7 Tips To Improve Creativity

Feeling like you’ve hit a creative block recently? Or perhaps you’ve always struggled to cultivate innovation? Creativity can often come in waves, but no matter the scenario, there are many ways to improve creativity, including:

• Brainstorming
• Collaborating with others
• Listening to inspiring music
• Getting inspo through research
• Taking regular breaks
• Meditating
• Moving your body

Ready to discover a new creative streak? Continue reading!

What is creativity?

Creativity can be described as the process of using your imagination to envision new techniques, ideas or solutions. Creativity can be applied to design, problem-solving, writing, art and pretty much anything that requires you to use your brain.

The science behind creativity lies in the right side of the brain, with this hemisphere being responsible for problem-solving, new ideas and flashes of inspiration. The left side of your brain, however, is all about logic and reason, therefore, if you’re looking to come up with new ideas you need to activate your right hemisphere. Thankfully, there are multiple ways of doing this.

Here’s how to improve creativity levels…

Brainstorm on paper

Start by getting back to basics with a pen and paper by creating a mind map. This can be an excellent way of heightening creativity levels, as it allows your brain to scan different ideas and take notes as and when they arise. Quickly jotting down thoughts as soon as they appear in your head can fuel additional thought patterns, which can develop into sparks of creativity.

To get the most out of brainstorming, put yourself in a receptive mind frame by stretching and taking a few deep breaths. Then take your pen and quickly scribble the initial thoughts in your head. After this, you could even try moving on from here by utilising word association, which can bring fresh ideas to the surface.

Collaborate with a team

Sometimes the key to opening up new creative waves can be by working with other people, as getting another person’s perspective can heavily influence your own ideas.

One of the many positives surrounding the vast differences in humans is the differing perspectives and ideas each person carries. People often have polar opposite thoughts on a subject, which if taken on board, can influence our own thinking, giving rise to blossoming ideas and innovation.

Try asking for feedback and advice from friends and colleagues, or even better, request to have a brainstorming session as a group to see how your ideas bounce off one another.

Play some music

Music can do wonders for inspiring you and activating the creative side of your brain, thanks to the benefit of listening to certain sound waves.

According to science, there are musical pieces at certain frequencies which can put you in a calm state, thus activating your creativity levels and influencing new patterns of thinking.

Try listening to some lyric-free music, such as classical or meditation music. It is thought that these two particularly calming music genres can put you in a solid position for creating new ideas, as the release of dopamine when relaxed is a key component of creativity.

Do some research

Getting inspiration from other sources can help to broaden your creative horizons in many ways. Throughout the ages, many people, whether scientists or artists have turned to others before them for inspiration, with great results.

Without copying someone else’s effort, see if you can glean any inspiration from admiring a piece of work that is similar to your own.

Take frequent breaks

When you’ve hit a wall, it can be extremely helpful to get out and about in order to refresh your mind. When you’re feeling stagnant, simply taking yourself out of the equation can act as a circuit breaker, ultimately leading you to returning to whatever you’re doing with a brand new perspective.

Continuously forcing yourself to attempt to be creative can be off-putting and frustrating when not going to plan, so go easy on yourself. Taking your mind off the activity by distracting yourself by doing something you love can be extremely helpful for resetting your thought processes.

You should find that after taking time to refresh, you have lots of new ideas and perspectives.

Meditate

Some of the world’s most creatively-minded individuals site their flashes of creativity as coming from a meditative state.

The science behind meditation involves quietening your usually overactive and chaotic conscious mind in order to bring your subconscious mind to the forefront.

Many experts believe that by meditating, you can also access the superconscious, which is supposedly a source of intelligence and a bank of all thoughts that can be tapped into to access creativity.

However you look at it, your day-to-day conscious mind can be a hindrance. Try tapping into your subconscious and setting aside your normal mind, so that new ideas can blossom.

Still stuck?

If your creativity levels are still stifled, you may benefit from partnering with a coach or mentor.

This can be a useful tactic to open up new doorways, as creativity can be enhanced by getting the perspective of somebody with extensive experience. You can also use them to bounce your ideas off as and when they arise, which can be an extremely beneficial form of feedback. Your new coaching/mentoring relationship can help set the scene for more inventive ideas to form.

If you’d like to explore this avenue, browse over 100 experts and get started on your journey today!

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