In today’s world, if you’re not at least a little creative, pretty soon a robot will be doing your job. But coming up with those artistic flourishes or clever solutions isn’t so easy. Sometimes that muse just doesn’t speak.
This is not an inspirational list meant to convince you that you are a unique and creative snowflake. Rather, this is for when you’re stuck in a creative bind and need an extra push to make your project work. So here are 15 hacks to help get those creative juices rolling again.
1- Exercise.
Get those endorphins flowing. Exercise is a stress reliever as well as a creative trigger, and mindless repetition is the secret to letting your creative mind wander. And just remember, no matter how much you hate this project, thinking about it is better than stumbling through a treadmill workout wishing you could eat a cheeseburger. It helps to get some perspective.
2-shower.
After all that exercise trying to force creativity, you’re still sweating with despair. Right now you reek of it. Okay, maybe not, but the shower is a great place to drown out the world and relax your mind enough to let it wander. And a wanderlust mind is the fertilizer for new ideas.
3- Sleep in it.
This is why you always did better in exams when you fell asleep on top of the book instead of studying before the exam. Your mind requires sleep, and sleep actually helps you organize your thoughts and release new things. It provides you with a way to look at old problems in a new way.
4- Be curious.
What project are you working on? Is it for a client, or on a certain topic? Do some research. Allow yourself to lose yourself in your subject and find something that interests you, even if it is abstract. Be curious about it. The more intimately you connect with your subject, the more creative you will be when you try to work with it.
5- Listen to Music.
Listening to music-fair Listening to music helps to relax the mind. It also evokes images and feelings. You know, those things you’re trying to get in touch with to make your project more creative? Those. Ideas emerge from a complex mix of problems, emotions, and experiences. Let the music flow over you and let yourself go. yes man marvelous
6- Copy someone else.
It’s okay, not exactly. But trying to emulate someone else’s great work is one way to push yourself creatively. copy your concepts or his style or his technical or some other intangible thing, not your actual work. By trying to recreate something you already love, you are likely to improve it and change it to fit your personal style and preferences.
7- Choose a Tone or Theme.
Sometimes creativity gets bogged down in details and details. Don’t confuse the forest with the trees, here. Step back, take a deep breath, and ask yourself, “Yo, what’s the overall theme, message, or tone?” By having a big picture to draw on, you may have opened up new creative avenues.
8- Look at the Pretty Colors.
Sometimes just choosing colors that work together can give you a whole new perspective on your creative project. Perhaps you had not seen things in this light before. Who knows. Try different color combinations or play around with Adobe Kuler to see if it sparks any new ideas. You can also view some artwork or just browse the web for things like DeviantArt. Try to tell a story about an interesting photo you have seen. Don’t you know the story? make it up That’s half the fun.
9- Look at different sources.
Oh really. Write a sentence or the title of your project and see how it looks in the new fonts. There are many free font websites and databases, and some of them even allow you to write your own text. Try 1001 Free Fonts, Font Squirrel, or DaFont, to name a few. Stumbling across them and clicking randomly helps you imagine your project as being in that source… and maybe you’ll find something you didn’t think of before.
10- Clean Something.
Mindless tasks are great for generating ideas, and organization is often relaxing. Plus, you don’t want to clean while you’re in the middle of a creative epiphany, do you? Better do it now.
11- Go for a walk.
Driving and listening to music (or listening to silence) is a great way to clear your mind. It’s also a bit hypnotic, and this hypnosis helps you move creative issues in your mind like a loose tooth that you move with your tongue. Eventually something is going to break. Just don’t talk on the phone while driving. It’s a distraction. to other drivers.
12- Get angry.
You know all those things you really want to say to that horrible customer? You know those moments when you just want to say “seriously guys, this is the TRUE you don’t want to hear,” or write a scathing email to your boss? Write them down. Let it out. Many of us have created mental blocks to saying exactly what we want to say because, well, we don’t want people to think we’re psychopaths. Break those barriers and say exactly what you mean. You’ll feel good and often figure out (somewhere) a new way to approach your problem. Just be honest.
Then destroy the evidence. Make sure you don’t send that email. In fact, don’t even put an address on the ‘receiver’ line. Just stay safe.
13- Spend some time alone.
Whether you’re walking through the woods or standing on the roof of a skyscraper, alone time is creativity’s favorite place to thrive. I’m sure there is a psychological or neurological reason for this, but I don’t know what it is. I just know that other people and electronic devices are not only distracting, but also cause anxiety. Turn off your phone. Kill the news channel. Mentally distance yourself from everything. In fact, it’s pretty well accepted that people who spend more time alone thinking tend to be more creative (and, indeed, better mentally). I’m not talking about locking you in your mom’s basement for a year, but a ten minute walk to relax shouldn’t be too much of an imposition.
14- Show someone what you are doing.
I don’t mean step by step, but the process of articulating your creative problem to another person is incredibly helpful when you’re looking for new approaches to an old problem. This is particularly useful if you’re trying to explain things to a child (or a goofy friend), because you’re forced to find a much more accessible way to articulate your idea.
Believe it or not, even complaining about the problem helps you solve it. Just don’t complain to me.
15- Draw or build something
In fact, doing anything repetitive that requires intense concentration would work. The trick here is to let your mind go to sleep. Actually, it is somehow related to self-hypnosis. Let your mind wander. And the theme of this post is to let your mind wander. Doing something repetitive or meaningless is often good because it allows you to start talking to yourself with your ‘mental voice’. Just don’t respond to the loud voice and you’ll be fine.
ADDITIONAL TIPS
Just start. The hardest part of doing something creative is getting over the frustration of not being able to get started for fear of doing something that won’t work. Don’t be afraid to start with something that has a lot of problems. You can revisit later to resolve those issues, but it’s more important to get in the zone early on than to worry about details that may or may not resolve themselves. Unless you’re a fool.
Well, you’re creative now. Stop lazing around reading articles and start creating!