Running out of ideas? Any creative artist, entrepreneur or writer experience days with no inspiration and total lack of creative ideas.
I usually experience them when I am stressed or burned out. I myself need help so I came up with my own 18 list to boost creativity, reboot and give it a continuous flow.
1. Meditate. I do this first thing in the morning. I used to wake up with a lot of worries and anxiety for the day. Meditation clears those out and gives me an empty mind to start the day creatively especially when I would want to write something.
There’s a lot of meditation app out there to guide you. You can do it anytime even before sleep whenever is convenient.
2. Read current events. There are three websites I read, reddit.com, Flipboard and local news. In Flipboard, there are categories you can choose from like technology. Try it if say you are an innovator and want to be stimulated with latest innovation across the globe.
3. Browse YouTube. To save time, instead of reading stuff related to projects that require creativity, I try to play YouTube videos related to my subject so I can listen/watch it while showering. It can be instructional, motivational or an inspiration.
4. Stimulate Emotion. Find the thing that stimulate your emotion. It can be daydreaming to feel happy, or reminiscing from your worst heartbreak. Songwriters I feel do this to be able have a sense emotional memory and write songs out of the experience.
Write a journal so you can easily recall the memory vividly.
5. Exercise. This is obvious. It produces endorphins and make you relax to clear your mind. To me, running is the best exercise.
6. Listen to Audiobook and/or Podcasts. I do this every time I exercise. Instead of listening to music, I listen to audiobook and podcasts.
I have been crafting ideas for my company by listening to these. Currently I listen to Principles by Ray Dalio audiobook and The School of Greatness by Lewis Howes.
7. Subscribe to Writing Prompts. There are a lot of writing prompts you can subscribe from in the Internet. In my case, I see Tumblr notifications from different blogs that post writing prompts.
8. Change routines. I change routines almost every month. For example, there are times that I exercise in the morning and change it to night time every now and then. With this, I see another perspective and experience something new that stimulates idea generation.
9. Read life stories. My motivation to start business 18 years ago was when I was reading the story of Larry Ellison of Oracle. Then everything was history…
10. Research to solve life challenges. Instead of complaining about issues and problems, try to solve them by being an expert on the subject. Research and study. You can make a blog out of it right after.
11. Be romantically involved. This I think is one of the great boosters of creativity. You can create an art, music and anything when you are either in love or heart broken.
12. Learn a skill. Right now I am taking an online course about acting. I learn a lot of things, from doing a monologue, carving out words that inspires me to think of innovative ways in projecting myself during customer engagements and social interactions.
13. Explore new apps. Everytime I browse new apps, I can think of new creative ways about life. For example, downloading a new app about fitness makes me try a new workout routine. Downloading a new app about productivity makes me try new ways of managing my time, projects and errands.
14. Explore places and travel. I remember when I was sitting down in front of Eiffel Tower in Paris for about an hour in a cold winter night. Also when I was walking in the NY streets during snow listening to an audiobook. It gave me a lot of insights and realizations about work and life.
15. People watching. People always are an inspiration. Watching people from afar in a coffee shop, inspires me. Observing their style, how they walk and talk, and imagining what they are into stimulates creative thinking.
16. Be curious. Ask the what ifs, how tos and, contradictions and predictions.
17. Do small things and errands. Cutting my nails, throwing/catching a tennis ball against the wall, or cleaning the sink are surefire activities to do when I am looking for a Eureka moment.
18. Browse for inspiration. From a movie, art, music, books…its endless.