Incorporate more creative practices into your everyday and you’ll end up with more creative ideas. 

For some, the idea of taking more time to be creative can be daunting. But here’s the thing: you don’t have to have 8 hours every day to devote to creating a masterpiece to bring more creativity into your life. Creative ideas don’t just come to you, they take cultivation, which is why it’s important to make time for artistic and creative practices in your everyday.

Here are 7 things you can do to ensure that you’re doing all you can to get the creative juices flowing.

1. Sketch

Plan time, 5 or 10 minutes, for a daily sketch. Capture what’s happening around you. Put pen (or pencil) to paper and let your mind and hand work simultaneously. Planning small amounts of drawing or sketching every day is good for anyone, whether or not you’re an artist.

2. Use a creative prompt

Whether you’re writing, drawing, sculpting or thinking, sometimes you need to kickstart the creative flow. A creative prompt can be good for that and breaking through a moment when you feel blocked.

3. Write a haiku

5-7-5, go.

4. Do something new

This one may sound simple, but it’s all a part of having new experiences, something that is essential to being more creative. Take a new route to work for example. A new route to work forces your brain to think a little more than usual as it’s out of its usual routine. It may lead you to see something different. Because insight can come from any experience, so you want to make sure you have a lot of them.

5. Write a six word story

Inspired by Hemingway, six word stories force you to think creatively, yet succinctly, and it’s an easy enough task to do in a matter of minutes if you need to get the wheels turning for other creative ideas.

6. Allow yourself to be messy

A study published in Psychological Science found that while a clean working space is good for some things, a messy working space may actually help promote creativity. Being in a clean room made people tend towards behaving in a way that was expected of them. In a messy room, they had an easier time breaking out of the box. So, if you want more creative ideas then allow for a little mess on your desk.

7. Get outside

In need of a creative idea for work or for a project? Go on a walk. A new study by researchers at Stanford linked walking with creativity, much needed scientific evidence that backs up what many creatives have known for a long time: if you need to come up with a new idea, get outside and get some exercise.

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Image: mark sebastian

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