How to Be More Creative
Ever wondered how you could be more creative?. Assuming that you are willing to do the hard work of facing your inner fears and working through failure, here are a few practical strategies for becoming more creative.
Constrain yourself.
Carefully designed constraints are one of your best tools for sparking creative thinking. Dr. Seuss wrote his most famous book when he limited himself to 50 words. Soccer players develop more elaborate skillsets when they play on a smaller field. Designers can use a 3-inch by 5-inch canvas to create better large-scale designs. The more we limit ourselves, the more resourceful we become.
Write more.
A week has seven days, select any two days of your choice and on those two days write an article and publish it. Take it upon yourself to stick to this routine. The longer you stick with this schedule, the more you will realize that you have to write about a dozen average ideas before you will get to uncover a brilliant one. By producing a volume of work, you will get to create a larger surface area for a creative spark to hit you.
Broaden your knowledge.
One of my most successful creative strategies is to force yourself to write about seemingly disparate topics and ideas. In the words of psychologist Robert Epstein, “You’ll do better in psychology and life if you broaden your knowledge.”
Sleep longer.
Sleep is very important to one’s productivity, In a study by the University of Pennsylvania, which revealed the incredible impact of sleep on mental performance. The main finding was this: Sleep debt is cumulative and if you get 6 hours of sleep per night for two weeks straight, your mental and physical performance declines to the same level as if you had stayed awake for 48 hours straight. Like all cognitive functions, creative thinking is significantly impaired by sleep deprivation.
Enjoy sunshine and nature.
One study tested 56 backpackers with a variety of creative thinking questions before and after a 4-day backpacking trip. The researchers found that by the end of the trip the backpackers had increased their creativity by 50 percent. This research supports the findings of other studies, which show that spending time in nature and increasing your exposure to sunlight can lead to higher levels of creativity.
Embrace positive thinking.
It may sound a bit fluffy, but positive thinking can lead to significant improvements in creative thinking. Why? Positive psychology research has revealed that we tend to think more broadly when we are happy. This concept, which is known as the Broaden and Build Theory, makes it easier for us to make creative connections between ideas. Conversely, sadness and depression seem to lead to more restrictive and limited thinking.
Ship it.
The honest truth is that creativity is just hard work. The single best thing you can do is choose a pace you can sustain and ship content on a consistent basis. Commit to the process and create on a schedule. The only way creativity becomes a reality is by shipping.
