplish.