Easy Steps to Spark your Imagination

byTheCatherine

14.6K followers

2 years ago

Creativity allows bloggers to develop engaging topics and content ideas that grab readers' attention. The internet is saturated with blogs, so a creative mindset helps bloggers brainstorm angles and concepts for unique posts. Creative bloggers also develop content with memorable hooks, titles, and formats that stand out from the competition.

Creativity enables bloggers to consistently add value for readers and scale their content over time. Creative bloggers can inject their unique personalities into posts through humor, witty writing, real-life examples, and multimedia elements. Creativity helps them provide information or entertainment that keeps bringing an audience back. It also allows them to repurpose content into new formats like videos, podcasts, and visual graphics when transitioning to grow their online presence.

Creativity lends bloggers resilience in overcoming obstacles and criticism online. All bloggers eventually face writer’s block, deal with negative comments, or get rejected from potential partnerships. With creativity, they can reinvent their content strategy, find new writing inspiration, and take risks by exploring different directions. The ability to handle difficulties with imaginative solutions leads to sustained success in the long run.

Change Where you Work

We humans thrive on habit, often finding it challenging to imagine working outside our regular office space. However, a change of environment can profoundly reinvigorate creativity.

When surrounded by familiarity, it's easy to slip into routine ways of thinking. The same desk, same view day after day reinforces mental ruts and routine thought patterns. Sameness hinders the unconstrained imagination necessary for sparks of innovation.

Exposing yourself to novel sights, sounds and energy acts as a creative reset button. Seek out fresh physical spaces like a buzzing coffee shop, quiet library reading nook or vibrant co-working environment. Feeding off the inventive vibrancy of other passionate creatives in shared spaces spurs out-of-the-box thinking.

If leaving your regular workspace isn't feasible, reinvent your environment by rearranging furniture layouts or display locations. Experiment with standing or working in new spots in the room. Simply facing a different direction shifts perspective enough to jar your mind from inertia into inspiration.

Refreshing physical and mental patterns boosts the probability of lighting creative flashes. Dislodge hardened habits by placing yourself in stimulating spaces, surrounding yourself with visionary peers, and rebuilding your existing workspace’s look. Creativity thrives when we churn up dynamic environments that churn up our imagination.

Creating a stimulating space to let your creativity flow is essential.

Start by eliminating potential distractions in your physical environment. Silence phone notifications, shut down email alerts, and find a quiet location away from others. Auditory distractions can be minimized with noise-cancelling headphones or calming background music without lyrics. Upbeat melodies in major keys have been shown to enhance creative thinking, so curate playlists that spark inspiration specifically for your creative sessions.

Good Playlists to Spark Creativity

Jazz & Bossa Nova

This genre combines an upbeat tempo with flowing melodies that stimulate creative thinking without being too distracting with lyrics. Try artists like Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Billie Holiday.

Ambient & Chillout Electronica

Artists like Bonobo, Emancipator, and Four Tet create layered downtempo soundscapes perfect for concentration while also being inspiring.

Upbeat Instrumental Pop/Rock

Expansive instrumental arrangements provide motivating energy without distraction. Examples include Ratatat, Explosions in the Sky, Tycho.

Film Score Music

Cinematic instrumental scores are designed to evoke imagination and emotion. Composers such as Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Michael Giacchino, Ramin Djawadi have extensive catalogs.

Simple, emotive piano melodies

Promote free-flowing thoughts. Artists include Ludovico Einaudi, Philip Wesley, and Yiruma.

Global influences spark curiosity

This is my personal favorite

I love Afrobeat percussion, Indian ragas, Celtic vocals, and Spanish acoustic guitar.

Focusing on instrumental music allows lyrics and verse/chorus song structures to pull your attention while harmonically rich compositions engage your creative thinking. Tailor and evolve your playlist over time as you notice what specifically helps immerse you into a creative flow state!

Visually appealing spaces also stimulate the imagination. Consider what lighting conditions make you feel most imaginative and relaxed. Bright natural light often energizes creative thought, while some prefer softer lamp lighting. Surround yourself with physical inspiration by displaying art, creative works in progress, vision boards, or natural objects like plants, stones or shells. Have tools on hand to immediately capture spur-of-the-moment ideas like journals, sketchbooks or a digital voice recorder.

Crafting an intentionally designed environment tailored to your unique creative preferences allows innovation to blossom organically. Experiment with various sensory ambiances until you discover your optimal creative habitat. This space should replenish your sources of inspiration when you feel creatively drained while providing the freedom to make a mess by expressing new ideas. Use this environment regularly so your mind associates the space with imaginative thinking.

Spark Your Imagination

It's essential to stimulate imaginative thinking actively every day. Putting random constraints on your brainstorming, like unusual timelines or ridiculous budgets, can lead to novel concepts. Freewriting and stream-of-consciousness techniques also bypass your inner editor.

Stream-of-consciousness means writing down your thoughts continuously without limits or judgment. Set a timer for 5-10 minutes and write down every single idea that pops into your head, no matter how silly it may seem. Don't stop to make edits or second-guess yourself.

Capture odd associations, "bad" sentences, random phrases, or anything at all. The goal is to bypass self-censoring and unleash your unfiltered imagination onto the page without rules. This exercise loosens up engrained thinking patterns and helps new, unexpected connections take form. After your brain dump, go back and extract any nuggets of inspiration. Overcoming the urge to be perfect is critical to accessing your inner creativity. Purposely shaking up your routines forces you to challenge assumptions and see information from fresh angles. Techniques like stream-of-consciousness jolt you out of routine thinking so creativity can flow freely.

Feed Your Mind

Consuming content that sparks ideas is vital for creativity. Read widely across both fiction and non-fiction genres to fuel imaginative thinking. Novelists transport you into fully built worlds and compelling characters that stage new perspectives. Non-fiction books, articles, and videos expose you to new concepts and real-world examples of creativity in action across every domain – from art to business to science.

Make time for your mind to freely make connections between disparate concepts. Allowing your thoughts to wander during activities like taking a walk, showering, or cleaning often sparks “a-ha” moments. Quieting your inner critic is also crucial. Skepticism can edit ideas too early before they have time to develop. Bracket regular time to brainstorm without judgment – write down any idea without analyzing it initially. Evaluating and iterating come later. Silence self-doubt by noticing and reframing negative self talk that undermines creative confidence.

Expanding your pool of concepts, ideas, and mental models to draw upon gives you richer source material when imagination needs ignition. Make wandering your mind, overcoming idea scarcity, and battling idea censorship priorities on par with formal brainstorming. Feed your mind daily not just through structured consumption but also by giving it space to make the unseen connections that manifest as magical creativity.

Drink More Water

A morning coffee provides pleasant ritual, yet over-reliance on caffeine to spark lagging creativity can backfire. When feeling mentally sluggish or creatively blocked, the true culprit may be dehydration rather than espresso deficiency.

Before brewing another pot, first drink a tall glass of water. Frequent sipping throughout the day optimizes energy and concentration critical for imagination to flourish. When dehydrated, everything suffers - including cognitive flexibility essential for conceiving innovative connections.

The brain is seventy percent water and hydrating your brain with water makes everything easier.

Coffee enjoys an esteemed role in creative culture. But its stimulation cannot replace water's renewal. Seeking inspiration? Quench dry wells by filling your glass first. Ideas flow freely when internal streams run deep.

Creativity is a skill you have to work on and the more you practise the easier it gets.