Your creativity challenge this week is to see what weird and wonderful things you can find as patterns on your keyboard.  The QWERTY keyboard that we are all familiar with has some interesting characteristics.  Did you know that the layout of characters means that several thousand English words can be typed with only the left hand while only a few hundred can by typed with the right hand.  Or that the word typewriter can be spelled using only keys from the top row.

Your creativity challenge this week is to see the items around you in creative ways.  Most items have a regular name but we can also be creative in how we name or describe them.  For instance a pen could also be called a writing implement or a barrel or ink or a doodling device.  Join us on a wordy adventure and let's see just how creative you can be.

Your Creativity Challenge this week is to join us on a scavenger hunt across the entire world.  That's right, the entire world.  Thanks to the wonders of Google Maps we can now be armchair explorers.  Never before in the history of mankind have we had such easy access to so much information.  So let's make use of it.  Read on to find out the details of this weeks challenge.

Your Creativity Challenge this week is to join us on a collaborative stumble of discovery across the World Wide Web.  There are over 250 million websites out there covering nearly anything you can think of and more.  These websites are contributing a couple billion new pages every day.  That's a lot of potentially interesting material.  And you're missing a lot of it.  Read on to join us on a journey of discovery.

Think about how much time you spend talking each day.  It's probably quite a bit.  Research suggests however that a little over 90% of our communication effectiveness is a result of non-verbal cues.  Your words themselves account for less than 10% of getting your message across.  When it comes to creativity, how you present and communicate your ideas is just as important as the ideas themselves.  We tend to forget that a lot of the time.

Have you ever created a pyramid out of playing cards?  You need a fair bit of patience and dexterity to put it together.  The end result can look quite impressive though.  Most people tend to build a standard pyramid but with a bit of creative thinking there are actually many different patterns you can come up with.

We humans are a very complex bunch.  Our minds work in all manner of weird and wonderful ways.  Much of which we don't fully understand yet.  We are constantly coming up with new ways to observe and better understand ourselves.  Identifying these behaviors is quite a creative endeavor.  Crafting experiments to validate our assumptions requires just as much creativity.

It's said that a picture can tell 1000 words.  But what if the words are portrayed in pictures?  Could you construct a piece of writing that is more than the words that make it up?  Words are powerful things.  So are pictures.  They both have the ability to convey a strong message and to evoke emotion.  Combine the two and you can have a bit of fun.

A recent study has revealed that you are more likely to be attacked by an African lion shortly after a full moon (if you happen to be in Africa that is).  The reason actually makes sense.  The increased light of the full moon means they find it harder to hunt and are hungrier shortly after.  People have long believed that the full moon brings out the loonies in people.  Many studies have proven this to be a fallacy however and it is not true.

Last week you came up with the perfect perplexing question.  If you haven't done that yet, don't fret.  You can easily head over to last weeks challenge and have a go.  You should come up with your own question but if you can't there is a sample one there you can borrow.  This week we're going to follow it to it's next logical step.

The right answer is not always the most important thing.  Asking the right questions can be even more important.  This can often be hard.  Experience is a good educator.  An inquisitive mind also helps.  Your challenge this week will help develop your inquisitive side.

The average resume is boring and bland. To many people, a resume is a document which helps you get a job.  To the creative person, a resume should be a lot more.  It is an opportunity for you to craft a piece of art that is a statement about you both in what the resume says and how it says it. (I'm not just talking about artists here.  Your resume is a piece of art no matter what your profession is.)

This week we're defenestrating.

Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.  I think it's brilliant that we have such terms in our vocabulary.   When was the last time you threw something, literally, out a window.  It can be a very liberating feeling.  Acting freely without any thought of consequence.

We acquire a lot of useful information and knowledge each and every day.  Sadly, most of it we forget.  We need to develop strategies to make sure the really useful stuff doesn't get lost.  The more useful resources we have at our disposal, the more creative we can be.

How close to a perfect circle can you draw freehand?

It seems like a silly thing.  Why would you want to draw a circle freehand?  Well,  just because you can't come up with a good reason (and neither can we) doesn't mean that it's a waste.  In fact there are even world championships for this activity.  Check out this video to get a better idea.

This weeks challenge is simple.  Simple to do,  harder to master.

The challenge involves your reaction time.  You can improve it if you can learn to let your subconscious take over.  This is a skill we need to become better at if we want to be more creative.  Our subconscious is great at creative thinking,  we need to learn to let it free however.

This week we're releasing the brakes.

There are probably several things holding you back from being the most creative person you can be.  Some of them you may be aware of.  Others you may discover with a bit of reflection.  They could be attitudes you have.  A messy work environment.  Not getting out of your comfort zone regularly etc.  Identifying them and then working through removing them is an awesome way to really start moving forwards creatively.

Science is great.  We have discovered many unusual and extraordinary things about the world we live in.  Playing about with science experiments is a good way to spark your creative thinking.  As you discover unusual behavior you learn to exercise your curiosity.  You also have the opportunity to experiment and play and see what you can discover.  Best of all,  it is fun.

This week we're racking our brain.

Brain teasers and puzzles are awesome for creativity.  What could the answer be?  It could be anywhere.  Where are the clues?  They are right in front of you but hiding.  They really explore the true essence of creative thinking.  So we've gathered five general brain teasers to give your mind a mental workout.