Be a creative sponge.

To get more ideas absorb everything around you.

The sights. The sounds. The experiences.

Be wide eyed and amazed at everything as if you were a child seeing them for the first time.

Don't grow up, it's a trap.

Take it all in.

Your brain will store it and be invigorated by the new.

It helps if you’re not walking the same path, stopping to get the same coffee, at the same time, seeing the same store fronts and the same familiar faces every morning.

Change your routines to discover new things and have new thoughts.

As you wander or simply walk to your destination stop and write ideas, notes, make scribbles often. None of them need to be ‘right’, just keep a creative flow going.

If you're stuck indoors for reasons beyond your control and need stimuli to keep your brain fed then start a number of Pinterest boards under different topics, including obscure ones and ones you may not have thought of exploring, and scour the web or Pinterest itself for some fresh ideas. This is something I only recommend doing if you are in fact stuck inside as I am a big proponent of getting away from the computer, but at least this is a back up plan for times such as these. But don't allow this method to become the norm.

The more you see, hear, and encounter the more your brain will trigger fresh thoughts.

What you do every day effects how your brain thinks.

If you sit in a blue cubicle five days a week, surrounded by that same blue, eating the same things you do for lunch, taking your lunch break at exactly the same time, getting the same coffee, checking the same websites, and basically allowing every day to blend into the next then you are not doing yourself any favors.

It's quite easy to change behaviors, very easy in fact. If you give yourself a 30 day mission to change how you do so many things you'll be amazed, if you stick to it for the full 30 days that is, how easy it is to get out of routines and do things differently. It's not easy at first, but it is not impossible.

Struggling to find ideas is often our own faults, we get into routines and forget to feed the beast sitting atop us all. Think of your brain like that hungry plant in the film Little Shop of Horrors - 'Feed me, Seymour, feed me'.

Be kind to your mind and let it soak up the new, unseen, and unheard every day. It will reward you in the end.

Rodd

I'm a Creative Director / Writer / Strategist / Thinker and a bit more. I work with clients/brands directly and with agencies and production companies. I also teach creative thinking and idea generation to groups and individuals. You can read more of my LinkedIn musings here. You can also find me on Twitter,  Instagram and on Facebook. Or drop me an email – [email protected]

Words (aside from credited quotes) Copyright Rodd Chant 2018

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