10 Simple Ways to Boost Your Creativity Right Now
Creativity is like a muscle: if you don’t use it—you’ll lose it.
Okay, lose is a strong word. However, if you aren’t carving out time in your days to be creative or do the things that fill you up, creativity will be hard to access when you really require it.
You wouldn’t go and lift 300 pounds without extensive training just like you couldn’t expect to write a novel without writing anything down prior.
Being creative takes effort, and it doesn’t always magically appear when we want it. And hey, sometimes it requires reading a blog post on ways to boost creativity and executing those strategies. Hint: if you’ve been feeling less than creative lately, you’re in the right place.
Whether it’s for your work or for fun, here are ten easy things you can do to boost your creativity right now.
1. Make time to be creative
One of the most important aspects of being more creative is making time to actually be creative. I know—a crazy concept. The fact is, if boosting your creativity is important to you, you must set aside time to do things that contribute to that goal.
There are a million ways to be creative, and your favorite thing to do might look different from someone else’s. So, think back to the last time you felt creativity flow through your veins. What were you doing? What did that feel like?
For some, it might be playing music. For others it might be going for a walk, going to the gym or painting. Reflect on when you felt your most creative and prioritize that feeling and action.
2. Brain Dump
When I’m preparing for an upcoming presentation or creating a new workshop from scratch, it’s important that I’m tapping into my most creative self. An exercise that I love to do before any concrete “work” takes place is what I like to call a Brain Dump.
Brain Dumping is simple really, and it involves writing down all of your thoughts and ideas without judgement. It’s similar to journaling although I tend to gear my brain dumps more towards work and less to tune into my emotions or feelings.
I find brain dumping to be a great tool to enhance my creativity and to get ideas flowing. Don’t judge your brain dump right away since it might be messy and unorganized at first. You’ll have plenty of time to nitpick once you have all of your ideas written down rather than in your head.
3. Journal
Like brain dumping, journaling can be an effective way to boost your creativity and get your thoughts out of your head and into the world.
My favorite part about journaling is that it can be whatever I want it to be. Whether it’s stream of consciousness journaling where I write down whatever pops into my head, or if I feel inspired by a specific prompt or question that day and focus on that. If you’re looking for creativity inducing journal prompts, I’ve included one of my favourite resources here (1).
4. Look for inspiration
The next way to boost creativity is to actually look for it (2). It might seem like an obvious concept, and I’ve found this strategy to work wonders when I’m feeling unmotivated or uninspired.
So often when we don’t feel creative, we’re also existing in a less-than-ideal mindset or headspace. To fix this, begin seeking out inspiration and new ideas. The possibilities here are quite literally endless. Read a chapter of a book, skim through a blog post (wink), go for a walk and listen to nature, watch a documentary that fascinates you, you get the idea.
The Universe has all kinds of creative messages for you when you look for them.
5. Move your body
One of my favourite ways to change up my energy and boost creativity is to get up and move. It’s often the case that feeling uninspired and not-so-creative stems from a lack of energy or too much negative energy.
To help with this, get up and move around! (3) Moving your body will shake up your energy and get more blood flowing to your brain to kickstart the creative process. If you follow us on Instagram (which if you’re not—make sure you do that here) you’ll know that I’m a big outdoors person. I’m especially a fan of any water-related activity, like kayaking.
I’ve found that I’ve had some of my best ideas kayaking on the waters of Northern Michigan. Moving your body is simple, and it works.
6. Listen to your body
Along with moving your body, it’s important to listen to it as well. Have you been getting enough sleep lately? Eating enough? Drinking enough water? I promise I’m not purposely sounding like your Mom here, I simply want to stress the fact that all of these can have a huge impact on your creativity.
If you haven’t been feeling creative, inspired or motivated lately—there’s a chance that it could be your body telling you to rest, that it needs more fuel, etc. (4) Whatever that missing link is, tap into it. If you aren’t taking care of your body, it won’t be able to take care of you.
7. Meditate
Meditation is by far my favorite way to connect with myself and tap into my creativity. So much so that while I’m in meditation I’m unaware of just about everything else.
Meditation allows me to stay grounded while tuning into my higher purpose. Taking that time for myself every single day has enhanced my creativity tenfold. If you’re at the beginning of your meditation journey or want to learn more about it, I always find the Headspace platform to be an amazing resource. I’ve linked it here (5) and at the bottom of this blog post.
8. Unplug
Ah, technology. The love/hate relationship that exists within so many of us. Bottom line-- technology can be an amazing tool and a big distraction. On one hand, you’re using technology at this very moment to read about ways to enhance your creativity, and on the other hand, technology can often “suck us in” and take us far away from anything that resembles creativity.
Like everything in life, technology has a time and a place. With that said, I’ve found that my peak creativity levels come at times where I’m nowhere near my phone or laptop. My spurts of creativity tend to come when I’m out on a walk or enjoying nature with my phone happily resting on my nightstand back at my house.
If you want to be more creative, turn off your phone and tune out the world for a bit. I can promise you the good will far outweigh the bad.
9. Rearrange your surroundings
Another amazing way to boost creativity especially in a work-from-home environment? Change up your surroundings! (6) If you’re attempting anything of the creative sort, feeling inspired by your workspace is so important.
That means that if you’re not excited to sit down and be creative or work in your current space, something must change. And if you physically have nowhere else to go—work with what you have. Change up your lighting or light a candle to set the creative mood. It may seem like a small thing and it can make a big difference to your creativity and productivity.
10. Try something new
Last and certainly not least, try a new activity to get into a creative flow (7).
When we’re kids, we try new things without giving it much thought. Somewhere along the way we become averse to putting ourselves out there and attempting a new activity for fear of what others might think.
This last creativity tip is my invitation to you to do something that scares you. Or at the very least, get out of your comfort zone even in a small way. The more you challenge your brain to try new things (whether it’s traveling, learning a new hobby or skill, speaking a new language, etc.) the more it will establish new ways of thinking.
And isn’t that what creativity’s all about?
Conclusion
Creativity is a key aspect of the human experience and it comes in many different forms. When we’re feeling “off”, uninspired or not-so-creative—it can be discouraging. Especially if your job relies heavily on your creative muscles.
These ten strategies for boosting creativity are what have worked for me as an entrepreneur for the last 35 years, and I’m confident they will work for you as well.
Choose the one that speaks to you the most, and make sure to revisit this blog post if you ever need a creative kick in the butt!
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Happy creating!
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