14 Surprising Ways to Boost Your Creativity

14 Surprising Ways to Boost Your Creativity

As much as I wish that creativity came naturally and easily – without pulling out my hair – the truth of the matter is that it just doesn’t. Ha! In fact, lately, I have been feeling in a bit of a creative deficit.  The Silver Lining  was coming across a recent post on Daily Good that was incredibly motivating to me…so much so that I would share with you, dear readers. Hope that you enjoy it as much as I am!

1. Limit your options. By restricting the amount of choices to choose from, you will be much more inclined to trigger creative thought. What does this mean? Focus in on one or two ideas and then brainstorm based off those specific ideas.

2. Don’t wait for inspirtation. When baseball players get into a hitting slump, do you see them stop playing and wait for the slump to be over? Most definitely not! They practice even more to regain thier swing. The key is to not worry about whether or not your work is good. Make inspritation happen, don’t wait for it to happen to you.

3. Focus more on the problem rather than the solution. Too often we get excited about the masterpiece we want to create rather than how we are going to create it. Be patient and think through every turn that needs to happen  in order to get to your final goal. As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”

4. Increase your “distance” from the creative project. Take time away from your piece and think about it from a distance or in the future. This will allow you to generate more creative solutions to your tasks.

5. Work at a coffeehouse. Typically a coffee shop has a medium level of noise and music happening. Having this perfect amount of backgorund noise activates abstract thinking and enhances creative performance. When a workspace is too loud, however, it can reduce the extent of information processing and therefore impair creative thinking.

6. Do an intense physical workout. Studies show that aerobic excercise can help cause ideas to form and allow subconscious ideas to make their way into your conscious mind. Einstein said it himself, “I thought of it while riding my bicycle.”

7. Use the wrong hand to do an everyday task. By using your nondominant hand on occasion can foster greater acitviation in both hemispheres of the brain. Each side of the brain must work harder to correspond with one another allowing thoughts and emotions to be more fully expressed.

8. Write the end of the story first. Thinking backwards stimulates your creative cognitive function. Many award-winning authors use this technique to break free from writer’s block.

9. Treat stray thoughts like gold. Some thoughts may come to your mind that have you thinking “What the heck am I thinking?” but extremely creative people don’t push those thoughts away. Instead they write them down because they could be seeds of creative breakthroughs in the near future.

10. Know less, guess more. Stop heading to google the second you don’t know the answer to something. Instead, put the phone or laptop away and let your mind actually think for itself. Sit there and ponder what the answer could be and allow your mind to drift any which way. You may be surprised with what you come up with.

11. Look where you’re not going. Being too efficient in daily activities can cut you off from creative breakthroughs. When walking your dog or running to the grocery store, take a second to stop and look around at what is going on. Seeing or hearing things that are unexpected can trigger creative thoughts that might have otherwise not come forth.

12. Laugh out loud. Laughing stimulates activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. A/k/a the area of the brain that is associated with creativity! So laugh as much as possible even when something isn’t funny. The physical act of laughing also provides benefits.

13. Do something mindful. I am the biggest fan of meditation not just because I feel amazing afterwards but because it is a proven way to clear the mind, focus attention, and be more present in the moment. It also promotes divergent thinking which improves the likelihood of creative problem solving!

14. Do something mindless. Take a mental time out. And I mean literally! When a problem arises and it gets too big and stressful to deal with we sometimes to tend to think too hard about how to solve it and make it go away. However, taking a mental time out (as in taking a nap or going for a walk) will allow your mind to recollect itself and effectively problem solve more creatively.