How to Tap Into Your Creativity
Use these tips to discover your most outside-the-box self.
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Blow Up the Box - Whether you need to draft an innovation presentation for work, fashion a plan for helping your little brother graduate on time, or shape an idea about what to cook for dinner, creativity is the key to effective problem solving. Follow these tips to tap into your most outside-the-box self. By Kenrya Rankin Naasel (Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill/Blend Images/Corbis)
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Establish a Ritual - If you have a creativity-heavy task that you must complete regularly, fashion a ritual to help you get in the mood. So if you have to write stories for a client each day, you could start by grabbing a banana, sitting at your desk, silencing your phone and putting on a specific playlist to get you in the right mindset. (Photo: ballyscanlon/Getty Images)
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See It - If you have a particular creative goal in mind — such as improvising a restaurant-quality meal from odds and ends you find in your refrigerator — visualize yourself achieving it. Then make it happen. (Photo: Flint/Corbis)
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Go Left - Or right. Try this exercise: Write something, anything — a silly story, a list of items you need, people you want to call, a conversation with yourself — with your non-dominant hand. If you’re right-handed, writing with your left hand will tap into your right brain, which is where creativity is said to reign. But don’t despair lefties; forcing yourself to use the more logical part of your brain as controlled by your right hand will unlock inspiration, too. (Photo: BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images)
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Be Eclectic - Read a couple of pages from various books from your collection, browse a few gif sites, watch a new Web series, listen to a random Songza playlist — the point is to take in info from various places, then stop trying to be creative. You’ll find that ideas bubble up when you’re not focused on them, like while showering, drifting off to sleep or walking the dog. (Photo: Hero Images/Getty Images)
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Go Blue - Research shows that shades of blue make us feel safe and boundless, leading to creative sparks. Spend time in a blue room or beneath a clear sky, or focus on a collection of blue objects. (Photo: Arno Burgi/dpa /Landov)
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Be Novel - Try something new that forces a shift in your perspective: Sit in a different train car on your way to work, eat lunch at a new restaurant, or walk or drive through a new-to-you neighborhood to spark problem-solving thoughts. (Photo: Nancy Ney/Corbis)
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Brainstorm - It might sound like the stuff of boring meetings, but giving yourself permission to just write down every single idea that comes to your mind with no judgment is a fab way to uncover phenomenal ideas. (Photo: Stephen Welstead/LWA/Corbis)
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Dream Big - Keep a journal beside your bed. Each time you wake, whether to use the bathroom or to start your day, take a few seconds to record whatever you remember from your dreams. Even if you can only grab on to fragments, write about them and how they made you feel. (Photo: Stuart O'Sullivan/Getty Images)