5 Techniques to Activate your Creative Mind

Working for yourself is such an amazing opportunity. You can choose your own schedule, you don’t spend your time commuting to the office and you don’t have the ungrateful boss hovering over your shoulder. More importantly you get to work on projects that you want to and that you are passionate about. You spend your days creating new content and products for your business, and you have the first and final say over how that content sounds and looks.

But what happens when you have a bad creative day? We all have them, whether its too many ideas that you simply can’t focus on one or your mind has gone completely blank, it can be extremely frustrating. So, what do you do when your mind is either a barren desert or an endless ocean? Here are 5 techniques to help jump start your creative juices flowing again.

When you start your exercise routine for your body you need to warm up the muscles you are about to start using. Well it’s the same for your brain, it needs to be warmed up before you start throwing around the big ideas.

So, if your thoughts feel stiff then get out of your seat and get your blood pumping. You don’t have to get a full work out done (but you can if you want), you can walk about, dance, clap. But keep thinking, turn your words into a rhythm, don’t think just talk or sing.

If you are starting to get frustrated with what direction to go in the best thing to do is put it down. Do something, anything, else. Go for a walk, wash the dishes and don’t think about work. The most natural way for a decision to present itself to you is for you to stop thinking about it.

You have heard of the term “think outside the box” right? It’s all about considering ideas that might be a bit risky or looking at a situation from a different perspective. I love thinking outside the box and it’s a key skill in brainstorming. But don’t try to think outside the box. In our attempt to be unique, we spend so much time trying to think outside the box when the simplest answer is sometimes the best answer. So instead of thinking inside, or outside the box, just leave the box for cats and give yourself more room for ideas. There is no such thing as a bad idea, even the silliest ones can be a starting off for a solution of epic proportions! Consider everything!

Another way to get the creative juices flowing is by being creative! I always have a side project on the go that is design based. Whether it is creating some more pins for my posts or working on a new piece of artwork, there is always something that I can jump in and out of to help shake my brain loose. If you don’t feel particularly creative, then have a colouring book and some pencils to hand. You can then do ten minutes or so before heading back to your work. By switching your brain to a creative task, you are giving yourself a break and helping the creative side of your brain engage.

If you are struggling to work through your thoughts, or to create new content, put the keyboard or pen down! Get your phone out (or something else that records) and set some interview questions. Then either sit and ask yourself the questions (like actually out loud) and answer them. If you have a friend who is available get them to ask you the questions. Or if you feel like having fun, pretend you are on a podcast or a TV show.

Take example from your kids and play the why game! What is your business about? Why? But why? So why? Getting down to the root of your own thinking can show you why you are passionate about your business and help you with which direction to focus on.

At least one of these tips should help you get unstuck from your blocks and help you back on the way to creating your amazing content again.

Do you use any of these to help you now? What else do you do to help unstick those ideas? Here are some of the comments from my email list.

Lizzie

Chief Creativity Caster

Loves Acting, designing things, my family, going to fan conventions, the colour green, geeking out, binging on TV shows, custard creams and the perfect cup of tea!

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