Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?
5 by MikeLumos | 5 comments on Hacker News.
I've never felt like I'm good at being creative, coming up with original ideas, my own unique independent thoughts. Even though I have spent years practicing "creative" skills - traditional and digital art, writing, gamedev, programming. I've made a lot of things, I'm pretty proud of some of my projects. But "creativity" still feels like a mystery to me. I've had a few good ideas over the years, but they happened by accident, and I can't make them happen deliberately. Sometimes I can go months without an original thought. If I want to intentionally invent a new idea for an app, or a game, or a story, or a business - I feel like I can't, no matter how hard I try. And generally speaking, in life, I feel like I'm pretty bad at having my own unique take/opinion on things, even though I'm trying. Most of my "controversial" thoughts and opinions came from the controversial/unpopular books/essays/posts I have read. How do people like Scott Alexander, Paul Graham, Eliezer Yudkowsky, etc, just think of all these unique and original things? It seems like they just have a boundless source of insightful ideas. How can I get better at this?

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