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by Doug Smith
How many ways can you think of to develop your creativity? It's a useful exercise to create your own list, pulling in all of the ideas that are right there for the taking but that might easilly slip away unless you grab them now.
Here's the start of my list (sure, I'll be adding to it as ideas flash in and around). If you'd like to add to the list, let me know -- I'll be sure to give you credit if the idea is new to the list -- and all yours. Ideas from others are also welcome but please do cite them when they come from another source).
- Give your internal critic a vacation
- Doodle non-stop for an hour
- Carry a pad and pen everywhere you go
- Look at things upside down
- Randomly circle five words in an upside down magazine and use that for a title for something to create
- Read a magazine about something you know nothing about
- Work your way thru "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. (If you haven't done this yet, start there!)
- Read "Writing Down The Bones" (or anything else) by Natalie Goldberg
- Explore lateral
thinking (books,
wikipedia,
or De Bono)
- Buy a new box of crayons and an artist's sketch pad
- Play a word association game
- Race yourself to write one page
- List 10 questions you could ask a stranger that would tell you more about them then most of their friends know.
- List 10 probing questions and answer them yourself. Find someone else to ask you those questions. Write about what you discovered
- Play a musical instrument you've never played before
- Organize a special occasion drum circle
- Find a musical instrument you're interested in mastering and get started (or continue if you are already on the way)
- Visit an art museum
- Attend a cultural festival for a culture that is not your own
- Write a letter to your mom if she's still around, or someone else's mom or someone else in your family
- Build something for your dad or someone else in your family
- Imagine your dream car. Draw it.
- Imagine your dream self. Draw it.
- Swim naked (someplace you can go undetected of course)
- Tear a five dollar bill in half
- Spend a morning cutting out pictures of your favorite things and amke a collage
- Write one page with your non-dominant hand
- Keep your computer turned off for 24 hours. One week later keep it turned off for 48 hours (you can stop there, but an occasional computer-fast is worth considering to boost your creativity)
- Wrap a present using something other than commercial wrapping paper (my friend Len once used the comics from the Sunday paper)
- Hand-make a thank-you card and send it to someone you should be grateful for. If there's someone you've said "I appreciate it" to but done nothing else, send the card to show you mean it
- Buy a hat you've never had the courage to wear before and find a place to wear it
- Take a dance class
- Attend a church you've never been to before
- Spend an hour looking at the world as if you were four years old
- Take an improv class (for example, here)
- Help out with a community theatre group
- Teach Sunday School (the learners' materials include wonderfully creative ideas -- you'll grow as you help the student to learn)
- Watch the movie "Big" starring Tom Hanks. He captures the childlike vision and perception that is bound to trigger greate waves of creativity in you
- Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up
- Stop at a mountain scenic overlook and gaze
- Focus on some creative affirmations
- Buy an original painting and hang it in an important place
- Watch a TV show with a friend. Turn off the sound. Improvise the dialogue
- Invite a friend to play chess with the intention of collaborating on new rules. Try a few until you find one or tow that create a viable game variation
- Get a package of index cards and draw pictures on several of them until you draw something interesting. Make it into a postcard and send it to a friend. Repeat.
- Find some very serious looking pictures in a magazine and draw mustaches on the faces. Draw many different kinds of mustaches -- and nothing else. Display the picture for a few days
- Think about some bumper sticker that you have seen. Now draw your own "bumper sticker" on a piece of paper. The slogan you select should be uplifting, positive, and on the theme of creativity. Repeat until you achieve a slogan that will make a great bumper sticker. If you like, you then create a real bumper sticker at cafepress.com
- Check out
these resources
on creativity
- Create your
own list of how to develop your creativity!
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For help on developing your creativity, contact Doug
Updated 3 March 2007 | Copyright 2007 Doug Smith