We’re all busy. Busy is a part of today's world. We have overflowing email in-boxes, cram too many meetings into our day, spend hours trying to keep up with social media.
Being busy has a direct impact on keeping our priorities straight and being busy affects our creativity. Our creative abilities become stagnant when we are busy. Creativity is what helps us manifest our ideas, use it to solve problems so our projects succeed or come up with easier ways to do things. There are things we do, habits we have, that are zapping our creativity. These habits drain us and put our goals out of reach. With a few changes in your behavior, you can begin tapping into your creativity. Social media is an important part of how we connect with others in our 24/7 society and how we cultivate relationships for our work/careers. It’s also a big attention stealer. Our attention is vital to our lives and for creativity. Limit how much time you spend on social media. Be aware of how it makes you feel and how it affects your creativity. Email in-boxes are inundated with more and more emails every day. Checking our email is one of the biggest killers of energy and momentum in our lives. Set a specific time to read, respond and delete emails to make better use of more time and energy. It’s easy to overdo work and get burnt out. We push ourselves to the limit. Then our energy slags and we lose sleep. Instead, when possible, set limits on how long you work. Learn how to be consistent, outsource, get help or whatever is necessary to not over work yourself. “Sprints” are fine but only occasionally, but make sure you don’t let your rest suffer. Changing your habits that are restricting your creativity can change the way you tap into your creativity. Doing away with non-productive habits frees energy, time, and mental awareness letting you be open to new ideas and thoughts.
Some examples of routines that might give you inspiration are: reading in the morning, listening to music every day, doing some meditation for 5 minutes a day, and taking some time for some deep breathing during the day.
Creating something every day, even if you only have 5 or 10 minutes to do so, keeps your creativity alive and inspired. You don’t have to create a masterpiece. Write a short article. Draw something that you like. Take photographs of the sunset.
Take breaks often. Especially when you feel stuck with a problem and can’t find the solution. Taking breaks allows your mind to focus on something else while getting inspiration. It’s also good to take a break from all the digital chatter in our lives regularly. Get outside and unplug at least once a week, preferably daily, to build your creative thinking ability.
Have fun regularly. Go out with friends or colleagues for some time away from the routines that are keeping your stuck. Laughing, good conversation and bouncing ideas off each other builds and inspires your creativity while helping you relax and have fun.
Finally, don’t be afraid to take risks to improve your creative thinking. When you avoid taking risks you end up suppressing your ideas. Risks give you permission to embrace your creative ideas.
While some people are more creative than others, we all can be a creative thinkers. Improve your creativity in ways that help you be inspired.
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