Creativity begets Creativity

I have been writing recently about various ways to spark or spur creativity in yourself. I have become fascinated with the idea of creativity and its broad meaning and applications. Innovation is a creative pursuit, as is all art and most successful entrepreneurship. In fact, creativity may well be the basis of a new, emerging economy. Despite your feelings on our information economy transitioning into an innovation economy, the fact remains that creativity is often hiding in plain site and even more often is a valuable and necessary tool (regardless of the task).

The great news is that creativity very often (almost always) begets creativity. That is to say that being creative makes you more creative. I think this happens in two primary ways. First, like anything else, practicing creativity makes you better at being creative. Call it strengthening your creativity muscle, flexing your brain, or just learning from experience – fact is, it works. In addition to that though, creativity holds a special quality: It’s based on ideas and inspiration. Exposing yourself to new things helps to generate ideas and provide inspiration. Therefor, creating new things is a virtuous cycle (because by definition, creating something new exposes you to something new). Even better, the things you create do not have to be related in any way to help create new ideas and generate new inspirations. Concocting a new dish in the kitchen can help foster a new idea for your blog, finger-painting can create inspiration for a new business, etc…

In that spirit, I have created a list of 25 creative endeavors that you can use, right now, to flex your creativity muscles and hopefully spark some new ideas and spur some grand inspirations:

1. Finger-paint (get messy – try painting with toes, limbs or your entire body for extra points)
2. Draw a picture in crayon (markers are cool too)
3. Paint with stencils
4. Re-create a famous painting with stick figures (no skill required!)
5. Translate one of your favorite books to a new language
6. Make something out of papier-mâché (piñatas are obvious but fun)
7. Play with Legos (forget the instructions)
8. Sketch your workspace
9. Trace the view out of your window, on your window (wet erase)
10. Make an inspirational quote-picture, or a funny meme-picture (GIMP)
11. Edit yourself into a famous photograph (GIMP works here too!)
12. Make a scrap book
13. Make a photo album
14. Take some pictures
15. Record a video
16. Edit a home movie (you can use stills, just add music)
17. Build a mobile from stuff you can find around you
18. Paint your coffee mug (be safe with paint selection)
19. Make a new pencil, pen, brush or other tool holder
20. Make a stapler cozy (or a tablet sleeve)
21. Make yourself a funny hat (wear it!)
22. Make a box (get creative with it)
23. Build a tree-house (maybe one you can work in)
24. Make a tire swing (more tires = more fun)
25. Invent something (identify a problem, brainstorm solutions)

That should get you started, but don’t stop there; like I said, any creative endeavor will help prime you for any other. Create your own list and any time you find yourself stumped, just try one of your off the wall ideas. The more out of your comfort zone the better, the more outrageous and abnormal the better. And don’t always wait until you’re blocked, as Eleanor Roosevelt said: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” The more often you practice breaking the rules and being creative, the better you’ll be at it, and at doing it on command.

Happy creating!

(photo is of “Unity between technology and creativity”)