Experiment to become more creative.

True creativity is a state of flow, a series of moments where things just start to make more and more sense, where stars align, patterns become obvious and new epiphanies come to light. One of the blessings (and curses) the best creatives I know all seem to have in common, is that desire to keep pushing the envelope. To keep striving for more, and in the creative world, that means more experimentation. Flipping it over, turning it around, looking underneath, inside, rewinding time, fast forwarding, putting it under a microscope or taking a glance through a telescope. Like a drug, reaching more creative stages with whatever you're thinking about or working on can become quite addictive if you're passionate and committed to your craft.

But, we also as creatives tend to become complacent, especially as the years go on and we're confronted with increasing failures and unsuccessful attempts to unlock an idea or sell it through. We become jaded, we succumb to negativity and we forget the whole joy about what attracted us to this profession in the first place. There are little tricks and exercises that we can do however to keep ourselves in a constant state of creative flow and keep our sense of experimentation fresh and ready to help us out, here's a few of them:

Thought dump.

Pen. Paper. Write. Write down your stream of consciousness. Don't interrupt it and don't try to censor it either. Don't think about what you're writing, just let it flow. It may seem hard at first, but the power in this excercise and reward you gain from it is in how often you do it. Try to do this everyday with your first cup of coffee. I have and the the results will always amaze you. Think of it as creative stretches before a workout.

Draw dump.

Pen. Paper. Draw. Give yourself some structure first, a simple set of guidelines. I like to draw curvy lines in a box. I start by drawing a box, then flow some lines in. You could draw circles. Triangles. Scribbles. Whatever it is. Choose something. But keep doing the same theme. You'll get better at it overtime and it will become a great retreat from screens to relax your mind and unlock those ideas.

Daily colour.

Choose a colour every morning. That's your colour for the day. Now as you go about your day, keep mental notes of when you spot it. Hunt it down. Try to seek it out in the most unusual spaces. You're essentially training your creative mind to be sharp and playful.

Daily frame.

Goto a frame store. Pick a frame you like for a spot in your home or work area. Now, everyday your task is to put something fresh in that frame. It will be easy at first, then become harder and harder, but then after that, it will become easy again. Not only are you staying sharp creatively, but it will start to inspire you in return and will eventually become the thing you look forward to doing everyday.

Weekly outfit switchup.

Choose a basic outfit. Associate it with a day of the week, let's say Thursday. Now, every thursday, wear that same outfit, but add one thing new to it each week. An accessory, a scarf, an excpeted something something. Essentially you're training your mind to find the joy in the mundane and creativity out of the usual.

May you always be creative!

#Creativity #Experimentation