To reap all the benefits of creativity, here are 16 simple ways to be more creative in your daily life. This guide includes a few obvious, some unconventional, ways to be a more creative person so you can start dancing with your own creative process.
No matter who you are, everyone wishes they could be more creative. Creativity is that magic rod of kaleidoscopic joy in daily life. The source of inner peace and contentment… rare commodities in today’s world.
I’ll be the first to praise the importance of creativity. It was my motley ship that sailed me out of a barren wasteland of anxiety and depression.
But creativity is an ornery hag. It’s often elusive, a sputtering fountain with no clear settings. Sometimes it’s dead in the water.
My own creativity has waxed and waned throughout my life. I’m still cultivating my creative process, though these days I’m better equipped with a few handy tools.
From personal experience and backed by science, I’m sharing a few simple ways to tap into your creative potential and fuel your creativity as a source of empowerment in daily life.
Here are 16 simple ways to boost creative thinking, tap into your imagination, and get more creative in your daily life.
16 simple ways to be more creative in your daily life – tips backed by science
As quoted in this study, “creativity is a way of being in the world with substantive value for human-centered wellbeing and expression”. That just might be one of my favorite sentences of all time.
There is no right or wrong way to be creative. Imagination is abstract and there is only one rule: unleash.
1. Keep a notepad
Creative thoughts strike when we least expect them. So it helps to keep a notepad on hand.
Track your creative thinking and you’ll soon amass an adventurous pile of abstract thoughts that can later be utilized for something fun.
I use the Notes app on my phone because I always have my phone on me. Hundreds of notes sit there, full of wild thinking sourced straight from my creativity well. It’s fun to go back and re-read what I’ve written, to laugh and gasp and integrate whatever wisdom I’d gleaned between moments.
You start to learn how your brain works. To appreciate its complexity and psychedelic nature. You can track ideas, map goals, utilise it as a source of motivation or inspiration. It’s a great place to start.
2. Create empty space in your day
Create empty space throughout your day… as little as 10 minutes and without labels. Don’t even say it’s for creativity. Remove that pressure. Open gaps of white noise across your busy schedule (yes, I know you’re very busy) because it’s important to give the brain a rest.
Creativity is stifled by distraction. Evenings spent watching television or scrolling TikTok tend not to create a creative environment. I view these as blockages to the divine flow. Instead try reconnecting with your environment. Do a few chores. Cook a meal, tuning into the textures and smells of the process.
As stated above, creativity flourishes between moments. If you’re looking to be a more creative person, a “go, go, go” mentality won’t serve you well. Creativity, after all, is a facet of wellbeing.
3. Get bored
On the same note… get bored. Often.
I know boredom is a crime these days. Every moment, gadgets and media claw for our attention. Our thoughts are interrupted by notifications and emails. We’re trapped, feel like we can’t keep up.
In the same way our bodies need sleep, our brains need rest. And boredom is white space for the mind to wander… a key ingredient to creativity and innovation.
To be bored is to be unhurried. The mind opens to daydreaming. We start to make linkages across varying ideas, ask questions, and find solutions. Allowing ourselves to be bored is an important step to be more creative.
4. Walk with music
We know that listening to music releases dopamine. Certain music can improve memory. And evidence continues to mount that that listening to music promotes creative cognition.
Parallel to that, studies have found that a simple walk can significantly increase creative thinking… more on the link between exercise and creativity below.
As it turns out, music and exercise mesh deliciously to boost divergent creativity – generating ideas and novel solutions. Moving our bodies and stimulating our minds with whimsical sounds allows our imagination to run wild. If you’re bored (as advised in #3) I highly recommend this to get the creative juices flowing.
It’s one of my favorite ways to get more creative since music is so accessible and this practice is easily integrated into daily life.
5. Exercise
The benefits of exercise are a minefield I’m only beginning to grasp. Not only does exercise boost mood, relieve mental health symptoms, improves sleep, boosts productivity, and aids longevity… it also supercharges creativity.
As discussed above, a walk was found to significantly increase creative cognition. But the link between exercise and creativity has been studied for years. This study found physical exercise improved creative thinking in both athletes and non-athletes. And I love this study that linked creativity to aerobic dancing in women.
If all the other benefits of exercise haven’t convinced you, I hope this one does. Being physically active will sprout seeds of creativity across all areas of your life.
6. Disrupt routine
Disrupting routine refreshes our minds to make new connections and stimulate creativity. In this post on how to incorporate the benefits of travel into daily life, I talk about the advantages of disrupting routine as learned from the London Tube study.
Through forced innovation, people found better commutes to work compared to their original route, showcasing the value of experimentation.
Repeat behavior collects cobwebs in the corners of our minds. I challenge you to disrupt your routine, whether it’s your morning commute or a bad habit you’d like to ditch.
The “newness” will get you unstuck, hereby promoting creativity.
7. Journal
If you’re in a creative community, you might have heard of the Morning Pages… a concept posed by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way as a tool for “creative recovery”. Every morning, write three pages about literally anything. A braindump is a form of release, a way to extract our woes to paper and allow our thoughts to run rampant without agenda.
This is true for journaling in general. Tapping into your stream of consciousness will unearth hidden troubles and unexplored ideas. Downloading the mind creates headspace and recharges creativity. And it’s a great way to store all that abstract thought.
Journaling also harnesses the power of visualization… another simple but powerful tool to nurture creative thinking in daily life.
8. Get curious – ask more questions
Curiosity is a superpower.
I personally believe curiosity is the root of all intelligence and creativity. The ability to ask questions, to approach life without judgement, forges new pathways in our internal and external worlds.
We often define creativity as the generation and linkages of ideas and innovative solutions. And although there’s limited empirical evidence linking curiosity to creativity, it’s easy to see how the two might overlap, as stated by this paper.
Curiosity is difficult to measure but I can speak from personal experience that curiosity, guided by research and experimentation, has yielded fascinating realizations. And, as a result, intriguing art.
Curious thinkers tend to be problem-solvers, which in itself is a creative process. Curiosity also helps us approach difficult situations without assumption or emotional baggage. This is something I’m still learning, to approach new experiences with gentle curiosity rather than knee-jerk anxiety.
Curiosity is just as abstract as creativity. But try it on for size and observe how it might inform your own creative journey.
9. Break your own chains
This may seem like an unconventional way to be more creative in daily life. But we’ve known for a long time that judgement and expectation can decrease creativity. When I feel my art might be criticized, I start to pick my ideas apart. I overthink or ditch them prematurely.
But creativity thrives when we release our inner limitations. In the intro, I said there is only one rule to creativity: unleash. It doesn’t matter how well your idea might perform. There is no perfect goal, other than to create.
Joseph Gordon-levitt does a great TED talk on how craving the attention or approval of others can axe our creativity.
I invite you to dismantle the limiting narratives in your head. Journaling helps to download all your fears and insecurities. And you’ll realize it’s only your mind trying to protect you.
It’s not real.
10. Read literally anything
When I first started my creative journey, I resisted building my ideas upon other people’s ideas. I was determined to have original thoughts never thought by anyone before. The thing about that is it’s fucking impossible.
Here’s the reality. All ideas are evolutions of someone else’s ideas. That’s normal.
In fact, to form new ideas, we must pursue the ideas of others. That’s what reading does. I credit my wild imagination to an obsessive reading habit from a young age. To this day, I still lose sleep over a book.
Reading is a superpower and I recommend it as a surefire way to propagate your creativity.
So read. Literally anything. Psychology. High-fantasy. Autobiographies.
Long copy has a tendency to unpack a topic down to its foundation, creating endless food-for-thought and opportunity to question everything. It encourages ponderation, impartiality, open-mindedness… titillating ingredients for the cocktail of creativity.
Here’s Mark Manson’s hilariously-stitched advice on how to read more (and better) books.
11. Go into nature
A key tip whether you want be a more creative person or not: go into nature.
The thing about nature is, it doesn’t demand anything of us. Simple spaces allow us to be free, and that sense of ease coaxes creativity out of its coy shell.
The literature backs this up, of course. This study found that being immersed in a natural setting enhances creative problem solving, linking the improvement to positive emotion and a lack of urgency from technological distractions. This study explored how nature “recharges” our attention and evokes creative ways of thinking. And this study found that a 25-minute walk in a green space enhances mood and cognitive function.
It’s sad how many forget that nature is where we all come from. There’s ancient wisdom there to access joy and boost wellbeing. And of course, creativity.
12. Become acutely present
In other words, find ways to become more mindful of your environment and your experience in it.
Mindfulness boosts creativity and I knew this before I went digging for research. Some of my best thoughts come during meditation. Which is inconvenient when I’m meant to be meditating.
Observing our thoughts without judgement opens the heart to the human experience. It relieves stress, promotes compassion and retrospection. Meditation also flexes muscles of focus and concentration, which improve learning. That’s a collection of benefits that feed straight into the creativity well.
There’s too much literature to list on the link between mindfulness and creativity, but this recent study compiles the evidence base well.
13. Spend time alone
Similarly to nature, spending time alone rids us of distraction. Frankly, I love being alone. There are no demands on my attention and I can freely ponder and process my existence in the universe.
Solitude is a staple to be a more creative person. There’s enjoyment in one’s own company, to exist without external pressure. To self-reflect, find meaning and fulfillment from your own company. This is where many answers lie to fuel the creative process.
Solitude is training to become fearlessly, unapologetically authentic. Only then will creativity feel safe enough to emerge at its full potential.
14. Create a harmonious environment at home
Stress and clutter are creativity killers. If you’re looking for ways to be more creative at home, creating a harmonious environment is key.
Our creative process cultivates from a young age. And a few studies (ie here) have discovered that a positive, supportive environment increases creativity for youth better than stressful environments.
And once grown, we can design our own spaces for optimal creativity. Take time to build your sanctuary. Make your home an expression of self. Incorporate nature, e.g. plants and flowers). Create corners for reflection and reading. Make a tea and utilize ambient noise, which studies have found promotes creativity.
You can also apply the principles of feng shui, a Chinese philosophy to establish harmony between ourselves and the environment.
Take charge of constructing the perfect environment for optimum serenity and creativity.
Recommended reading: Feng Shui for the Soul: How to Create a Harmonious Environment that will Nurture and Sustain by Denise Linn
15. Travel without an itinerary
This entire blog is dedicated to slow travel and its benefits for wellbeing and creativity. A quintessential trait of slow travel is the lack of an itinerary. To meander freely, exercise flexibility and spontaneity.
I have many posts on the topic so peruse the blog as you like.
Moving through the days without a plan prompts outside-the-box thinking, which enhances creativity and innovation. It often leads to new experiences, inspiration and rejuvenation of the soul. You practice your sense of openness, which is arguably one of the most essential skills for creative output.
16. Decrease stress in your life
If you’ll notice from all the advice above, the key takeaway to be more creative in daily life is to decrease your stress levels. It’s even arguable that stress is the polar opposite of creativity. Creativity manifests out of a strong parasympathetic nervous system… our state of “rest and digest”.
So it’s logical to conclude that a hyperactive sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight/freeze, ie stress) is not good breeding ground for creativity.
I know this is easier said than done. This blog unpacks a few solutions to step out of survival mode and let creativity shine. It also helps to address your own overwhelm cycles and implement a robust self-care routine.
If you commit to this journey, I promise it will be worth it. Not only for creativity, but to foster joy, wellbeing, and fulfillment in your daily life.
