7 Ways to Exercise Your Creativity
7 Ways to Exercise Your Creativity
We’ve all been there: struggling to come up with a fresh idea against a looming deadline, the pressure to stay motivated, feeling stuck in a creative rut. To keep those ideas flowing requires exercise and practice. Here are some ways to consistently keep thinking creatively:
Improve your media diet!
Seek out positive, diverse, funny, thought-provoking, multifaceted, and challenging content. Reduce or avoid negative, depressing, anxiety-inducing, mean-spirited, and mindless content.
Of course, there’s a time and a place for Love Is Blind, or sports bloopers, and YouTube rants, but you should mix in a dose of Under The Skin, The Mind, Explained, or Nerdwriter.
The point is to think of your media consumption like mental nutrition and try to nourish your brain with as much healthy content as you can, while accepting that you’ll just want to watch some junk every now and again. Paying close attention to how you feel after watching content will give you insights into what to consume and how much.
Add fiction to the mix
It can be tempting to focus your creative time on non-fiction (business books, talk podcasts, webinars, etc.). But watching dramatic television and award-winning films, or reading great fiction writers can shed light on different perspectives and content structures. For instance, the Netflix series W1A is not just hilarious satire, it gives clever insights into toxic corporate cultures.
Take care of your mental hygiene
Get outside for walks without music, no podcasts, just nature. In her book, Your Creative Brain, Shelley Carson, a Harvard psychologist, says that nature walks “broaden the attention and awakens the senses.” So does mindfulness meditation, an essential tool for improving creativity. Also, make sure you unplug at times, try waiting 30-60 minutes before checking your phone in the morning.
Understand your Echo Chamber (and get out of it sometimes)
Author Jonathan Haidt explains the trappings of a personal echo chamber in his book, The Righteous Mind. Think about what deeply held beliefs you have and try to argue against them, out loud, at home. It’s the debate technique of taking the position you don’t agree with and trying to win from that side of the argument. It’s a great way to broaden your mind and, as an added benefit, it sharpens your rhetorical skills. To get inspired, try listening to The Munk Debates or Intelligence Squared Debates.
Let go of judgement
“That idea is stupid.” “No one will like this.” No one judges us more than ourselves. But ourselves of those critical thoughts is easier said than done, right? The best solution I’ve found is through Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), which is a problem-focused and goal oriented process of noticing your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours so you can control them more effectively. Guided meditation is a form of CBT helps us get out of the anxious, self-censoring thoughts that can kill creativity. You can start with these apps, 10% Happier, Calm, Headspace.
Talk to people!
In every consultation, I get some kind of new idea or insight into how entrepreneurs think and where they are struggling. Be open with in sharing your service and the insights will be worth it – not to mention you’re helping your community in a time of need.
Think, Make, Share
One of the sure-fire ways to start thinking creatively is to be creative. If you need help getting started, there are some great content creation tools out there, including writing prompts and creative challenges. Ask yourself: Where your market is living online? What are their interests? Then brainstorm topics you can talk about within that niche and start writing. Or make a video.
Once you share your content, ask for feedback, and then most importantly, repeat the cycle. When it comes to inspiring creativity can be substituted for actually going through the creative process. And the more you do it, the easier it gets.