Sure Fire Ways To Boost Your Creativity And Find Inspiration
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It happens from time to time, no worries, it’s completely normal, we’re humans and we should not expect ourselves to be inspired and creative all the time. Some days it’s easy to write or work on your projects, some days it’s hard.
So here are some tips and tricks i found to be really useful. Remember, what works for one may not work for everyone, so take what you think is good and leave the rest behind, and of course feel free to add your 2 cents and leave your comments, share your experiences and your own tips and tricks.
Schedule
One thing that’s often overlooked is planning and scheduling your “creative” moments, you may want to spend some time every day writing or working on your stuff, but if you don’t plan, chances are you won’t find the time. I’m not talking about procrastination really. Simply dedicate some time every day to focus on creating something, no matter what it is, no matter if it gets published or not, or if you like the results or not.
Fresh Perspective
When you’re stuck, why not ask someone for advices, and have a friend take a look at you work. This person will most likely have an objective point of view and give you his or her opinion. Which you cannot do yourself, because you’re too focused. Sometimes it’s best to have someone else take a look at our work, and this person will have a fresh perspective on things, which will help you move foward.
Stress and Pressure
I can’t write if i’m in a rush. I can’t write if i’m under heavy pressure. Maybe you can, but not me. I have to feel relaxed, be in “the mood” to write or work on my business and sites. Make sure your work place is quiet and calm, and if you feel any pressure, try to find out what makes you feel that way. Working in a peaceful environment should help you a lot on the creativity side. If you have deadlines, make sure to organize your work so that you don’t feel too much pressure (point #1 - schedule)
Reading and Learning
If you need ideas or don’t feel really imaginative, try to find people that share similar interests and check out their work, their websites and their blogs. Chances are you’ll find something interesting, and it may trigger your creativity switch. Studying successful people can definitely help on your way to success. Never stop learning about new things, and keep reading, even if you don’t feel inspired. Sometimes, all it takes is a little spark and voila, you’re back on track.
Other Activities
Of course you love writing, you love blogging and you love working on your business. But don’t forget to take some time off, don’t try to focus on your stuff for extended periods of time, it might kill your creativity. Try just a couple hours at a time, if you’re at 17 hours today, maybe it’s time to take a break. It is really hard to stay focused if all you do is work. Pick up the guitar, take tennis lessions, go to the movies every once in a while. Why not get involved in your local community, or participate in charity events, say 1 or 2 times a week or something. Or go to the gym every 2 days. Doing something that is not at all related to your work will definitely help boost your creativity. Hey you need to go out sometimes, see the sunshine and party with friends! :)
Your Past Work
Think about your past experiences and work. Is there something in there that you didn’t do because of this and that, but you’d feel like doing now? Take blogging for example, browse through your arcchives, you may find really interesting things in there (some blog archives have real gems, but no comments) and maybe you could write a follow-up on that. Thinking about your past experiences will most likely bring new ideas!
Relaxation - Yoga - And The Likes
Try to spend some time listening to relaxation tapes or CDs, if you feel really relaxed you’ll probably feel less pressure (point #3 - stress and pressure) and will probably feel more creative. Yoga has helped me a lot on the creative side (and also helped on the physical side, carpal tunnel syndrome is bad, especially when you’re a guitar player and a writer). Meditation is also a great way to relax, and boost your imagination and creativity.
Healthy Food
Well, sure, having a coffee in the morning feels good, but try to skip the coffee for a couple of days, see what happens, how you feel. Also skip the doughnuts and sugar-ish stuff. A healthy mind in a healthy body. Well it’s true, if you want to boost your creativity, eating healthy food definitely helps.
Your Thoughts :)
Those are things i personaly do to help boost my creativity, and feel more inspired. It works for me, but please feel free to share your own tips and tricks, and own ways of doing things. What works for you, what doesn’t.
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19 Responses to “Sure Fire Ways To Boost Your Creativity And Find Inspiration”
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As you already probably know, I’m rarely at a loss for words. I never locked myself into a niche so that I could talk about ANYTHING. But… when the rare occasion arises where I just can’t inspire myself, I read what everybody else is writing about. That usually breaks the brainlock.
RT, agree with you man, when i chose my domain name, i wanted something that would not only focuss on a single and precise niche (though some may say it’s better to do that) if my blog was howtogetrich or wannabewealthy or weregettingsmarter i probably would’ve run out of ideas pretty fast. Reading what others are writing is definitely a good way to find inspiration :)
Hey Jonathan - thanks for a great article. I particularly agree with your ‘Other Activities’ section - most of my ideas for new blog posts come completely out of the blue when I am nowhere near my computer. Of course, the challenge then lies in not forgetting the idea before I can blog about it!
My other ideas tend to crop up as I go about my normal online business, working on my websites, reading my favourite blogs and visiting my favourite sites.
I totally agree with you about the schedule. If I have loads of work on I just can’t think until I have written it all down and planned time in for it. Only when I see that I can get all the work done can I relax a bit and try to get creative.
Hey Martin, happy you liked my post! :)
Yeah, sometimes just getting involved in things that are totallly unrelated with your work can do wonders on the creativity.
Tara, thanx for replying! Totally, scheduling is really important, so you can schedule time for work, and time for other stuff, so no pressure, everything is done on time.
Writer’s block sucks. Walk around it. Gotta keep it interesting …
When I focus too much time on writing or whatever, I get a lack of stimulus and ideas. And I hit a wall. Hard.
That’s when I know it’s time to venture out and “bring something back”…
Sushi, friends, beers … yeah baby … gotta jet. :)
Shane, man i totally agree! Gotta take some time off sometimes, go for a drink with friends, go to the movies, simply do something else, different. And come back with a fresh perspective. Guess we both like those “yeah baby” moments! haha
When I get blocked, I either read other people´s blogs (as I´m doing now with yours!) or I play a computer game. Getting my mind completely off the creative process is usually all it takes to “reboot”. Once I have a half hour break or so, I´m ready to start writing again!
Hello At Home Mom! First welcome to SWR, please make yourself at home!
Playing computer games, good idea, i’m not a big fan of computer games, but sometimes playing Diablo2 (classic! hehe) or old SNES games takes care of the “writers’ block” for me too!
Thanx for stopping by! And feel free to check out other posts as well, hope you find interesting stuff on here! ;)
Great points, JP. Honestly, I believe it’s posts like these that help me when I run out of, for lack of better words, juice. I also think that the mental state of my mind (happy, sad, fighting with the misses, etc) has an effect on what inspires me and what I write about so I try my best to always remain positive.
ps-I didn’t realize your new design because I tend to read your feeds in my Netvibes reader but, when I visited that link earlier about DoFollow, I noticed you changed the appearance- nicessss, I like it! Not that the previous one was bad but I do like this one better.
Hey Scott! I’m happy you liked my post!
You’re right, sometimes “stuff happens”, and it’s not easy to always be “in the mood”, i mean, we all have a life outside of blogging (well i hope hehe), fighting with the misses takes a lot of energy that’s ffor sure :)
Thanx for the nice words on the new design, I’ll be adding a couple new sections/features soon too.
Take care!
Hi Jonathan,
I’m agree with your suggestions, especially on the point Schedule and Relaxation - Yoga - And The Likes.
You have to identify the time frame where your mind and thoughts are active, fresh and strong. Those are the times you will get new ideas, new actions, and new words for writing articles.
This could be morning, or afternoon, and could be different for each others.
I also suggest that not only Yoga, you can try somethings that you feel happy to do, like gardening, sports, yoga, reading books or listen to music.
As long as your mind get to relax a bit when you are doing other things.
Thank you for sharing this article.
Regards,
Calvin Chin
Hello Calvin, thanx for replying, and welcome to SWR! Happy you liked the post.
You’re right, when our mind is relaxed, creativity usually seems to flow, i do yoga, but just going for a walk, running, or listening to music helps a bunch.
Hi Jonathan,
I really liked your article. They are great ideas for when you feel writer’s block or are looking for things to blog about. I also like the way you formatted your article. It made it so easy to read. Great job!
Hi Lena, thank you very much! :)
Thanx for stopping by SWR, please make yourself at home.
[…] Sure Fire Ways To Boost Your Creativity And Find Inspiration - This is a good read for anyone that has a blog and is in need of writing material. We all have writers block from time to time! […]
Jon,
One thing that I’m learning to do is start lots of articles. Do what I can then come back later when I’m in the mood…. :smile: I’ve got about ten sitting in various stages of completion, so when I come across a relevant link or just an idea, I can slot it into the right article. voila…. (that’s all my french by the way)
Hey Dave! i do the same, i must have at least 30 unfinished articles in my wordpress admin, most of them are thoughts and ideas, some of them are “almost finished” others are “far from being anything worth reading” hehe
“Voila” is a good start!
Merci beaucoup pour les encouragements Dave, c’est tres appprécié! :) (you can put that in a translator hehe)
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