Creativity Exercises: Tools, Tips, and Techniques to Boost Your Creativity

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Creativity Exercises: Tools, Tips, and Techniques to Boost Your Creativity

Remember when you were a kid and being creative came easy? You didn't need creativity exercises then.

Finger painting on the wall. . .playing make believe . . .Popsicle stick artwork. . .

Picasso said it best: "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up."

So, now that we're all grown up, how do we tap into our creativity?

The good news is that it's still there. You just have to set the right conditions to bring it out.

Use the creativity exercises below and the links from this page to develop your creative thinking muscles.

Also, visit the page on creativity tips to help you overcome creative obstacles, welcome your Muse, and slip into "the zone."

And, please be sure to check out the pages on creative living for thoughts on how the rules of creativity and intelligence are changing and how people use divergent creative thinking to create amazing lives.

Enjoy!

1: Change Your Physical Environment
Okay, so this is not exactly a creativity exercise, but it is step #1 for getting into the creative groove.

It's true: your physical environment plays an enormous role in your ability to be creative.

If your surroundings stress you out, remind you of your to-do list, or otherwise causes you distress, get out of there! It's very hard to be creative when you're stressed.

Go somewhere that inspires you. Outside. By the water. By a garden. Somewhere you can people-watch. Or anywhere that makes you feel good.

Wherever you go, choose somewhere you can relax. . . and that will inspire you. . . and allow your mind to wander. . .

2: RELAX to Change Your Brainwaves

Your brain generates four basic wave patterns:

Beta Waves (13-100+Hertz): The fastest of the brain waves, these occur during normal waking consciousness. High end beta-waves (above 30 Hertz) correspond to feelings of stress and anxiety. Low-end beta waves (below 30 Hertz) correspond to feelings of focus and productivity.

Alpha Waves (8-12.9 Hertz): These waves become prominent when you begin to relax, and your body produces calming neurochemicals. The higher end of the alpha wave pattern is associated with learning and creativity; the lower end associated with deep meditation. That's why you often have great insights when in the shower, running, or just before falling asleep.

Theta Waves (4-7.9 Hertz): Theta waves occur during dreaming sleep and REM sleep.

Delta Waves (0.1-3.9 Hertz): Delta waves occur during dreamless sleep.

For generating creativity, you want to get into the high alpha range.

Now, you don't need to hook yourself up to complex machines that measure brain waves. All you need to do is learn to relax.

And, there are many techniques for relaxing: yoga, meditation, exercise, hot bubble baths. . .whatever it is, learn to relax to prepare yourself for a creative experience.

3: Use Creativity Audio to Get Into the Zone

We all know that music has the power to instantly change our mood.

Just think about the music that brings you to tears, reminds you of days gone by, or pumps you up for the big event.

Knowing this, you can strategically use music to boost your creativity.

I have a CD from Brookstone called "SonicAid: Music to Inspire Creativity" that I absolutely love. The more I listen to it, the quicker I am able to slip into the zone.

You can find lots of music to induce creativity on the internet. But, you can also use some of your own music. When using your own music, it should:

Relax you but not put you to sleep
Have NO words. This will distract you.
Be something that is not so exciting that it distracts you. If you feel like you have trouble focusing when you put it on, change the music. The music should fade into the background once you get going.

Try out different types of music and determine what allows you to slip into the zone.

4: Structured Brainstorming
Structured Brainstorming is an excellent technique to use if you're making a list, coming up with new ideas, or doing anything that requires creativity.

Basically, it's a two step process:

Generate As Many Ideas as Possible: Put your "creative hat" on and turn off the "internal editor." Allow yourself a specific amount of time (say 20-30 minutes) to brainstorm. List as many ideas as you can. No critiquing them. Just try to build an exhaustive list of ideas. Don't finish until you've sat there for 5 full minutes with no new ideas.

Come Back and Edit: After - and only after - you've come up with as many ideas as you possibly can and your creative resources are exhausted, put your "editor hat" on. Look critically at your ideas. Pick 5-10 you like the most. Then, from that list, pick the top 3. Then make a decision.

The is a simple activity. The power comes from deliberately separating the creative and the analytical process. To make the most of the brainstorming process, be sure you also have right brainstorming tools, most of which you can find around the home or office.

5: Freewriting
Free writing is similar to the structured brainstorming process, except instead of creating a list of ideas you write prose. The main two-step process applies:

Turn Off the Internal Editor and Just Write: Put your "creative hat" on and just write. Just start writing. It doesn't matter if it's good, bad, or even awful. Just write. If you're stuck, just try typing some paragraphs from a book to get you going. Then, start writing your own stuff. As you write, don't worry about edits, punctuation, or even logical flow. You'll worry about that later.

Come Back and Edit: After - and only after - you've written as much as you can and gotten all of your ideas out, come back and edit. Re-arrange paragraphs first and get your ideas in a logical sequence. Then move to sentence level and punctuation edits.

Again, the power comes in breaking apart the creative process from the analytical thinking process. Do you see a pattern here?

6: Mind-Mapping
A mind-map is a very intuitive technique for brainstorming ideas and graphically representing the ideas' relevance to each other.

mind map

A completed mind-map is a spider-like diagram that contains lots of lines, colors, words, and great ideas. It's kind of like downloading your brain onto a piece of paper.

Click here to visit my mind-mapping page with step-by-step instructions.

7: Morning Pages
In the Artists Way, an excellent book full of creativity exercises, Julia Cameron suggest a great activity called "Morning Pages." Morning pages are a type of journaling, although there are specific rules:

Write 3 pages in a journal soon after waking up in the morning
Your writing should be stream of consciousness. Do not try to figure out anything, be brilliant, or even be creative. Just write whatever comes across your mind. If you have to start with, "I don't know what to write, I'm tired. . ." that's fine.
Do this every day.

When you do this activity daily, you will learn to "get out of your own way," unblock yourself, and let your creative forces flow. When combined with other creativity exercises, it's even more powerful. It also has clear psychological benefits as well.

8: Creative Dates With Yourself
Cameron also recommends scheduling one creative activity a week for yourself. It could be browsing the local fleemarket, visiting an art museum, taking a painting class. . .or anything that interests you. By dedicating time for creativity each week, you'll connect frequently with your creative side. For help carving out time for this and other creativity exercises, please see my time management resources pages.

I hope these creativity exercises help you to get into the zone.

If you're looking for more creativity exercises, check out MindTools' creativity page.

Now, there's nothing magical about creativity exercises. They simply provide an on-ramp to tap into your inner creativity and let it flow.

And, you probably noticed a pattern in these creativity exercises: set the right conditions for creativity, turn off your internal analytic mind, and then simply allow things to come out.

Have fun! And remember, the more you do these creativity exercises, the easier it will be for you to get into the zone.

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