I have met so many people who believe that they don’t have any creative bone in their body! I am not going to bust their bubble. I think they’re right! So many people don’t have a single creative bone in them! Creativity is not like a bone, it’s a muscle.

“Creativity is like a muscle: the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.”

So what is creativity and why must you bother?

It’s anything that doesn’t belong
It will serve something, it always serves a purpose
It will set you free
It helps with problem-solving

That’s the end of the philosophical bit of the post. I promise!

How can you boost your creativity?

Now that you see creativity as a muscle, there are certain exercises you can do to make it stronger.

• Doodle all the time! Always carry a pen with you. At all times. And draw, write, doodle, anytime you have a thought-idea. Be creative.
• Do it now. When you have a thought-idea, don’t procrastinate. If you cannot act on it right away, at least make a note for yourself for later. Trust me, you are capable of forgetting that brilliant idea, even if it will change the course of humanity forever.
• Don’t judge your creativity. Remember that nothing is stupid. Everything you do in the name of creativity is brilliant. It is a creation and you are the creator. So be proud of it.
• Sometimes I write lyrics, sometimes I draw flowers on the corners of my pages, sometimes I simply jot down some ideas. The lyrics, the drawings, the ideas are not always great. But I do it anyway. It’s about practicing being creative.
• Always be brainstorming! If you cannot draw, or paint, or blog, or sing where you are at the moment, you can always plan. Think of the things you can do when you are in your studio, or what kind of creative projects would be fun to do with friends.
• Keep a journal. No, not about your life. This is not about logging your life one day at a time. Keep a creative journal: A place for all your creative breakthroughs! Or ugly flowers, if you draw like me. It keeps things organized and it’ll make for a fantastic entertainment when you look back and see your progress. You can even see how your ideas developed over time.
• You could even try finding a problem and come up with creative ways of solving it. Find something that annoys you every day. Somethings that I struggle with daily are: forgetting where I kept my bus pass; I can never find the right points cards at POS stations; etc. Your problems will be different. Solve them!
• Get out there and do things that you’ve never done before. Celebrate your firsts! Learn something new, try something new. Anything that puts you outside your comfort zone, causes growth.

So have fun with your creativity. I promise you that your creative intuition is unlike anybody else’s. It really is unique. You just have to strengthen it.

If my convincing wasn’t enough, you could always contact me or read some more articles:

SixRevisions.com;
WikiHow;
ASCD.org;
MindTools