Enhance Your Creativity

Ink Spray Journal Map

Ever lose your drive when you're writing or working on a project? The following 5 strategies work well to put you back in gear...

1. Classical music enhances creativity and intellectual pursuits.  Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart work well to keep you focused so that you achieve a state of effortless concentration and enjoyment or "flow."  Try playing any of the following when you approach your creative project today:

• St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach
• Nisi Dominus by Vivaldi
• Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach
• Rondo in A by Mozart
• Piano concertos nos. 20, 21, 23, 24 by Mozart
• The Four Seasons by Vivaldi
• Canon in D Major by Pachelbel
• Violin Sonata no. 5 in F Major, op. 24 "The Spring" by Beethoven

2.   5 Tips Past a Creative Rut  Ever try mediation by doing something else as Lori McNee suggests?  Here's how to start...

• Stop waiting for inspiration to strike.  As the old saying goes, "A watched pot never boils."
• Pick something monotonous to do like mowing the lawn or washing the dishes.  Your brain will keep working on an inspiration, like a pot cooking stew on the back burner.
• Once your mind starts to wander, you'll be surprised how quickly it will start generating ideas.
• The trick is to record the ideas as soon as they pop up, so you don't forget them.

I like to keep 3 x 5 cards and a pen in my pocket so I don't lose sight of new insights.  What's your tactic?

3. Romance Your Creativity The creative process is very much like a relationship, the Idea Champions remind us.  "And like most relationships, it usually begins with fascination -- that curious state of mind that keeps you spellbound, charmed, and aroused." But we all know that soon wears off. What then?

If you are serious about your current hot idea, be willing to get closer to it. Be willing to go from the romance stage to an intimate relationship.

Understand what the creative process is -- an impossible-to-deny encounter with yourself -- your fears, your power, your vision, and what drives you to play the game of life.

Above all, do whatever it takes to put the elation back into your relationship to creativity.

I'm in, are you?

4.  Stop Multitasking  "Have your technology tools begun to manage you?" Myra While asks.  If you're constantly multitasking, you are deluding yourself because the brain literally focuses on one thing at a time.  Can you take focus away from driving for more than a moment?  The reason is that your brain bottlenecks.  And...

Constantly switching between even small tasks creates brain overload. Studies in which people's brains are scanned while multi-tasking clearly show that switching between tasks consumes a large portion of the brain's processing capacity.

5. Leverage Your Creative Fears Fears are actually something we *create,* Marianne Mullen says. Knowing that fear never goes away, you can truly learn to leverage your fear, and she provides seven steps to to just that. 

• Name it
• Own it
• Disprove it
• Claim it
• Act on it
• Acknowledge it
• Repeat it - Make a strong commitment to your creativity and trust in yourself that taking risks can only create more confidence and that you ARE getting stronger than your fears.

To see the details for each one, awaken your creativity by leveraging it or work these out in your way.

Once I published 12 Sparks for Heads-Up Creativity, on Forbes' Mind Makeover, I could not let go of my project.  Ever have that happen?  Would you be willing to share a strategy to "fire up" your creativity?  If so, provide the details or a link where I can find it.

Ink Spray Journal Map by Joanna Paterson.