How to boost your creativity (during the craziest year. ever.)

It’s 2020, and the aliens will be here any day now. (I mean, just kidding…sort of, but this is the kind of horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad year that feels like anything apocalyptic is possible.)

Fast-spreading pandemic? Check. Secret police throwing people into unmarked vans? Check. Murder hornets? So low on our priority list that they barely made the news. 

For those of us who rely on our creativity to keep our jobs, this is all especially bad news because in addition to every other scary, horrible thing going on, many of our creative wells are bone dry. Our fairy godmothers of inspiration have fled the coop. The thing that pays the bills is out to lunch—for months.

So, what’s a marketer or other creative person to do? How do we dig deeper, summon back our muses, and then make our way through the inspiration tundra that is 2020? 

We have a few suggestions:

First, feel your feels

No, seriously. Stop right here and give yourself permission to feel all the absolute suckage of 2020. Part of the reason it’s so hard to be creative in a crisis is that most of us aren’t taking the time to acknowledge all that anxiety, fear, and grief. Because yes, most of us are feeling grief.

And I’m not just talking about the loss of human life. You can also feel grief over rescheduling your wedding, missing graduation, or being separated from loved ones. You can feel grief over lost opportunities, missed vacations, and uncertain income.

We may—as a culture—think that grief is only the domain of those who’ve had a loved one pass away. But the truth is that grief is a response to loss—any loss. And giving yourself the time, space, and permission to mourn is a vital part of both accepting the situation and heal.

In fact, in psychology, there’s a special term for the type of grief that isn’t acknowledged: disenfranchised grief. This includes things like infertility, the death of your beloved dog, eviction, getting cut off from your family, or losing your job. Right now, the world is bursting with this specific grief—the grief we honestly don’t know how to acknowledge.

So, give yourself some time to mourn. Acknowledge your grief, your fear, your worry. Because the more we try to just brush past those things on our way to productivity, the less productive we really are.

Take care of your body

Oh, you thought this post was going to be about work strategies and tech tools? Nope! Surprise!  Creativity comes from you—and if you aren’t doing well, your creativity isn’t either. Full stop. 

You can throw all the tools in the world at your brain, and if your brain is short-circuiting on stress and lack of sleep and constant panic, those tools are going to do a whole bunch of nothing.

I’m not your mom or your doctor, so I won’t wiggle my finger at you and tell you to get more sleep or to finish all your broccoli…damn it, Joan. But I can tell you that science says sleep boosts creativity. I can tell you that studies link creativity and the food we eat. And I can tell you that I believe most of us know our own bodies pretty well—and you probably already know what you need—be it more smoothies, an earlier bedtime, or a deal with yourself to eat a handful of broccoli before you drown your sorrows in that pint of Ben & Jerry’s (this is a valid strategy; don’t @ me).  

So consider this a reminder that your body and mind matter. They’re what’s fueling all that creativity. And right now, they probably need more attention than usual, which makes it a good time to start making whatever small changes you know your body is asking you for…

Build your creativity habit

A study in the Creativity Research Journal found that there are four skill sets that enhance creativity—and they’re all things you can slowly build into your day-to-day life.

In said study, they found that:

“Eight months [into the study], the employees had increased their rate of new idea generation by 55%—a feat that led to more than $600,000 in new revenue and a savings of about $3.5 million through innovative cost reductions.”

So, what are these creativity-boosting skills?

The first is simple: take note of your ideas throughout the day. Carry a notebook, speak them into a voice recording app, or make sure to capture your ideas whenever they come—be it in a board meeting, on a walk, or while chopping veggies for dinner.

The second skill is to seek out challenging tasks. We don’t just mean menial work tasks. We mean this: put your mind to seemingly impossible challenges. How can you drop an egg off a three-story building without cracking it? How would you try and teach your dog sign language? Pick questions or topics that interest you and find mind-bending questions within those topics to give your brain some exercise.

The third suggestion in that compelling study is to broaden your knowledge. At work, it’s easy (and often valuable) to become highly specialized. But our brains are more creative if they’ve got a lot of different material to work with.

One of our writers is particularly passionate about this approach. She spends her days writing about marketing and tech, but while she’s having lunch or walking the dog or standing in a long line at the post office, you can find her reading, watching, and listening to books, podcasts, documentaries, and lectures on everything from crow funerals to people who faked their own deaths to the dancing plagues.

Finally, surround yourself with interesting things and people. This one’s harder during a pandemic, since it calls for things like exploring different museums, taking walks in new neighborhoods, and spending time with a variety of people. But there are lots of normally-in-person experiences moving online right now, so you don’t have to totally ignore this one. Virtual museum tours, online cooking classes with an Italian nonna, and Zoom book clubs are calling.

Ask for help

Finally, if your creativity has flown the coop for a bit, that’s okay. Creativity and stress don’t coexist well and 2020 is nothing but a big ol’ stressfest. Even as you work to lower your stress, get better sleep, and build creative habits, since right now you might need a little extra help. A little more brainstorm support. A few other people with ideas.

If that’s the case, it’s what we’re here for. In fact, it’s what we live for! Let us take some of the burden and make you the hero. Reach out anytime.