Who said great innovators and artists are born, not made? Creativity isn’t a super power, given to random people when they are born, but actually, it’s more like a muscle that you can train and grow. Here are some scientifically proven ways to get those creative juices flowing:
Listen to upbeat music
A happy, upbeat playlist on Spotify might be enough to wake up your own creative genius! Simone M Ritter from the Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, carried out an experiment with two groups of people who had identical tasks to brainstorm. One group listened to positive music while sharing their ideas, the other group worked in silence.
Guess, which group ended up having significantly more creative solutions? To combine creativity with passion, a piano (like one from here) could be a great way to get those creative juices flowing more freely.
Go for a walk
We know, we know, this is the universal recommendation we give in each and every article. But trust us, it doesn’t only do wonders to your health but improves creativity as well. Stuck? Go for a walk!
Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology demonstrated that going for a walk outside increased people’s creativity. Walking on a treadmill or walking around the table doesn’t work the same way! You need some fresh air.
Take a tea break
While a pause in creating something might look like the opposite to getting closer to the final product, it’s actually a science-based recommendation! Yan Huang and his colleagues from Peking University found that drinking a cup of tea increased creative performance! In Huang’s experiment, people drinking tea demonstrated better results than those drinking water or not drinking at all! Yan Huang also proved that it works both for creating something with your hands and for creative writing.
Close your eyes
Remember Simone M Ritter from the first paragraph? Well, music wasn’t the only source of creativity she explored. She published further research in Frontiers in Psychology explaining how closing your eyes helps to solve creative tasks. Apparently, those who close their eyes for a while to concentrate produce more solutions than eyes-wide-open counterparts.
Ask yourself to be creative
This idea is not new to management and leadership coaching. Scientists and psychologists agree that bosses can receive better results from their employees by simply asking people to go and ‘be creative’.
So next time you find yourself stuck, close your eyes and ask yourself to ‘be creative’. That should activate the creativity flow in your brains.