So here it is guys. Last week I did a post entitled “10 Proven Ways To Be More Creative“. At the end of the post I challenged you guys to add to the list and now I’m happy to introduce you to the “55 Proven Ways To Be More Creative”. Thanks to all of you for sharing your ideas.
You’ll see that several people allowed us to link to their sites or blogs. Please take a minute to check them out. It will be a great way for you to make a new friend or a new online inspiration.
1) Try a different way of expressing your ideas. If you usually work on your computer, try writing by hand. If you usually work with dot-points, try mind mapping. Maybe you could try poetry rather than prose. – Joanna
2) Get in a room with a friend (or over a lunch table). –Chrisy
3) Find one thing you don’t normally do, then do it. Being creative is about getting outside the human need to be scheduled. -Cheryl Derrick
4) Seriously … I get into the kitchen and either cook or bake. Making a dish or a dessert, without interruptions or time pressure, gives me the chance to be creative in a different way than I usually am. -Melissa
5) I truly believe writing in a daily journal allows us an outlet to be creative. A gratitude journal has changed my perception on what I feel grateful for in a given day. -Shayne
6) I always find my creative juices flowing when I surrounded myself with all things creative – whether it’s simply browsing through a store or going to a demonstration, craft show, writing workshop, etc. -Beth
7) I’m a strong believer in coloring my way through writer’s block, or anything else that needs to have my creative juices flowing, yet is met with a blockage. There is just something very relaxing and freeing about grabbing a coloring book and some crayons and really getting into the process! -Heather Bittner
8) Starting with a completely blank slate helps me get creative. Whether it’s a message or a graphic piece, looking at a completely blank document or “canvas” forces me to think about the endless possibilities that can come from where there is originally nothing. -Dan
9) Get a new perspective by working in a new environment. Take your laptop to a library, coffee shop or even a park where you’ve never been. I recently just drove the beltway and some side streets of our city where I’ve never been and just prayed for the city. You see things from a whole new perspective. The creative juices flowed in rivers! -Scott
10) I’m not sure why, but my best story ideas seem to pop up when I’m blow drying my hair. Fresh air does it for me too. We all spend so much time indoors working – especially as a writer, I’m at my computer waaaaay too much. So when I step out on the back porch or just take a walk and breathe in that fresh air – oh baby. LOVE that. -Diane
11) I listen to music or spoken word or even a pod-cast that stimulates my thinking… it is especially helpful to listen to people with differing theologies, ideologies, or political perspective because that causes my mind to truly think instead of simply absorb and regurgitate another person’s ideas. -Jeff
12) I visit the local Goodwill store. There’s usually a good number of interesting chotchkes on the sales floor, and I always find something that’ll get my creative juices flowing. -Nigel
13) Go crazy. Go out and have some fun that’s different from what you normally do. My daughter and I just took a road trip, stopping at all the quirkiest places along our route. We had a blast and it shook up some new ideas. -Laura
14) Jon Acuff had a great point this week. I seem to get more creative in the shower, but as he said, it’s not the environment… it’s the one place where you can have complete solitude without interruptions or distractions. So, I guess quiet solitude where you can focus on your thoughts. -Russ
15) Spend some time in a park or on your back porch. Nothing helps me get to a creative place better than some solitude in the open air with just the sounds of nature and life. -Randy Frye
16) Take a walk and imagine the world around you through the eyes of the people you see. In the park, imagine what the little boy on the slide is experiencing.. or the guys playing ultimate frisbee. This takes you out of your own mind set and preconceptions and gives you new ground to stand on for a while. -Stacie
17) When I seek intimacy with my Creator, then He gives me creativity, not as an end, but as a gift of the relationship. -Gary
18) Running/exercising. I work in a creative field and whenever I need to come up with a fresh idea, I go for a run and almost always have a solution to put on my client’s/boss’s desk. -Christina
19) To jumpstart my creative drive, I open myself up to questions I’m afraid or don’t know how to answer. Always be a learner. -Jake
20) Be fearless -Gerard
21) Surround myself regularly with people who inspire me and with whom I can brainstorm with. Nothing like multiple creative people to inspire days of ideas! -Paula
22) Any time I get to spend outside gets me feeling creative, but recently my girl friends and I have been really excited about Pinterest. We love pinning all sorts of things we have created ourselves and stuff that we want to do in the future. -Natalie
23) Get in a room with 3 or 4 other like-minded people and bounce ideas off each other. Oh and remember what Maxwell says “let the best idea win.” collective collaboration. -Brian
24) Being around young children opens up my creativity quite often. They have boundless energy and don’t box me in! -Bluegoose
25) Go on blog-stalking hiatus for 30 days. When you come back, ONLY follow blogs that inspire. Such a great way to get perspective and spend time understanding your own creativity instead of someone else’s. -Katie
26) Espresso, hands down!! -Brenda
27) If you drive to work (as opposed to working from home), go a COMPLETELY different way to work, and leave AT LEAST 30 minutes before you need to so you can slow down and enjoy some scenery on your drive. If you work from home, get up and get out of the house and back to your house BEFORE your work day starts. Then, wave to at least 5 people while you’re driving, and offer them a smile. You’d be surprised, but it works wonders… -Jason
28) I love talking walks & stopping at various places to read. I also love reading Psalms. When I dive in a phrases typically capture my imagination. -Michael
29) Do something that scares you; something you are completely unsure of (probably risky). It always results in me becoming more receptive to inspiration and it breaks down mental barriers. -PJ
30) One thing that helps me be creative is being a dad. I am constantly being inspired by my three daughters. -Kevin
31) I journal. 1) a pen is cheap therapy and 2) always write something everyday. . -Marni
32) Take yourself on a date to a movie. Just you. Totally different experience than going with someone. -Evie
33) Express your creativity in a different, unfamiliar form. E.g. if you’re a writer, get paint and brushes and tell the story in colors rather than words. If you’re a musician, shoot a short film/sculpt some clay. If you’re multilingual, it helps to work in another language, too — preferably one you aren’t very fluent in. -Sharon
34) I love to “people watch” so a good quirky coffee shop helps me get a little bit outside of myself and and helps me think from different angles. -Melissa
35) See what other people are doing…then figure out how to make the ideas that resonate with you work for you. Or take those ideas to the next level. For me, this is what blogs, Tumblr, and Twitter are all about. -TJ
36) Being around children sparks my creativity because they are so full of ideas, joy for life and little inhibitions about the world. -Dana Tallman
37) Small changes in everyday habits can open your brain. Brush your teeth with the opposite hand. It’s going to make your brain engage in new ways to process familiar tasks. -Laura
38) I take pictures of everyday stuff, like leftover spaghetti, or a scrubbie that came apart, and write a story to go with it. -Lynna
39) I have not really done this, but I would like to. Try to surround your self with beautiful things. I seem to find when I am blessed by noticing something beautiful here and there it seems to spur me. Would love to cultivate that. -Jason
40) Have a “ME” day. Take sometime to be alone. When you do this your creative side can’t help, but let loose. It is hard to be ourselves and be creative with all the noise in our lives. -Amelia
41) Make a list of 100 questions – Usually questions mean we are looking for a solution, i.e. idea, concept. By making a list of questions, you exercise curiosity and an inquisitive part of your brain that may have been asleep for a while. By forcing yourself to ask 100 questions, you may find there are more questions and the more the merrier. Wake up your curiosity. -Jon
42) Exposure to Good Art. Usually visual art, but this can apply to film, theatre, and literature. once I get curious, creativity comes in floods, not just a stream. -Lisa
43) Talk to me wife. Creativity can be taught. My wife has been an art teacher for 27 years and has been teaching her students to be creative during that time. It is possible to learn skills that produce creativity… seriously. – Leland
44) Open the dictionary (a real, tangible, paper copy) to a random page. Without looking or thinking point to a word. Read the definition and begin writing. Not thinking and trying to write. Just write for 60 seconds or so and see what comes of it. . -Tiffanie
45) Replace thinking about starting with actually starting. This is by far the creative step I wrestle with the most. -Greg
46) Write a poem with a definite rhyme scheme, or a meaningful haiku. -Zach
47) Make time to be creative and follow through. Make an appointment with yourself if you have to. If we wait until we feel it, it won’t happen. Discipline us a huge part of creativity for me. -Tressa
48) Push back from the computer and go do something else for awhile while letting yourself mull things over. For me, doing some housework or going for a run while I let my thoughts skip around on something can spark an idea that gets things flowing again. -Michelle
49) I have the greatest trouble with: Acknowledging that the unique strengths that God prepared me with can result in creating something that no one else can. Sometimes we can all forget that we are equipped to do something unique; we need to remember that and allow it to happen. -Steve
50) Go back to basics. do things by hand. -Anne
51) I’m a Pastor/Communicator, so for being creative in message prep, every once in a while I like to walk through the local Home Depot or hardware store, looking at all the different items and in 30 secs or less determining how that item will preach (illustrate a spiritual principle). -Jeremy
52) I start with a marker, a blank slate – big piece of paper, or a dry erase board, or whatever – and my current favorite album (has to be headphones, not speakers – block out everything else). Depending on how much time I have, I set a limit – no talking, no other ideas, for 30 minutes or so. Write whatever concept/idea/goal I have in the middle, and start writing/doodling whatever comes to mind without thinking about any of it too much. . -Lex
53) Defending my family championship belt by wrestling with one of my kids helps me. Something about humiliating small children that gets my creative juices flowing. -Jason
54) Take a nap. A power nap always increases my creativity.
55) Read a list of 55 different ways to be creative. If none of these inspire you to be creative than you should probably stop trying to be creative today. Do something else. Try to be creative tomorrow.
