14 Creativity-Enhancing Hacks That Really Work
/Ideas & Self-Satisfaction Appear When Action Occurs
With the year fast approaching, there will be a litany of new books published on how to tap into your “inner creativity.”
Nearly all of these well-intended books by smart, creative writers are based on research and interviews with "creative people." And they all share of interesting ideas and exercises that will supposedly get you in the groove…in the mindset…in the mood…in the right side of your brain. “How to think like Michelangelo…, like Sherlock Holmes, like Einstein, like Picasso, like some well known corporate leader, like Mozart…”—all these books attempt to identify the mysterious key traits and mental processes these famous people use to invent stuff.
A challenge of these books is that it is nearly impossible to tap into the mind of the person doing the creating. And while the mind can’t tell the difference between a vivid memory and an imagined memory, trying to “dial-in” a creative formula is not going to happen to often.
As a behavioral psychologist and author, I appreciate and applaud any effort of all writers to help engage that creative, curious spark in us to help bring more joy and satisfaction to our lives. On the opposite spectrum, as a writer, artist, craftsman and cartoonist myself, I have little patience to spend 3-4 hours reading a book on the subject of creativity when I could be cutting, building, demolishing or starting something on fire. Somebody please hand me a hammer!
It is true that all of us have far more innovative ideas/philosophies and visual imagery than we give ourselves credit for. The biggest factor in what holds our creative “genes” in remission is our reluctance to actually pursue an idea and get our “jeans” dirty doing it. And we need to detach from the outcome, regardless. You see, the tension and internal pressure we put on our expectations of what a painting, sculpture, drawing, cartoon, wooden table or simple craft project should look like is what stymies us from pursuing the fun process of creativity. So concerned are we, of what “others might think,” that we turn off the creative value and take a safe, practical approach to the project. We then make it more standard, more safe, more traditional, less different/more commonplace. End result? No bad reviews—acceptable work. And, no accolades or self-satisfaction for an innovative approach.
To save you the time, energy and frustration of having to read a 230-page book on how to be more creative, here are some action-oriented exercises that are proven to immerse you immediately into a creative element, complete with movement and satisfaction. If you’re patient enough to read an entire book on creativity before you get up off the couch and start building something, you are in for a long winter. (And you may not really be serious about becoming more creative.) For now, ditch the books on how to be creative and start creating something.
1. Dismantle Something. Find a toaster, bread machine, copier, a Boeing 747, a baseball glove, old cell phone, bicycle—anything and start taking it apart. No agenda, no goal, no concern about putting it back together again. Using tools and your hands is the best way to disengage from distractions of life, as you have to be in the moment of using the tools. Watch how the pieces all work together, follow the trail of energy production--connect the dots to why the thing does what it does. Then throw it away. That was fun!
2. Head to a Goodwill Industries store or a resale shop. Find something that you believe is worth spending an hour fixing up. A beat-up wagon, a coffee table, pair of cowboy boots, picture frame, a old handsaw. ( I bought 2 vintage wooden frame tennis racquets for $1.50 each because they looked really cool! I have no idea what I'll make out of them.) Spend 10 bucks and put an hour or two into refurbishing your treasure into making it work again—making it look new again. This exercise gets you out of your habits of buying expensive things that won’t buy your happiness. Fixing up a broken wagon gives immediate sense of pride, of accomplishment and the feeling of being thrifty. You can now give the item away to someone who needs it, someone who collects or sell it for a profit on ebay.
3. Garbage Picking Nite! Grab a flashlight and shamelessly hit the street on garbage night in your neighborhood. You’ll be amazed what you can find when you’re really looking to find a treasure to fix and use, fix and sell, turn into a piece of art or hang in your garage or basement. Scavenging is a thrilling exercise to help get you into seeing different ways something old can be repurposed. An old door becomes a industrial table; A mirror becomes a picture framed piece; a old table becomes a wall mounted cabinet. When it doubt, toss the item in the trunk and let it sit your garage for a few weeks. You’ll think of more ideas every time you see it.
4. Snap 10 pictures in 10 minutes—of anything. Look at weird angles, upside down, dull, colorful, hot/cold—just take the picture. Now, use your phone to edit it into a square image, upload the pictures on the Walgreens photo site and make a poster of 11x17 and give it a fun title at the bottom. You just created an art museum-like poster for eight bucks! Don’t over think, just print the pictures. This exercise helps you get over any perfectionist tendencies and gets the job done. You don’t have to share this poster. It’s your fun secret.
5. Pull an “All-nighter.” What is so fun, so stimulating, so weird, so provoking to keep you engaged in that activity until the next morning? If you’ve not stayed up all night since your college days, pick a Friday nite and schedule the entire night—from 6pm to 6am—with activities, chores, building something, fixing something reading, favorite movies, binging Netflix, home projects—whatever you really enjoy doing—for the entire nite. Eat chocolate, order pizza at 3am--it’s your experiment in personal observations of what your mind and physiology do when you change your sleep cycle and activity patterns. Lucky Savage Leather Goods started with an all-nighter session.
6. Build a Paper Airplane. Grab a sheet of paper and make an airplane. Spend a minute or two and get it done. Fly it! Did it fly? Why not? What would you do differently next time? What did you build it the way you did? What memories went through your mind? What faces, events, locations surfaced as you folded the corners? This event helps you to retrieve lost memories of fun times as child or parent and gives you more perspective into why you made it the way you did.
7. Draw a picture of your childhood home and street. Draw what you remember about the block, who lived where, what color was your house or building? What was on the corner? Tapping into your past with this simple drawing again, helps recollections and can ignite more inner ideas and stories you have forgotten.
8. Write words for 15 minutes-- with your phone in another room. Set a timer in a quiet room and start hand writing every word or phrase that comes into your mind. Stay quiet and listen to where you mind goes. Don’t try to focus or solve a problem, just let the words, ideas, thoughts, impressions come and go but write the words down. Don’t worry about spelling, jot it quickly, again, again. This is a powerful way to open up your mind to allowing thoughts and suppressed ideas to surface. No agenda, no goal to how many words, just write whatever comes to mind for 15 minutes. This is a great mental cleansing technique as well, in that your mind is not being forced to solve problems or defend something. It’s recess for the brain.
9. Build a Campfire. Make a fire with a friend or two and just sit there. Sit there for 5 hours if you can—all nite if possible. Look deep in to the fire. Listen to it, watch it grow and die, grow and die. Watch it consume energy. Roast a marshmallow, bake a potato or roast a hotdog. Savor it. Where does your mind go as you feel the heat and see the flames ebb and flow. Fires are restorative and bring out much emotional elements in our lives, as well as relax the heart and soul. Listen for ideas and memories that you’d long forgotten.
10. Draw Something. Anything. Find big piece of paper and doodle, draw a house, a elephant, monkey, a zombie—it doesn’t matter what it is or what it looks like. Have fun, be silly, draw outside the lines, flip flop the colors and make it funky! Freestyle drawing is a great release and starter to help you see and sense different patterns/ colors/ correlations and randomness in your life. Don’t worry about sharing the drawing with anybody.
11. Re-Caption Newspaper Photos. Grab any big newspaper and a Sharpie and only look at the photos that go with the stories. Based on the image, write a different caption than appears below. Go absurd with this. Take risks, make it funny, impossible, rude, impossible, unreasonable. Look carefully at the expressions of the people in the image. Does their look match what is actually going on? Or can you turn it into something far different? This fun exercise gives your mind and creative juices a chance to step out of their comfort zone to see and consider the zaniness of the image and re-imagine what could be going on. This exercise helps you to be more aware of current events and to be skeptical of what the media may suggest is the truth when it could be angled in a different way.
12. Stream of Consciousness Writing. Sit in a quiet room, no TV or phones and start keyboarding what ever thoughts come to mind. 14 minutes starting now! Even it you run out of thoughts, type “I am running out of thoughts…” and something will pop into your head. This is a challenging exercise for most people that don’t like to write however, it is the best technique to free up your brain to let go--follow the trail where ever it leads. Some of the most inner fun and satisfaction I have is free writing and then looking back on the stories that simply appeared without me having to plan the story. The ideas, themes, names, places, just start to appear and take on a life of their own. This is a purely exhilarating exercise.
13. Head to a Museum. Any museum. Wander around with a notepad and pencil and take notes of what you see, what colors, thoughts, themes, memories rise up from your mind. Read the placards, learn the history and meaning behind the artist’s intentions or motivation. You’ll be surprised what you start to notice
14. Count Cars for One Minute. Sit in a restaurant, sip coffee and set your timer for one minute. Now count cars that pass you field of vision. How many did you count? Surprised how many? Did you stay focused? Did you get distracted? What did you notice about your focus? This quirky exercise helps you to detach from the distractions around you, gives your brain a chance to chase some idea and helps reset your awareness.
Don't wait around for some magical spark to strike your creativity nerves. Get up, get moving, tear something apart and start hammering! Maybe even use some of the books you've read to start a campfire. Hmmm.