10 tricks to awaken and amp up your creativity

A creativity boost isn’t something that can happen overnight. Some may even argue that you’re simply born creative and can’t be trained. However, there are ways to acquire these skills and improve creative thinking. Here are some tried and tested techniques, exercises, and even aids that can work magic in your personal or professional life.

1. Step away from the problem for a bit

Researchers have found that if you distance yourself from the problem at hand, you may actually be able to be more creative in your problem solving. As a feature in Scientific American suggests, put some psychological distance between yourself and what you are trying to do. How can you do that?

Try thinking of the problem from someone else’s perspective or even that it is hypothetical or unlikely.

Psychological distance makes the problem seem more abstract and, therefore, less set in stone, allowing you to think freely and with fewer constraints. What you’d call “creative” thinking. Psychological distance can take other forms too.

• Spatial distance: In one study, researchers gave test subjects the same task to perform — but told one half that the task had originated in Greece and the other half that it was a local origin questionnaire. The former gave more creative responses. Changing the “perceived location of origin” of a task improved the creative performance of the subjects, showing spatial distance can help too.
• Distancing using time and probability: Projecting the problem to another time can work just as much as projecting it to another place. Imagine the challenge or task at hand is set in the distant future and you may find more creative solutions or answers. Considering it less probable can also help with detachment and, consequently, creativity.

2. Mix a little mindless work in between

If your team of highly creative professionals is just not performing, it could be that they are overworked. If that’s the case, the answer may lie in another piece of research. When given some mindless work that isn’t too challenging on the brain and which isn’t associated with performance pressure, people may actually be able to be more creative. This could mean mundane work like filling supply bins, making photocopies, or even cleaning equipment.

3. Create a supportive environment

Organizations are always looking for ways to innovate and that involves encouraging and nurturing creative and innovative people on your teams. As one piece of research found, this needs a multi-pronged approach.

Those who produce the most creative work are the ones with complex and challenging jobs, supportive supervisors, and non-controlled supervision

Plus, of course, they should have the necessary predisposition to creativity. Creating these other supporting mechanisms may allow creativity to thrive.

For children, the same approach applies when it comes to boosting creativity. Give a child freedom to think and experience instead of being directed by an authoritarian figure. If you’re the person in charge, be sure to cultivate this environment.

4. Have some candy!

It is hard to be creative if you’re in a foul mood. Ensure you are relaxed and your mind isn’t fueled by frustration or anger at not having thought of an answer yet. Something as simple as having some candy could help elevate your mood and improve your creative problem solving! Don’t believe us? One study found that the positive effects from giving physicians candy improved their creative problem solving.

5. Turn to music

When it comes to positively influencing your mood, music can help. This automatically ups your creativity too. Music has the power to make you daydream and explore your artistic side too.

Researchers from the University of Toronto used different pieces of music to bring on happiness, sadness, or neutral emotions. A peppy jazzed up rendition of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto №3 was used to induce a happy state of mind in one group. This group did better on creative answers to the same task given to those in the neutral and sad emotion groups.

6. Create obstacles that are fun

If you can structure your problem so it becomes a fun task, you may actually get more creative with it too. As a feature in Entrepreneur explains, it worked for creative genius and wizard of word Dr Seuss when he wrote the iconic book Green Eggs and Ham. His editor challenged him to write an entire book using no more than 50 words and the rest is history!

Try setting a time limit or a word count or laying down other “challenges” to make your job more enjoyable.

7. Exercise

Exercise — specifically aerobic exercise — can help your mental processes, including creativity.

A study on college students examined the effects of moderate aerobic exercise on creative potential. When the students undertook aerobic exercise of moderate intensity and then took the test of creative thinking, they demonstrated greater creative ability than when they took the test without doing any aerobic exercise. Now is a good time to enrol in that dance class you always wanted!

8. Don’t sit in a silent room!

Surprising though it may seem, a very quiet place may actually not be as good as one with some ambient noise levels. Moderate levels of noise can actually aid abstract cognition or abstract thinking by causing “processing disfluency” — that is, disrupting the way you process information. This is ideal for enhancing creativity. Just don’t let noise levels be too high — that can cut your ability to process information and can be counterproductive.

9. Look to your past

Another method, described as “brain mining,” requires you to review the problem by creating multiple hypothetical situations. In each scenario, assume one constraint is no longer applicable, to create a new situation. Often you will find that the problem suddenly now resembles something you have experienced and fixed in the past.

By going at the problem from different angles and diving into previous solutions, you actually get more creative with your current solutions too! In essence, you’re fixing a new problem with old tricks.

10. Go old school with pen and paper

Stepping away from your gadgets may actually help with creativity too. It can be very distracting to have emails and messages pinging as you try and think of some breakthrough ideas. Put pen to paper and sketch ideas or jot down thoughts. Using these instead of your computer may help you feel more free and creative.

One writer for Forbes magazine suggests writing down things on a paper forces you to really think before you jot down ideas. You think creatively before you create.

Keep a stash of notepads or idea books on you to note down ideas whenever they flash.

And Remember!

Trying to be creative shouldn’t pressurize you to create something perfect. Always focus on exploring what your mind can do.