Build Your Creative Muscle

Everyone has a creative muscle. When I hear someone say, “I’m not creative,” whether I know them well or not, I feel compelled to challenge their negative declaration. It’s not true. I firmly believe that we are created (not accidents), and created beings must be made by a Creative. Creative potential is embedded in human DNA.

We employ our creative muscle every day, some far more than others. Whether it’s finding a way to explain something to a child, winning someone to your point of view, or solving a problem, strengthening our creative muscle will contribute to experiencing and creating a full and enriching life.

It’s common to relegate creativity to specific fields like fine arts, technology, architecture, advertising, and graphic design. But all of us need creativity to solve problems. Creativity adds depth and fascination to our relationships.

Expanding Creativity is a Challenge

It’s tempting to let others and devices do our thinking for us. When we lean on outside brain power (GPS while driving, listening to hours of talking heads on TV, scrolling through mind-numbing social media feeds, and even worse, using AI tools like ChatGPT), we weaken our creativity muscle.?

Creativity Helps you sell your ideas?

Presenting your product or service in a different light or a fresh way will make it pop in peoples’ minds. In an increasing flood of content and the threat of AI doing our thinking for us, working our creative muscle is more important than ever!

Innovation Requires Creativity

Innovation takes things already in existence and finds new ways to connect them to solve a problem or create an entirely fresh approach.

A great creativity tool for inspiring innovation is joining opposites.?

In my teaching days as an art teacher for elementary through high school, I would have students combine opposites to engage their creative brains.?

I would first have them think of a machine they used. Then I asked them to imagine their favorite animal. Next, they were to draw a picture of the two objects together to make an “animachine.”

In this activity, there were no rules, just fun. Giraffes can become toasters, and whales can drive a class of children on a field trip. No matter their age, from 5 to 17, they freely expressed their creative genius and enjoyed sharing their creations with the class.

Prime Your Creative Brain

Springboarding creativity isn’t difficult. The objective of springboarding tools that will flex your creative muscle is to do the unexpected with your brain. Have you heard of employing “muscle confusion” in a workout to nudge your body beyond a plateau??

Here are 12 ways off the top of my head that you can use to jumpstart your creative muscle in under 5 minutes.

Set your timer for 5 minutes:

1. Look at your desk or room with fresh eyes and change/move one thing.
2. Do a web search on a random topic.
3. Observe an object and write down at least 20 things you notice about it. (you’ll be astounded at what you’ll discover!)
4. Look out a window until you see something new
5. Go to your bookshelf. (Rember how much you used to read!) Find a book you enjoyed and let it flood your memory.
6. Get up, stretch every muscle, and move every joint, including your fingers and toes!
7. Pray. Breathe. Express gratitude for five things
8. Reflect on a good memory that comes to your mind and text someone close to share it.
9. Drink a refreshing glass of water.
10. Play with your pet, or hug someone you love.
11. Do 30 jumping jacks or something to get your heart rate up.
12. Get a dopamine dump by completing a small task, especially one that’s been nagging at you.

Believe that there is a fresh flow of creativity in your mind and that you are doing what you need to find it!?

More Time for Creative Brain Blasters? Here are 12 More:

If you have over five minutes, here are more ways to get your creative mind flowing.

1. Sing in the shower; try belting out a song from your childhood.
2. Change the venue: go to a coffee shop or library with a bag of snacks.
3. Take a gratitude walk and see how long you can think of new things for which to be thankful.
4. Skip the drive-thru and go inside to order your coffee or take-out. Smile and talk with a human.
5. Write a letter to thank someone who inspired or supported you.
6. Clean out a junk drawer.
7. Open a box of crayons, soak up the fragrance of paper and wax, and draw a picture using the “wrong colors.” (EX. purple for tree trunk)

8.?Get lost. Let yourself drive without GPS until you don’t know where you are.

9.?Learn a new “dad joke” and share it with someone who’ll appreciate it.

???Son: “I ate 5 cans of alphabet soup last night!”

Mom: “That’s a lot of soup!”

???Son: “Yeah, and at first, it made me consonant-pated. But then I had a great vowel movement!”

10. Imagine doing a tremendously dangerous activity: write a paragraph about what it would feel like to have accomplished it and what others would say about you.

11. Write down what you would do if you had one extra hour every day: 365 hours/year or 15.2 additional days each year

12. Problem-solving switch-up: Write down your problem in a simple sentence. Do an internet search for the same problem in a different industry. Web designer? Search your issue: “How to solve design flaws in chemical engineering.” You’d be amazed at how it gives you a fresh perspective!?

Identity Creative’s Go-To Brainstorming Tools

When we need to meet a deadline and spark creativity for a project, it’s common to default to old ways and limit our creativity.?

In our office, some of us battle ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), which can be both our enemy of productivity and our greatest creative tool!?

Beating procrastination with “Deadline Mode” used to be Bill’s favorite creativity tool. When he started teaching future creatives at Lawrence Tech University in 2005, he pushed back on that bad habit and developed new ways to spur creativity to inspire his students.

Default Creative Tool: Procrastination

Deadline Mode is funny here, but relying on it is risky, and it doesn’t produce our best work.

Some of our favorite creative-thinking springboard techniques are found in these tried and true books:?

The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy, Tom Monahan

? -180-Degree Thinking: Takes your mind to the unexpected

?-100 Mile per Hour Thinking: Forces your mind to push past the common

? - Ask the Question Early: Gives your subconscious mind time to go to work!

A Whack On The Side Of The Head, by Roger von Oech, Ph.D.

? - Word Association Lists: Soft/Hard, Smart/Stupid, Safe/Risky

? - Ask “What if?” and suspend all rules and assumptions

POP: Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anything

Brainstorm with your brand words:

? - Repurpose common phrases: rearrange them with your brand words

? - ABCs: Run through the alphabet

? - Alliterations: Ex: I believe better brands become best in breed!

Most of what we do is routine and habit. Creativity tools are simply those ways of diverting our thought patterns.?When we are flowing with new thoughts, ideas have a place to roam and grow!?

Fire the Inner Critic, Relax, and Don’t Try Too Hard!

Creativity is a journey; we arrive at it at different points throughout the day and in our lives. The fastest way to squelch creativity is to permit negative thoughts to invade your space.

Allowing discouraging thoughts to run through your mind is like taking a hose and spraying water on your perfectly heated coals right before you put your food on the grill. Resist discouragement and step away from negative thoughts.?

For me, half the battle is recognizing that negativity is lurking in the background of my thinking! Being intentional about my thought life is a part of my spiritual walk. In a letter from Paul to the Philippian church (Phil 4:8), he encourages them: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

A fast turnaround to negative thinking is making a change in the moment. Take time to note the positive change and growth you’ve made. Write them down and keep the list nearby. Growth is often slow, and if you have a dominant inner critic, celebrations of incremental change come too far and infrequent.

Stay curious. Smile. Right now, just smile.?

Who cares if no one‘s around or if everyone’s looking? Smiles and laughter are a beautiful way to pump the well of creativity.

Please share your tips and tools for building and flexing your creative muscle in the comments. Thanks for reading; let's live with creative joy!