Imagine you could go back in time and give your 20-year-old self a bit of advice to build your creativity. Plan on investing in the creative process, coming up with new ideas, and producing good, fun work.
What would you say?
I’ve thought a bit about this topic lately, as I reflect on how I’ve changed from the person I was in my twenties to the person I’ve become in my thirties. Creativity has become more and more important to me, both at work and at play. And the lessons I’ve learned along the way (and the ones I’m still learning) seem like something 20-year-old me would have liked to know.
Here’s what I’ve come up with for advice to the 20-year-old version of me on being creative.
You’re as creative as anyone
I’ve heard people tell me, “I’m just not that creative.” I don’t believe it. You are creative and ingenious and resourceful and brilliant. Creativity doesn’t have to be defined by the bounds of art or literature. Your creativity can reveal itself in so many different ways: parenting, relationships, wardrobe, problem-solving, ideas, shoelaces, Tumblrs, and cooking.
Everyone is capable of creativity.
Never underestimate the value of a creative outlet
Is the work you’re doing feeding your need for creativity? There are seasons of life when it might not. In those seasons, it’s so incredibly useful to have a creative outlet on which to rely.
From experience, I can say that this is essential. I wrote for six years about nutrition and health, with serious discussions about good fats and the colon. On the side, I wrote about sports, and silly, creative stories about touchdowns and championships. All of it was writing—some that paid the bills, some that fed my joy.
Nature, in the common sense, refers to essences unchanged by man; space, the air, the river, the leaf. Art is applied to the mixture of his will with the same things, as in a house, a canal, a statue, a picture. But his operations taken together are so insignificant, a little chipping, baking, patching, and washing, that in an impression so grand as that of the world on the human mind, they do not vary the result.
Psychological research supports these types of creative pursuits. In a San Francisco State study measuring employees with a creative side project and those without, those with a creative hobby were more likely to be helpful, collaborative, and creative with their job performance. Best of all, side projects are unlike whatever you’d experience at work. They’re low-risk, low-pressure, and something you love doing.
Make time for creativity. At the same time. Every day.
“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” – W. Somerset Maugham
If you want to be more creative, come up with more ideas, and have a more efficient creation process, schedule it.
Put creative time on the calendar.
Then show up every day.
The ballyhooed “lightning bolt of inspiration” might make it seem that these moments strike randomly, that you catch one in a bottle and keep yourself ready to go at a moment’s notice. This is all well and good. However, waiting around for creativity to strike might mean you never see it coming.
Instead, you can boost brain activity by keeping a consistent routine. Routine reinforces neural circuitry, and the more you work at the same routine, the stronger those connections become.
Embrace constraints
Though it might seem counterintuitive, constraints can help you be even more creative. Embrace these constraints, whichever way they come—constraints on your time, your resources, your energy. If you’ve got 20 minutes to be creative, it might be all the time you need.
Twitter is a great example: creativity in 140 characters or fewer. Some take this to an even deeper level with six-word memoirs, summing up a bio in only six words.
Trying and failing is better than never trying at all
What holds you back from creating something?
For many of us, it’s fear. Fear that something might not be good enough, unique enough, or novel enough.
Overcoming this fear is a huge and important step. Start here: It’s okay to fail. In fact, it can be helpful to create something silly, strange, ugly, or useless because you’ve taken the step that so many people never do. You’ve created.
Author Clay Shirky noted the importance of the simple act of creating—creating anything, even a silly thing—in his book Cognitive Surplus:
The stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act. On the spectrum of creative work, the difference between the mediocre and the good is vast. Mediocrity is, however, still on the spectrum; you can move from mediocre to good in increments. The real gap is between doing nothing and doing something.
Be prepared to toss your best ideas
There’s a popular bit of writing advice that sounds really tough yet rings really true: “Kill your darlings.” In many cases, in order to move on with a creative pursuit, you’ll have to let a favorite pursuit—one of your darlings—fall by the wayside.
No hard feelings. Sometimes the idea is too grand to pull off. Other times, the timing just isn’t right. Perhaps it sounded really great in your head and looked a whole lot different on paper. Whatever the reason, don’t hold onto an idea too long. Make room for more.
Soak up all the influence you can
Become a culture sponge, a content sponge, a role model sponge. Have more experiences and interactions with life around you, and take note of what you see—particularly the stuff you like.
By distinguishing the creative things you love, you’ll soon discover your own tastes. You’ll get better at identifying what you like and what you don’t, and your personal creativity will take shape even more clearer.
For me, inspiration comes from a bunch of places: desperation, deadlines… A lot of times ideas will turn up when you’re doing something else. And, most of all, ideas come from confluence — they come from two things flowing together. They come, essentially, from daydreaming. . . . And I suspect that’s something every human being does. Writers tend to train themselves to notice when they’ve had an idea — it’s not that they have any more ideas or get inspired more than anything else; we just notice when it happens a little bit more.
What might this look like? For me, it looks like a swipe file, a repository for ideas and the bits and bops that inspire me. I keep my swipe files in a WordPress draft on my website, on a visual online pinboard, and in our Buffer Trello board. Anything and everything that could one day be used for a creative burst, I find and collect.
Creativity is about making connections
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. – Steve Jobs
Neurologically this is true, as researchers have found that the brain operates creatively when multiple areas of the brain are connected. We piece together our different experiences in such a way that creative ideas are born. In Steve Jobs’s case, he connected the dots between touchscreens, personal computing, user interface, and great design and ended up with some of the best mobile devices on the market.
Others will be better than you. And that’s a good thing.
I sometimes get the urge to stop and drop everything when I see someone doing something I love better than I can do it. Turns out, that it’s not best for me that I will be the best.
Have you heard the phrase, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room”? I think this can hold true for the authors you read, the musicians you admire, and the creatives you follow. Set up shop in a room where you will be motivated to achieve great things and grow your creativity.
Surround yourself with greatness
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you are the sum of your influences. Put together, these pieces of advice offer a call to have amazing people in your life along with amazing experiences and influences.
Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more there is to choose from when the time comes to be inspired and create.
The bottom line
What advice would you give to someone seeking creativity tips? What have you learned along the way?
I’ve found a number of areas that have helped me be more creative on a regular basis, and I’m still coming up with new lessons day after day. I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments and if you’ve got any other ideas on what it takes to be creative.
Are you one that believes that creativity can be learned? I am among that group. Always on the lookout for awesome examples of the topics I write about. And always trying to keep an open mind. Today I will share the best example of creative activities I have ever seen.
This is the example of Paul Smith and his typewriter art. And note that Paul is not an ordinary learner of creativity or art for that matter.
You see, Paul has suffered from cerebral palsy for most of his life. Quite crippling for Paul. Here is an inspiring video that tells the story of Paul and his creativity. It is only 4 minutes and well worth your time.
Related: Ten Myths of Generating New Ideas
What did you think of the video? Paul Smith and his creativity are awesome, isn’t it? Demonstrates that contrary to what most people believe, creativity is not limited to a specific segment of the population.
It can be taught, nurtured, and enhanced. It is not genetically limited to the gifted ones of the population. Creativity is not a talent most people are born with. It is more like an action drive. Do you think Paul Smith has an active drive? I certainly do.
So what are the skills you need to acquire and/or develop to improve your creativity? Consider these useful habits for your skill development:
Creative activities … curiosity and imagination
We are big believers in curiosity and imagination. They contribute heavily to creative minds. We’re first curious about something, and it’s that curiosity that drives us to create. Try to think of inventors who created something without first being curious or imaginative. Difficult isn’t it?
There was a study done recently wherein jazz musicians’ brains were monitored while they were improvising during gigs. Long, boring, tedious, academic story short — these musicians’ brains had essentially learned to “turn off” that little thing in there that tells you that this won’t work or will fail.
So without that stopping them, their imagination thrived, and you’ve heard many of the amazing results.
List of creative activities.
Observing
Carefully watch things around you to help gain insights into, and ideas for, new ways of doing things.
Pay particular attention to areas outside your natural areas of interest. That worked for Paul, who gained his insights from his own efforts.
You’re as creative as anyone
I’ve heard people tell me, “I’m just not that creative.” I don’t believe it. Paul Smith didn’t believe it either. You are creative and ingenious and resourceful and brilliant.
Creativity doesn’t have to be defined by the bounds of art or literature. Your creativity can reveal itself in so many different ways: parenting, relationships, wardrobe, problem-solving, ideas, shoelaces, or cooking as examples.
Everyone is capable of creativity. Paul shows us that, doesn’t he?
Never underestimate the value of a creative outlet
Is the work you’re doing feeding your need for creativity? There are periods of life when it might not. In those times, it’s so incredibly useful to have a creative outlet on which to rely.
The psychological research supports these types of creative pursuits. In a San Francisco State study measuring employees with a creative side project and those without, those with a creative hobby were more likely to be helpful, collaborative, and creative with their job performance. Best of all, side projects are unlike whatever you’d experience at work.
They’re low-risk, low-pressure, and something you love doing.
Creative activities for adults.
Creative activity examples … embrace constraints
Though it might seem counterintuitive, constraints can help you be even more creative. Embrace these constraints, whichever way they come—constraints on your time, your resources, and your energy. Even your physical abilities, like Paul Smith.
Often you can rekindle your creativity by adding constraints to your problem space. Have you ever been successful at trying this technique? If you’ve got 20 minutes to be creative, it might be all the time you need. Who knows what you will fall in love with, so be persistent.
Trying and failing is better than never trying at all
What holds you back from creating something?
For many of us, it’s fear. Fear that something might not be good enough, unique enough or novel enough.
Overcoming this fear is a huge and important step. Start here: It’s okay to fail. In fact, it can be helpful to create something silly, strange, ugly, or useless because you’ve taken the step that so many people never do. You’ve created.
Others will be better and that’s ok
I sometimes get the urge to stop and drop everything when I see someone doing something I love better than I can do it. Turns out, it’s not best to always trying to be the best.
Have you heard the phrase, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room”? I think this can hold true for the authors you read, the musicians you admire, and the creatives you follow.
Set up shop in a room where you will be motivated to achieve great things and to grow your creativity.
Experimenting
Constantly visit new places, try new things, seek new information and understanding, and learn from new experiences.
Join new social/professional activities beyond your normal groups and spheres of influence.
Lean heavily on your intuition
Intuition is something that is never wise to ignore because it comes from deep within your subconscious and is derived from a combination of your previous life experiences. If everyone else is telling you “yes” but your gut is telling you otherwise, it’s usually for a good reason.
When faced with difficult decisions, seek out all the information you can find, become as knowledgeable as you possibly can, and then listen to your intuition and instincts.
Create without thinking
This is maybe my favorite lesson on creativity. Create the things that delight you, entertain you, and motivate you. Whatever you create let it be something you love. Create something that you enjoy, not something you’re under contract to make or something you think others would find pretty cool.
For one, you may lose the motivation to finish it if things don’t go your way. But more importantly, there’s power in creating from a place of love and enjoyment. Your finished product will absolutely reflect the joy and happiness you put into it.
Spend daily downtime daydreaming
Creative types know that daydreaming is anything but a waste of their time. While structured routines are important for the actual process of creating, our minds need downtime filled with the freedom to wander.
Neuroscientists have found that daydreaming involves the same brain processes associated with imagination and creative thinking. According to psychologist Rebecca L. McMillan, who recently co-authored a research paper titled Ode to Positive Constructive Daydreaming, daydreaming can aid in the “creative incubation” of ideas and solutions to complex problems.
Example of learning creativity … study the work of masters
If you study the lives of enough successful creators, it becomes obvious that most world-class performers in all fields – musicians, entrepreneurs, artists, dancers, etc. – had incredible mentors, coaches or role models who made the activity of practice worthwhile and rewarding.
If you can speak with a mentor face to face, that’s incredible – do so! But keep in mind that just observing a mentor works wonders too. When we observe someone we want to learn from, and we have a crystal clear idea of what we want to create for ourselves, it unlocks a tremendous amount of motivation.
Turn life’s obstacles around
Many of the most iconic novels, songs, and inventions of all time were inspired by gut-wrenching pain and heartbreak. Therefore, the silver lining of these great challenges is that they were the catalyst to the creation of epic masterpieces.
When our view of the world as a safe place, or as a certain type of place, has been shattered, we are forced to reboot our perspective on things. We suddenly have the opportunity to look out to the periphery and see things with a new, fresh set of beginner’s eyes, which is extremely beneficial to creativity.
The bottom line
Don’t fall prey to the myth that only some people are creative and you’re people are not of the chosen few. We are all creative; it’s just a matter of figuring out in what way, very much like Paul Smith.
So find things you’re curious about and are interesting to you, use your imagination a little, stay motivated and work at it, and surround yourself with others who are doing the same.
There are people in nearly every career field who make each day a work of art simply by the way they have mastered their craft. In other words, almost everyone is an artist in some way.
The important thing is to not let your self-judgment keep you from doing your thing and sharing your creative gift with the world.
Need some help in improving the creativity of you and your staff? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your toughest competitors?
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All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new creative ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improving your creativity, innovation, and ideas?
Do you have a lesson about making your creativity better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on creativity and innovation from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Learn How to Think What No One Else Thinks
Generating Ideas by Convergent Thinking
Amazon and Managing Innovation … the Jeff Bezos Vision
