If You Want To Be Creative, Free Your Mind
Invent different ways of working
Do you think being creative is genetic or is it something that you can learn every day?
Education, experience, knowledge or intellectual power — none of these serve as an adequate predictor as to why one person has creative mind and another doesn’t. We see examples of this every day in our workplaces, our homes, and our neighborhoods. We observe supposedly brilliant and well-educated people struggle, while others with fewer obvious skills or attributes flourish. And we ask ourselves why?
I think we all are creative in some way or another. Everyone can be more creative with simple things that you do daily — maybe it’s your work, the way you cook your meal, or maybe it’s the way you dress up and express yourself.
Everything we do has creativity and a bit of imagination that does wonders.
Keith Sawyer, research psychologist and author of “Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity,” says that you can be creative with few steps that can lead you to be more creative and set you in the right direction.
There are a few ways I am sure can spark your creativity, it certainly did mine.
“Innovation is often given complex definitions. We prefer the simple one: ‘New Ideas that Work.’” — Geoff Mulgan
Outdoor Walk
Last year my mentor told me in one of the meetings that, if you are seeking a creative idea, go for a walk. And it really does make me feel less worrisome from day to day work and make my mind more available to absorb and look around.
Don’t let yourself be down about your failures or stressed out. Take a long drive by yourself, hang out with your friends and family or just go to the nearest park by yourself. All these things will help you get back on track.
When we are feeling down, our creativity is stuck inside us and it is hard to think of any new idea in that state of mind. That is why it’s important to fight it and just enjoy life.
Embrace the un-busyness
I am a person who is kind of a hustler and I don’t like sitting ideal. I always try to find something to do to keep me occupied so that I don’t feel stuck up.
But slowly I started adding half an hour without my laptop, phone or anything distracting and just sat with my thoughts. It was not easy initially. You can understand if you practice meditation, how hard it is even to sit silent even for 5 minutes.
It is still hard but I am learning to relish it. Instead of filling every extra minute with productivity or scrolling through your phone, give your mind some breathing room.
Let your mind wander, and who knows? You just might have the “aha moment” you were working so hard to achieve.
“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill
Interact with creative people or community
If you don’t know how to generate new ideas or feel stuck, get acquainted with other creative people, either it’s on social media or in person. But find a few people and learn from them and how they learn to find their imagination and creativity. It’s the best way to learn and take inspiration.
“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” — Pablo Picasso
That means, good people learn from better people, and better people learn from the best. You can’t develop your creativity when you’re surrounded by those who keep on discouraging and distracting you.
So have some real talented people around you, and learn from them. This is not only about surrounding yourself with talented people, it’s about knowledge. Don’t limit yourself. Go wild!
And it can definitely give you a whole new perspective on the same thing.
I incorporated writing gratitude in my morning routine after seeing how positivity it can impact my day and how it can set the tone for my day even on days where I felt clueless and anxious.
“If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” — Steve Jobs
Observe More
If you have seen stand up comics, great artists , writers, they draw inspiration from people, things around them. Your life, people around you are your source of inspiration that can lead you to be more creative.
If you want to start, there a few things you can start with:
- Self-awareness
- Social awareness
Observe how you react to certain things and how people around you behave.
Creative people are always on the lookout for possible solutions. You can do this by becoming more aware and practicing mindfulness, which involves intentionally noticing things
Make Curiosity your friend and your way of creative living
Whenever you’re told to “follow your passion,” it can be very intimidating, and it can be very confusing, because sometimes passion isn’t very clear, sometimes passions burn hot and then burn out, sometimes your passion changes, sometimes on a very sad Tuesday morning when you didn’t sleep well, the idea of passion just feels so out of reach that you can’t even imagine ever accessing it.
Keep an open and a free mind to observe more and to process the things that actually mean something to you. Set some free time and unleash yourself from the round the clock productive cycle. Find time to relax and give your brain a break.
Be Bold
Be Courageous
Be Your Best
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