5 Steps to Recharge Your Creativity
Reinvigorate Your Imagination with the Power of Rest and Retreat
When I first started my copywriting business, I recognized my relationship with rest had become a bit of a challenge due to the fluctuating nature of freelance work. We all know rest is essential to regain energy, but how influential is resting over our creative output?
As a creative professional, coming up with creative ideas is not a nice-to-have; it is a must-have. Here, we will explore five impactful ways to give our creativity a boost.
Meditation
Excursions
Side Projects
Walking
Sleep
Meditation
Connecting with your body and mind helps you decide what type of rest you need. Meditation is a practice to become more aware. It is where you observe your thoughts and feelings without judgment.
Being still and focusing on our breath helps us tune in to our body and mind. We begin to find clarity where rest is needed.
Mindfulness meditation is a type of meditation whose goal is to bring your attention to the present moment.
Practicing mindfulness meditation helps to create space for creativity to emerge. Studies have shown practicing mindfulness meditation for eight weeks reduces the inflammation response caused by blockages such as stress and anxiety.
If you find that you have difficulty focusing, a consistent meditation practice is a kind of mental rest that will make a world of difference.
Whether you’re a beginner or a meditation expert, apps such as Calm and Insight Timer make great companions to your practice.
Excursions
Experiencing something new can inspire novel ideas. An excursion is a type of social rest. Whether you need to take a break from socializing or connect with others, going on an excursion is a great way to cultivate creativity.
When we engage with challenging activities and are open to change, that is when original ideas spark.
As we age, we fall into cognitive patterns and learned behaviors. While these patterns can be helpful, they can limit our perspectives. They can limit our possibilities. We become stagnant in our comfort zone.
It may be uncomfortable, but moving into new experiences and pushing boundaries, can bring fantastic new ideas to light.
Side Projects
Taylor Swift makes snow globes, Brad Pitt makes pottery, and Scarlett Johansson owns a popcorn shop. The type of side projects I’m referring to is the kind that helps you break away from your usual work habits.
You are allowing yourself to do something different. Side projects are a kind of retreat where you can explore and be free to express yourself. It is an integral part of mental recovery.
Experiment and takes risks because your side project doesn’t need to be your source of making a living. It is a labor of love. They are low-pressure creative outlets that boost your creativity as a whole.
Walking
Walking is a form of sensory rest. Unplug, and if possible, go for a walk in nature. Daily walks outside for 20 minutes can improve your health, mood, and creativity.
In one study, Stanford researchers found that a person’s creative output increased by an average of 60 percent when walking. New connections between brain cells are made when walking regularly.
Walking freely and intuitively fosters divergent thinking. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of time, and unexpected connections are drawn. Divergent thinking usually occurs in a spontaneous and non-linear manner. So feel free to skip, hop, and walk-in zigzag lines!
Sleep
Sleep is a type of rest that we tend to take for granted. It’s incredibly impactful on our day. Poor sleep can negatively affect our creativity. But with some effort in refining our nighttime routines, we can gain quality sleep.
One habit we should all try a little harder to adapt is to put our devices away before we go to sleep. For many of us, this is easier said than done. So try leaving your devices in another room an hour before bed.
Eating dinner a few hours before bed also helps. Try to consume a lighter meal and eliminate sweet temptations in the evening.
If you can’t seem to clear your mind while you try to lull yourself to sleep, then softly recount any joyful moments in your day. If you have a lot on your mind, try journaling. Get your thoughts out of your mind and onto the page.
When we dream, we take all the information we’ve learned and start to collide it with new information. The brain begins to seek out and test new connections and novel associations. It’s like creative alchemy. You wake up the following day with a revised mind capable of imagining incredible solutions to previously impossible problems.
Entrepreneurs often talk about the “hustler mentality,” which can be misinterpreted.
Working long hours does not equate to higher productivity and certainly does not correspond with creativity. We all know that rest is essential to a healthy balanced life, but it is also crucial for the mind to develop new ideas and efficiently solve problems. Purposefully incorporate one or more types of rest into your life to be creative and productive more frequently.
