13 Sure-Fire Ways to Spark Creativity
The more you change up your habits and routines, the more likely you’ll have good stories worth sharing. Let’s face it – not much novelty or excitement happens on the couch. Here are some general ideas for keeping your creative juices flowing.
A change of scenery. Prep at a coffee shop rather than in your cubicle or at home.
Prep together. Content happens when you spend time together.
Pay attention.
Eavesdrop. Writers use this technique. Go to a public place and people watch. Don’t be creepy.
Change up your personal routine. Take a different route home. Go to a different grocery store. Try a new restaurant, different bathroom stall, new Pilates teacher.
Get out in nature, without music or AirPods. Let your mind wander.
Watch YouTube for ten minutes – cat videos, guys getting hit in the groin, sports fails, Celeste Barber on IG. Laugh out loud. Keep laughing. Laugh some more.
Go somewhere you’d never go in a million years – a section of the bookstore, an organic high-end baby supply store, a shooting range.
Pick up three niche magazines totally outside your area of interest.
Try something new. Indian food, a DIY project, hosting a dinner party.
Say yes.
Embrace something you’ve been resisting. Calling your dentist, visiting your grandmother, having “the talk” with your kids. Whatever you are resisting is more interesting than the other stuff. What did you notice?
Write. I have mentioned @morningpages before. A twenty-minute daily habit of journaling and “brain dumping” is highly recommended.
After I wrote this article, I came across another fun fact. There’s something called the “Cathedral Effect.” Working in a room with high ceilings apparently elicits more creativity, while working in a smaller room is better for analytical work.
Final thoughts on creating content when news is slow
The past few weeks I’ve written about what to do when there isn’t much to talk about. The more interesting you are, the interesting and unique life you lead, the more you have to talk about. These steps may also spark an idea that never would have occurred to you in your usual routine.
The beauty of these exercises is that you’re experiencing them from your character’s unique perspective so your story will be unique to you! Here are a few more additions to the list:
Take a different way home every day.
Listen to a different radio station every day.
Pick up a book at random.
Break up your daily routine.
Talk to a stranger.
Do the opposite of what you’d normally do. (e.g. If you normally buy high end, go to a garage sale. If you normally watch the news, check out The Bachelor.)
Talk to someone from a different generation, like a grandparent. Notice how differently they view the world.
Go to a concert from outside your personal or your station’s musical preference.
Talk to your parents.
Flirt with someone.
Go on a media diet for a week. Consume as little media as you can outside of work. No streaming shows or movies, no music with lyrics (in English), no books, podcasts, magazines, newspapers.
Do an activity everyone thinks is crazy.
These experiences might only take a few minutes, but can open your mind, give you a story to tell or spark a new idea that we haven’t heard before. Let me know which ones you try!