5 Creativity Exercises to Keep You Sharp
Creativity exercises to keep you sharp, all while working from home.
Creativity exercises offer various excellent benefits for both individuals and teams. So if you’re feeling zapped or creatively stuck, put in practice some of our below activities and watch your mind explode with creative thinking.
So how do these creativity exercises help?
They will improve flexible thinking – Basically, you can think outside of the box.
They empower you to explore completely new interpretations of repeated problems.
You will find yourself better equipped to welcome business challenges
Some will further develop your creative imagination, letting you see objects, ideas and issues in a diverse way.
It will cultivate teamwork, communication, problem-solving and unity.
Unleash your ideas with one of these five creativity exercises
Write Freely
One of the simplest yet useful tools available to anyone seeking creativity is freewriting.
Each morning or afternoon schedule in a few minutes to write in a stream of consciousness. Freewriting is when you write whatever comes to mind consistently without stopping. It is a great way to discover some of your unconscious ideas, which could lead to creative solutions to work hurdles.
Remember: When you start freewriting, it is vital never to pause or edit your writing as you do it.
Start Storyboarding
Storyboarding is an incredibly useful creative exercise for discovering new ideas or improving your existing processes. Rather than writing out the steps of the system, this time draw each step in a series of small, rectangular boxes or circles in a linear order.
How this will help: You might discover an excellent new stage in the process that you hadn’t considered. Once laid out visually, the illustrative nature provides a clear step-by-step description of the thinking behind an approach from beginning to end.
Read
One of the creativity exercises which is often overlooked is reading. Head to your local bookstore or library and explore a section completely unrelated to your work or the books you usually read. Pick a book and read it to see what new knowledge you can discover. Learning of disciplines that are different from your own can introduce you to new ways of fulfilling your work.
Science note: It’s understood that becoming engrossed in a novel enhances connectivity in the brain and improves brain function.
Play music
A variety of background sounds, like listening to music, will allow you to Mind-Wander – this helps activate the imagination. Intentionally playing happy music in your workspace can accelerate creativity. Use the time to write down any ideas or thoughts that come to mind. Explore those ideas to see if you can apply any to your work challenges.
Remember: The key is that the music needs to have a strong emotional impact and a catchy beat. It is best to listen to your favourite music or songs without lyrics.
Six thinking hats
De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats is a powerful creative technique for looking at decision making from different points of view. You can do this by yourself or as a team. The idea is to review your idea, problem or roadblock, each “hat” maintains their assigned perspective:
- Logic: The logic hat embodies the facts related to the product or idea.
- Optimism: The optimism hat signifies the opportunities for the product or idea with no barriers.
- Judgment: The judgment hat approaches the challenges or problems with the product or idea by studying the opposite point of view.
- Emotion: The emotion hat embodies the feelings and thoughts connected with the project or idea.
- Creativity: The creativity hat offers new ideas or possibilities for the idea or product.
- Management: The management hat leads the discussion and makes sure the team serves all viewpoints.
