Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating. – John Cleese
I’ve spoken before about my habit of procrastinating, I’m kind of embracing it these days. Usually the main cause of my whiling hours away, doing nothing, is feeling as though my creative juices are empty. There has to be nothing worse than staring at a blank page when you know it should be brimming with words. Nothing worse and nothing more hampering either.
Since it’s midweek and that’s usually when the slump sets in (or at least it does for me), I thought that I’d share a few methods that I use to boost creativity whilst I’m working…
How to Become More Creative
1.Take the afternoon off and go watch a film. A solo trip to the cinema always helps. I don’t know whether it’s the 2 hours living in someone else’s world or just time where my phone is off and I don’t have to think. But it does work.
2. Pick up a pen and write by hand. Notebooks and handwritten notes are a vital part of my routine.
3. Go outside. Walk, run, sit, whatever, just the feel of the sun on your skin, the rain on your face and the fresh air in your lungs can work wonders.
4. Have a glass of wine (or whatever your drink of choice). An ice cold glass of chablis is the perfect creativity booster for me. There’s a limit though, one glass = great work, two glasses = sloppy and incoherent (no matter how great I think it is at the time). As Ernest Hemingway says “Write drunk, edit sober“- although not recommended for 9am on Monday morning!
5. Turn EVERYTHING around you off. No radio, telly, music. I’m not one for silence but sometimes an hour or two of perfect silence gets shit done.
6. Take a nap. Sometimes you just need to shut down.
7. Screw work, take some time to read your favorite blogs/magazines. 30 minutes of reading work by people who inspire you, WILL help get you pumped. Here are some of my favorites: Sarah Wilson // Inspaces Between // Thug Kitchen // Danielle LaPorte // Deborah Lee // Marie Forleo // Gala Darling // Emma Cossey // Brain Pickings // British Beauty Blogger // The Middle Finger Project {my list of must reads is much longer but we’d be here ALL day – which would be kind of ironic}
8. Work elsewhere. Coffee shop, co-working space, a friends house – a change of scenery is good.
9. Get to work on your confidence. Nothing will stop creativity in it’s tracks quicker than low self esteem. Check out Alex’s Confidence Vitamins.
10. Get a cat…I love this piece from Muriel Spark. If you’ve got a cat,you’ll understand.
If you want to concentrate deeply on some problem, and especially some piece of writing or paper-work, you should acquire a cat. Alone with the cat in the room where you work … the cat will invariably get up on your desk and settle placidly under the desk lamp. The light from a desk lamp … gives a cat great satisfaction. The cat will settle down and be serene, with a serenity that passes all understanding. And the tranquility of the cat will gradually come to affect you, sitting there at your desk, so that all the excitable qualities that impede your concentration compose themselves and give your mind back the self-command it has lost. You need not watch the cat all the time. Its presence alone is enough. The effect of a cat on your concentration is remarkable, very mysterious.
Now I want your tips…What are your sure fire ways to improve creativity?
- Bonus tip…Do something different. Join a theatre group or a writing club. Something that you can get out and mingle with like minded creatives. I love the blog post by the American Musical Theatre Academy – 5 insights into the Life of a Theatre Actor which discusses creativity and how the theatre embraces it.
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