Creativity is cocooned inside every one of us, one way or the other.
However, it can easily become buried under a pile of routine,
professionalism, responsibility, and appearing to be "grown up"; or,
it can be worn down by criticism, duty, or through simple neglect.
Whatever your reason for wanting to crank up your creativity, rest
assured that it is possible for any person to do so and that given a
little time and focus, you can cultivate creativity in your life, no
matter what else you're doing. The benefits of being more creative
will flow through into all of your pursuits, providing you with
inspiration for new ideas, new ways of doing things, and simply
brightening up your daily tasks.
In this article, you'll learn a number of ways to crank up your
creativity – feel free to pick and mix some or to try them all; and
enjoy the creativity surfacing from within you.
!! Steps !!
Accept that you _are_ creative. Some people will happily inform you
that they're "creatives", while others are convinced you're either
born with it, or you're not and they don't think they have any
creativity. The truth is that everyone is creative, and researchers
have proven that it is possible to improve creativity in various
ways including diet, exercise, and practice.[1] Any person has the
potential to be creative provided you want to give it a try and
believe in your potential.
* Creativity is a pathway to knowing yourself better and to creating
balance in your life. If you see it this way, rather than as being
about something that only some people are gifted with, you'll be
better placed to find creativity within.
* Not allowing yourself to be creative is like freezing over a part
of yourself and denying yourself the therapeutic and tranquil
focus that creativity brings. See being creative as being good for
you.
Change your perspective. You might have heard the phrase 'Think
outside the box'. Doing this is important for sparking creativity
because it lets you see each situation from a different point of
view. When changing your perspective, approach problems by breaking
them down into several elements. Then, shuffle the elements around
and look for new ways of finding solutions. Think of what would
happen if an idea you're stuck on is replaced.
* This method is important in enhancing creativity because it helps
to remove you from fixations that can hinder creativity.
* Read Think 'Outside of the Box' for more ideas on using this
method.
Shift your mental landscape. Mentally move away from your current
location and try to see how the problem might appear when situated
elsewhere. Imagine how another person in another land would react if
subjected to the same situation you're facing. Picture how different
situations might pan out in new ways just by being somewhere else,
and perceived by someone else raised differently from you. What
things would still matter and what would not? Focus on the things
that they would not be as concerned about to try and reduce those
elements in your mind too.
* Apply your problem in a different setting. From there, adapt a
solution to the current setting.
Embrace your imagination. Let your imagination run wild – take a
problem, an idea, a suggestion, a thought and run with it to all
extremes. Exaggerate the outcomes in your mind, both magnifying and
minimizing them. Don't just sit there and hope that ideas and
inspiration will appear – exercise your imagination with
techniques aimed at awakening the imagination and targeting it at
idea making. The more ideas you come up with, the better, for many
of the ideas will be flawed or unachievable but among them, there
will be ideas that you can really run with, helping you to be as
creative as can be. The following methods for ideas-storming
originate from Siimon Reynolds, who has had many years of experience
working in the creative department of the advertising industry:[2]
* _The pick-a-word method_: Pick any word and relate your creative
problem or challenge to the word. For example, you choose the word
"elephant". Your creative problem is to hold a party. Elephant
might suggest to you to choose a safari theme, to have the guests
dress as elephants, and to raise funds for the World Elephant
Fund. You might choose games with elephant and wildlife themes,
and have a buffet filled with foods from Africa or Asia. If your
word isn't taking you anywhere, choose another one. This process
should be quick, quick, quick, and it should find you lots of
lateral solutions you'd not have thought of otherwise.
* _The outrageous idea method_: Let yourself think the crazy,
usually unacceptable ideas and then pare them back. For example,
you might think "I'm not going to write my essays anymore; I'll
pay for someone else to do them". Of course, that idea is
ridiculous, but you could pare it back to paying yourself in small
rewards for stages of completion of your essay, creating your own
personal "essay payment service" that benefits just you! Crazy
ideas shake up your thinking and force you to look at things from
a different angle; Lewis Carroll once said that "Sometimes I've
believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast" –
try it yourself some time!
* _Cross fertilization method_: Listen to someone in an industry
that has absolutely nothing to do with yours; or sit in on
lectures in a study field that you don't know anything about. And
start listening for their skills, techniques, ideas, and
solutions. You'll be amazed at how you can match things they use
regularly to shake up your own way of thinking in new ways! It
doesn't matter what you do; you can find parallels in all sorts of
other industries and for those who work from home, check
industries dealing with catering, event planning, therapy,
accounting, etc. for new ways of looking at running your
household.
* _What would my hero do method_: Choose someone you admire greatly
and imagine how that person would solve the creative problem or
issue facing you. Immerse yourself in being that person, right
down to the role they play daily, and imagine how they'd respond
to the situation before you.
Play with abandon. A constant focus on work without play dulls
creativity. Creativity is like a wellspring that needs nourishing to
burst forth. And this nourishing includes play, something that many
adults who take themselves too seriously don't think applies to them
anymore. Abandoning yourself to play though, is the way to open the
doors to creativity and
* Watch your kids and your dogs at play. See how they allow
themselves to fall deeply into the rhythm of play and are not
fussed by convention, time, rules, or the suitability of the
occasion. Join in the play and let yourself go with the flow.
* Play with music, with paint and pencils, with gardens, with
snowmobiles, with horses, with ribbons, with balls, with model
trains... – whatever you love to abandon yourself to, let it be
a regular part of your life. It will nourish you and rekindle your
creative flame.
* Have days or afternoons where you have no plans. Just wander out
into the world and soak it up, enjoy all that's thrown your way.
Look at everything with wonder again and let life's possibilities
come to you.
* Laugh well, and laugh often.
Engross yourself in the artistic process. When you allow yourself to
fall deeply into the artistic process, your self-expression takes
over, time stands still and your innermost thoughts and feelings
find their outlet. Art and design is the ideal medium for cranking
up your creativity, so spend some time in your favorite artistic
pursuit, such as photography, painting, drawing, designing houses,
clothes, toys, etc., drawing, sculpting, making crafts, singing,
playing music, dancing, composing, writing, etc.
Find your comfort spot. Have a place that you stake as yours,
however temporarily so – it might be a desk, a rock out near the
sea, a little nook in the garden, or a certain seat in the library.
It's your thinking spot, your personal quiet place to sit,
contemplate, and to let the fires of imagination free. Make sure it
is somewhere where you won't be disturbed and where you can give
your thinking and ideas your full attention.
* Cyberspace is not a personal thinking space. It's interactive,
busy, and sometimes fatiguing. While it holds an incredible amount
of ideas, you need to have distance from the online space in order
for your own creative ideas to truly spark. Once you've had that
distance, you can return your creativity to cyberspace fully
fleshed out.
Allot time. Time, time, time. You can't rush creativity. Hurrying
does not help in the outflow of ideas. Your mind tends to go into a
state of slight disarray when you are trying to force things. If
you're low on time, keep a list of activities able to spark your
creativity and pull it out whenever there are spare moments, such as
waiting for a bus or while dinner cooks. Allow ideas to percolate;
sometimes the best thing you can do for creativity is to simply let
things bubble away over time.
Soak up solitude. Learn to be good company to yourself. Highly
creative people are very comfortable around themselves and Leo
Babauta says that it is the number one habit to cultivate for
ultimate creativity.[3] His personal study found that appreciation
of solitude as a creativity generator is a common thread of creative
people throughout history. Some of the things to consider when
enjoying your solitude include:
* Find quiet places to contemplate, away from the hubbub of everyday
life. Quiet is essential for creativity, as is taking time out
specifically to just allow creativity to wash over you.
* Use solitude to recharge. A tranquility of mind comes with
solitude that is hard to find in any other place or condition.
This is therapy without someone else's interpretations or cost!
* Love the time you have to yourself, when you can dance alone,
ponder on life without interruption, and enjoy everything around
you for no other reason than that these things "just are".
Revel in connection. After you've soaked in solitude, reach out to
others and get help. Communicate your ideas to others. A different
view of the situation or challenge might help. Better yet, get many
different views! Read the ideas of others, collaborate with people,
and be inspired by them.
* Never be shy to ask. Diversity is very helpful in inspiring
creativity.
* Organize a brainstorming session. The spontaneous generation of
new ideas helps in formulation of more ideas. The products of
brainstorming can be the raw material in the construction of the
idea.
* Being around like-minded people can inspire your creativity when
you're firing ideas off one another. However, be careful of
falling into groupthink ruts; diversify your group every now and
then to allow yourself to be confronted by new ways of seeing
things.
Keep it simple. Simplicity is important for creativity – when
noise, distractions, consumerism, other people's ideas, visual media
are impacting our senses, our own creativity is easily dampened.
Clear the clutter from your life, and switch things off. Remove
yourself from distractions, from stores, and from the myriad ideas
of others, at least now and then, to allow your creativity a chance.
* While it's great to be inspired by the ideas and thoughts of
others, it's possible to become so bogged down in their ways of
thinking that you forget your own. Be inspired but also let go
often enough to be refreshed.
* Eat healthy and exercise adequately. A well nourished body results
in a well nourished mind. Moreover, exercise stimulates creative
thinking.
* Get adequate sleep. REM sleep improves creativity because it is
problem-solving sleep.
!! Video !!
!! Tips !!
* These are just some ideas to get your creative juices going. They
can be adapted to suit each individual. A large amount of it is
down to you. How inventive can you be? How open are you? Remove
the boundaries from your mind and you will find your creativity
will increase.
* Keep a record of your creative ideas as they appear. Unless you've
an amazing memory, many ideas disappear, including those that come
to you in dreams.
* Do something thrilling or even scary now and then, such as riding
a rollercoaster. Fear, thrills and frustration can open up
innovative thinking.
* Allow yourself to daydream. It's an important part of the creative
process.
!! Warnings !!
Remember that in brainstorming, four rules are followed for it to be
successful:
* There should be no criticism. Criticism hinders the free flow of
ideas. This can be postponed until the session has ended.
* Combining and/or modifying ideas is encouraged.
* Quantity is preferred over quality in brainstorming.
* Weird or strange ideas are encouraged.
* Consuming is never a replacement for creativity. Consumption
causes us to place a value on everything created and done, thereby
causing you to feel that whatever you've created is never good
enough. Creativity isn't about standards; it's about connecting
with yourself and letting your creative process flow unhindered by
thoughts of perfection or meaning.
* Never stop learning. Do that and your creativity will shrivel.
!! Things You'll Need !!
* Journal for ideas
!! Related WikiHows !!
* How to Take a Creative Approach to Becoming Degree Qualified
* How to Be Creative
* How to Be a Creative Thinker and Problem Solver
* How to Begin a New Creative Project
* How to Enhance Your Creativity Using a Mind Map
* How to Start a Journal With Creativity
!! Sources And Citations !!
!! Article Tools !!
* Read on wikiHow
*
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