Csikszentmihalhyi on Enhancing Personal Creativity

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has a book entitled Creativity: Flow and Psychology of Discovery and Invention. For this book he interviewed highly creative people from a variety of disciplines (including Ed Asner, Stephen Jay Gould, Jane Loevinger, Jonas Salk, Ravi Shankar, and Edward O. Wilson) and used their testimony to develop and present a deeper understanding of Creativity. Admittedly, I have not read the entire book, but the last chapter titled Enhancing Personal Creativity he gives great advice for becoming more creative and I've outlined it below:

Enhancing Personal Creativity
Acquisition of Creative Energy
Curiosity and Interest

• Try to be surprised by something every day.
• Try to surprise at least one person every day.
• Write down each day what surprised you and how you surprised others.
• When something strikes a spark of interest, follow it.
  

Cultivating Flow in Everyday Life

• Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to.
  
• If you do anything well, it becomes enjoyable.
• To keep enjoying something, you need to increase its complexity.
  

Habits of Strength

• Take charge of you schedule
• Make time for reflection and relaxation
• Shape your space
• Find out what you like and what you hate about life.
• Start doing more of what you love, less of what you hate.
  

Internal Traits

• Develop what you lack.
• Shift often from openness to closure.
• Aim for complexity.
  

The Application of Creative Energy
Problem Finding

• Find a way to express what moves you.
• Look at problems from as many viewpoints as possible.
• Figure out the implications of the problem.
• Implement the solution.
  

Divergent Thinking

• Produce as many ideas as possible.
• Have as many different ideas as possible.
• Try to produce unlikely ideas.
  

Choosing a Special Domain

• Try as many domains as possible
• Focus on domains that fit your interests