5 Ways to Jumpstart Your Creativity
1) Start with a morning freewrite.
We all have days when walk in to the office in the morning and can’t be productive. But focusing solely on how much we have to get done can stress us out. And it can even cause us to lose perspective on our own thinking.
On days like this, one way to refocus is by doing a morning freewrite. According to a study from Harvard Business School Professor Teresa Amabile, regular workplace journaling allows you to rediscover your perspective and become more productive.
2) Take a creative course.
If you’re the kind of person who prefers guided instruction, taking a creative course could be the right way to direct your creativity.
Creative courses could be anything from creative writing to photo and video to music, art, and design. Regardless which course you take. Plus, it may help you uncover some of your strengths and work on your weaknesses.
3) Brainstorm while you exercise.
If you feel like you’re working your brain hard and still coming out empty-handed, try pushing yourself physically for thirty minutes or so. Research shows that exercise can be linked to more creative thinking. One study that focused on how moderate exercise influences participants’ performance on different thinking tasks found that exercising regularly may train your cognitive thinking and creativity in a healthy way.
4) Travel to other places.
Since your creativity is related to how your brain is wired, it’s important to keep your mind stimulated by new sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and experiences. Expose yourself to an entirely different point of view through a new cultural experience. Keeping your sense sharp allows the synapses in your brain to think in new ways.
5) Incorporate breaks into every work day.
Ever noticed that some of your best ideas come to you at the most random times. Like the car or the shower? There’s a reason for that: These breaks allow your mind to continue to work on these ideas without getting stuck in a funk where you can’t organize your thoughts.
