How To Fuel Your Creativity
And come up with novel ideas more often.
This thing called creativity was something that eluded me. I often asked myself, why am I not a creative person? Ideas would bounce around in my head all day with my constant refusal to acknowledge them. I would always think: but someone has done that before right? Your mind is just imitating that, so what makes you think you’re so creative?
This happened for months continuously, until one day I had to ask myself what it really means to be creative. One Google search later, I found out that creativity is the ability to use one’s imagination or original ideas to create something: the power of inventiveness.
And I had a wild imagination. I mean, it was on fire all day, every day. With ideas, thoughts and questions. So what did I have to do to actually feel creative? Well, I felt this way because my ideas were not concrete enough. They were just roaming in my mind vaguely. And because I didn’t get to capture those ideas down when they came, I didn’t have space in my head for new ideas, and the old ones just keep roaming about and get a little stale over time.
Here are some tips you can make use of to fuel your creativity and get those ideas streaming in constantly:
1. Go offline
Don’t forget that we are trying to get original ideas here, not to copy some off the internet. Most times when we try to go online to get ideas, we subconsciously compare what we have in our head to what we see online. And it is very likely that you will step down your original idea because what you see online will look better. Develop your ideas offline to a certain degree before you seek more ideas online.
2. Do something random- like the dishes.
Doing random chores puts you in a position of a clear mind, which is perfect for having a creative spur. It is not easy to get that ‘aha’ moment when you are forcing it. The best ideas come to us naturally. Personally, forcing the ideas make them harder to grasp. So I just think about other things. Allowing your mind to roam isn’t always a bad idea, as long as its not for too long and it helps you get more creative.
3. Take a nap
Sleep, when used adequately, can be an awesome tool for re energizing and getting more strength. Our creative process actually follows the law of diminishing returns, which means that there is a peak amount of time we are meant to work for, after which the quality of our work begins to decline. Some awesome ideas can come in after a good night’s rest. Your brain will never have time to think outside the box if it’s tired.
4. Take a pen and paper and write stuff out
It could be for some kind of drawing, for an idea, a concept or whatever it is you want to get done. Our mind never produces perfect ideas, therefore it’s up to you to work on them and refine them. The first step to doing this is to get them down on paper and just ponder on them. You can write down a list of ideas you have for your project, no matter how silly they may seem. Then pick them one by one and explore all the possibilities of each one. You may end up seeing one or more of them from a new angle that is clearer than when they were just stuck in your head.
5. Get more artistic experiences
Get more artistic. Try to draw or paint something. Scribble down funny stuff on paper one in a while. Go on a new adventure, no matter how far or close. Our heads can be so tense sometimes that we need some kind of creative outlet for all that tension. Art is therapeutic and helps us get mental clarity or could just help us express ourselves in unique ways.
6. Forget about deadlines
This may be counterproductive, since the point of getting creative is to do a better job within a stipulated time. But like I earlier said, creativity cannot be forced. We may get lucky sometimes that those novel ideas come to us when we most need them, but most times they don’t. When you are worried about a deadline, your brain is tense and puts itself on auto drive to handle the task at hand, and it may not be easy to think outside the box when this happens.
7. Meditate.
First, I must confess that my meditation routine is currently not in a very good shape, and my creativity is taking a hit because of this. Meditation is the practice of silencing all nagging thoughts for a while to just breathe and be at peace with yourself. It is also a powerful calming tool that pulls us away from the noise of the world. By focusing on just one thing –right now- meditation can give you more clarity on the task at hand and provide better and more creative solutions than before.
8. Read more books.
All kinds of books, fiction and non-fiction, play a vital role in building our thinking capability. The better your thought process, the better your ideas will be. To be more creative, we need to have a vivid imagination, which is something that books help us build.
9. You can modify previous ideas that you liked
Not every creative idea has to be from scratch. Most times we work with other people’s ideas in mind and don’t even know it. Don’t beat yourself up when you can’t come up with something unique in thin air. If you have seen a similar idea you like, then identify the things about it you would change, change them, and come up with your own unique creative idea.
Being creative is not just a gift from birth. It can be developed and nurtured. What habit do you plan to adopt to foster better creativity today?
Thanks for reading!
