We are increasingly living in a creative economy, where those with ideas and vision, who see the world through a seemingly different lens, will drive the future. The rest of us schmucks, who work in more…let’s say, conventional careers, look on with envy. It often seems binary — those who are creative, and those who are not.

But even if you’re not born with whatever gene helps you design a driverless car, or a 3-D printing prosthetic, or write the next Great American Novel, or found a company like AirBNB, or create a fried chicken donut sandwich (thanks for that) — there’s hope for you.

I’ve spent some time talking with designers and creative types about their creative processes, and have found 5 ways to help non-designers to think more creatively, to be more unorthodox. To see the world through a different lens. To maybe design something of their own.

The best part is, it’s fun, and it only takes 10 minutes a day.

Technique #1: Find a man-made or natural pattern and study it.

This could be a beautiful stone screen, or an aloe vera plant, or something you see on your daily commute. Ask yourself a series of questions. How do the lines intersect? Does anything happen when they intersect? Is it visually appealing? If so, why? If not, why not? Does color matter? Would it look better or worse in another color, or color combination?

Does it have a function? Is this the best way for it to be organized to serve that purpose? Could it be organized to more efficiently serve its purpose? Does it convey a feeling?

Technique #2: Pick a random word and brainstorm a stream of consciousness around it.

Feel free to draw, if that appeals to you. What does the word make you think of? Make you feel? Make you remember? What does it smell like? Taste like? Does it evoke a color? Here’s what I did for Grass:

If you’re really feeling like an overachiever, you can do a second version, and clump words and pictures together into a kind of word map.

Technique #3: Paint something.

In Zen Buddhism, painting is a kind of meditation. The emotion of the word or image you are painting is also conveyed in the brushstrokes you choose to use. Anger is conveyed by violent brushstrokes. Enlightenment is conveyed by sweeping brushstrokes. Try that. Go to Target and buy yourself a $3 set of Crayola watercolors and a pack of cheap art paper. Start with a line or a color. Make it abstract. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or not. The point is that you are literally creating something. You are controlling what goes where, and how. Can you communicate a feeling with brushstrokes? How does the color make you feel? How do the lines change when you there is more or less water on the brush? This form of creative meditation can be incredibly rejuvenating.

Technique #4: Critically examine an object.

Any object, large or small. In most cases, this object will be the solution to a problem. (And if it’s not, think about what purpose it serves.) Ask yourself a series of questions. What is its primary function? How is it set up to achieve that function? Are there other ways of doing that? Why does it look the way it does? Must it be organized in this way? What is it made of? Are there other materials you could use instead? Does it have any design flaws? (Does it easily tip over? Does it break easily? Is it unstable in some way?) Do you find it aesthetically pleasing? How might you improve it?

As an example, I am an evangelist for stand-up desks. Here’s what I used to have:

This thing was massive and intimidating. People thought the Terminator invaded my office and SkyNet was in charge. It took two people to assemble it, clamp it to the desk, and make sure it didn’t make my desk tip over. I wanted people to feel comfortable in my office, but this heavy, awkward standing desk robo-arm conveyed the opposite.

Compare that to this, which is a fraction of the cost, made of natural materials, is adjustable, and you can it assemble yourself:

I wish I had invented this. I suppose I will settle for buying it.

This is just an example of how there are many ways to arrive at the same objective. And when you critically examine objects, you just might find new designs for everyday things.

Technique #5, For Advanced Design Thinkers: Critically consider a problem.

More advanced design thinkers can turn technique #4 on its head by considering a problem, rather than the solution. For example:

Problem: I don’t drink enough water when I’m on the go. (This is a major problem for me.)

Break that down into the main factors involved:

· I need to carry water with me, and it should be easy to do that

· Water needs to be in a closed container

· That container shouldn’t leak, or I’ll be really annoyed

· The container should be easy for me to open, but not easy to accidentally open

· I need to be prompted to drink water because I always forget

· The bottle needs to be big enough that I don’t have to constantly keep refilling it

….and then there are other factors I like to keep in mind, like:

· If it’s plastic, I don’t want BPA

· I want my bottle to be attractive, because it often sits in meetings with me (and people silently judge)

· I hate small-mouth bottles — I want a large volume of water when I remember to drink, not a puny stream

· What if I want to put some lemons in it? Is there a way to drink it so that the lemons infuse the water but don’t block the mouth of the bottle?

If you’re an overachiever, you can start to draw some concepts. Does what you’ve drawn look like an existing product? Why? Does it have to look like that? Make sure your imagination is not being confined by the objects you’re used to seeing.

Here’s what I came up with. I will just remind you that I don’t do this for a living:

It turns out my drawing looks a lot like a product that has been referred to as the most pointless Kickstarter ever. But hey. Still a good mental exercise, no?

Here’s the part where I encourage you to actually MAKE whatever you’ve envisioned, but you don’t have to take that step. It’s already a mindset change to think through a problem in a systematic and creative way.

Try it. Give yourself some time to acclimate to this new perspective. You’ll find that great (and terrible) design is everywhere, and soon, you’ll start to see the world a little differently. You’ll question why things are the way they are. And maybe you’ll bring that disruptive thinking back to those “conventional” jobs and make them, well, a little less conventional.