5 Ways to Boost Creativity

Reading can provide creative inspiration.

Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional rules, ideas or relationships and create something new through originality, imagination or progressiveness. While creativity is a natural quality in some individuals, creativity can also become stifled and inaccessible due to the everyday stresses of our lives. There are many ways to boost, refresh and enhance a stifled creative mind.

Exercise the Mind

Exercising your mind is an ideal way to boost creativity. Like the body, the mind needs exercise to work the creative muscles and make them stronger. Exercise your brain by learning new subjects, getting into a debate about politics and talking to other creative and intelligent people. These activities will stimulate your brain and encourage a flow of creativity.

Be Passionate

One aspect of creativity is passion. Typically, an individual will excel in areas and subjects he is passionate about learning. Internal motivation generally transcends external pressures and rewards. To renew your creativity, reconnect with a subject that is close to your heart. Find your internal motivation and follow your passion to boost your creativity.

Change Your Routine

Oftentimes creativity is stifled due to feelings of boredom and a too-familiar routine. Much of our lives depend on an automatic schedule, including the time we wake up, the route we take to work, books, magazines and newspapers we read, food we eat, and television shows we watch. To boost your creativity, consider changing one to two elements of your daily routine. If you are working on a certain project, consider stopping one project to work on another project at regular intervals throughout the day or week.

Read

While reading provides many intellectual benefits, reading is also beneficial for boosting creativity, exercising your brain and providing creative inspiration. Read as much as you can about several different subjects. Consider reading about subjects that previously were uninteresting to you. This change in the norm might spark your creative interest.

Schedule Quiet Time

Our packed schedules and busy minds leave no room for creative thinking. Take a certain amount of time every day to quiet, refresh and clear the mind while relaxing the body. This quiet time can consist of a yoga workout, meditation or simply sitting still in a dark and quiet room, by a peaceful garden or at a beautiful beach.

References

• BNet: 5 Real Ways to Boost Creativity (Everything You Know About Being Creative is Wrong)
• JPB:10 Steps for Boosting Creativity