Inspiration only reveals itself after perspiration.
Creativity: How to Unlock Your Hidden Creative Genius
This page pulls together my most essential information about creativity. I’ll share how creativity works, how to find your hidden creative genius, and how to create meaningful work by learning how to make creative thinking a habit. I’ve tried to present the basics of everything you need to know to start mastering creativity, even if you don’t have much time.
At the end of this page, you’ll find a complete list of all the articles I have written on creativity.
What is Creativity?
Let’s define creativity.
The creative process is the act of making new connections between old ideas or recognizing relationships between concepts. Creative thinking is not about generating something new from a blank slate, but rather about taking what is already present and combining those bits and pieces in a way that has not been done previously.
While being creative isn’t easy, nearly all great ideas follow a similar creative process. In 1940, an advertising executive named James Webb Young published a short guide titled, A Technique for Producing Ideas.
Young believed the process of creative connection always occurred in five steps.
The Creative Process
- Gather new material. At first, you learn. During this stage you focus on 1) learning specific material directly related to your task and 2) learning general material by becoming fascinated with a wide range of concepts.
- Thoroughly work over the materials in your mind. During this stage, you examine what you have learned by looking at the facts from different angles and experimenting with fitting various ideas together.
- Step away from the problem. Next, you put the problem completely out of your mind and go do something else that excites you and energizes you.
- Let your idea return to you. At some point, but only after you have stopped thinking about it, your idea will come back to you with a flash of insight and renewed energy.
- Shape and develop your idea based on feedback. For any idea to succeed, you must release it out into the world, submit it to criticism, and adapt it as needed.
While we often think of creativity as an event or as a natural skill that some people have and some don’t, research1actually suggests that both creativity and non-creativity are learned.
According to psychology professor Barbara Kerr, “approximately 22 percent of the variance [in creativity] is due to the influence of genes.” This discovery was made by studying the differences in creative thinking between sets of twins.2All of this to say, claiming that “I’m just not the creative type” is a pretty weak excuse for avoiding creative thinking. Certainly, some people are primed to be more creative than others. However, nearly every person is born with some level of creative skill and the majority of our creative thinking abilities are trainable.
How to get inspired: 15 ideas to help you reach your potential
Inspiration is something that happens to you, rather than something you do — and trying to chase it is exhausting. Although hitting roadblocks is a normal part of creative thinking, the process can demotivate you and make you feel like you’ll never find new ideas.
While you can’t force inspiration to strike, you can foster creativity and put yourself in situations that encourage ideas, build enthusiasm, and help you think outside the box.
Whether you’re chasing inspiration at work or in your personal life, here’s how to get inspired.
How inspiration works
The definition of inspiration is the process of finding new ideas. The very origin of the word, the Latin inspirare (“to breathe or blow into”), carries the sense that you can’t control or contain inspiration, like wind or air.
Inspiration connects to more creative concepts, like motivation, ambition, and artistry. When comparing motivation versus inspiration, think of them as an effect and a cause: motivation happens after you feel inspired and want to put your idea into action.
Although inspiration can be hard to pin down, studies have shown that the human brain goes through a specific process when inspiration strikes.
They’ve found that inspiration comes from an interplay between two brain networks: the default network (the pattern of neurons that activates when you daydream or let your mind wander) and the executive network (the network that governs high-level conscious tasks).
Creative ideas come more easily when those two networks interact. This means that inspiration works both by focusing your attention and letting your imagination run wild.
Scientists also know that there are two types of triggers for inspiration: intrapsychic and environmental.
Intrapsychic triggers are connections between two ideas that are already in your head. When chemist August Kekulé discovered the structure of the benzene ring (a chemical compound in crude oil) by dreaming about a snake that was eating its own tail, he was working with an intrapsychic trigger. The inspiration was already within him.
Environmental triggers are things you notice that connect with something you already know. The apple that hit Isaac Newton on the head (or at least landed nearby) and the traditional folktales that inspired Tchaikovsky to compose Swan Lake are examples of environmental triggers.
There’s no tried-and-true way to find inspiration, but this background can help you be more strategic in your search. Try balancing passive attention (the default network) with active noticing (the executive network) and then looking for internal and external triggers. It might take some practice, so below are some ways to start.
15 simple ways to get inspired
Many creative people are famous for their odd ways of finding inspiration. Poet Friedrich Schiller kept rotten apples in his desk drawer and smelled them when he needed ideas. Colette started her workday by plucking fleas off her cat. And writer Dame Edith Sitwell liked to lie inside an open coffin before getting down to work.
Inspiration is notoriously elusive, so it’s no wonder people chase after it in eccentric ways. But you don’t have to go to extremes. Here are 15 things you can try out when your creative juices have run dry.
1. Keep an idea book or maintain an inspiration board
Inspiration might not come all at once. You could experience tiny flashes that, over time, turn into something more substantial. With an idea book or a vision board, you can keep track of these puzzle pieces and use them to find purpose and inspiration later on.
If you like working with words, create an idea book where you can write down ideas as they come to you. Children’s author Roald Dahl was famous for his idea books: he jotted down his ideas and then ticked them off as he turned them into stories.
If you’re a more visual person, take images, quotes, and objects that inspire you and turn them into a vision board. The vision board can then act as an external trigger that reminds you of what you’re working toward.
2. Do a low-effort creative task
Doodling can trigger important insights and support a stronger memory. Some people find that getting their mental wheels turning with a mundane task like doodling leads them toward inspiration. Journaling and free-writing — writing stream-of-consciousness style about anything that comes to mind — can also prompt insights that turn into creative ideas.
3. Create a routine
Composer Erik Satie described his morning routine in Memoirs of an Amnesiac: “I rise at 7:18; am inspired from 10:23 to 11:47.” While most of us can’t call on inspiration that reliably, it helps to have a consistent daily routine. Regular habits help you concentrate and stay focused on finding ideas.
Consider developing a ritual around tidying your desk before you begin work or start your day by reading over something you did the day before. A regular activity like this can signal your brain that it’s time to come up with ideas.
4. Learn something new
Activities like learning a new language can prompt neuroplasticity, the ability of your brain to grow new neurons and create new connections. Learning a completely new skill takes you out of your mental comfort zone and primes your brain to find new ideas. Even just reading a book you’ve never read before could spark inspiration.
5. Find a new location
Routines can help, but they don’t work for everyone. Sometimes doing the same thing day in, day out puts you in a rut.
Try taking a different route on your commute, work in a coffee shop instead of your home office, or walk around an area you’re unfamiliar with. Putting yourself in a new location or starting a conversation with someone new are great ways to seek inspiration from your environment.
6. Let your mind wander
Doing a focused, slow activity can quiet distractions and let your imagination take control without sitting and staring at a blank page. You could try knitting, meditation, or anything else that makes you feel relaxed.
7. Go to sleep
Many people go to sleep and wake up inspired. Author Hilary Mantel, for example, woke up with some words in her head that became the first sentence of her Booker Prize-winning novel Wolf Hall.
While most sleep rejuvenates your brain, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is especially good at prompting inspiration. Alternating between REM and non-REM sleep helps your brain reshape neural networks, making you more likely to think up ideas when you wake up.
8. Spend time in nature
Spending even a small amount of time outside can get you into a more open, receptive headspace. And nature has inspired a long line of artists and inventors.
As well as providing a rich source of environmental triggers for inspiration, researchers have found that spending time in nature improves cognitive flexibility, setting you up to make more connections between ideas.
9. Exercise
You don’t necessarily have to work out to experience these benefits. Walking counts as valuable exercise.
10. Cultivate mindfulness
You encounter thousands of events, decisions, and objects in everyday life — but if you don’t notice them, they can’t trigger inspiration. Practicing mindfulness helps you pay closer attention to ordinary events and find environmental triggers for inspiration.
Many inventors and entrepreneurs become successful by noticing what’s not in the environment, rather than what is, and finding ways to fill the gap.
11. Play and laugh
Spending some of your free time with children or working to heal your inner child can bring inspiration closer to the surface. Your creativity wanes as you age, and children are experts in play, which is all about experimenting and opening up new possibilities. Looking at the world through open eyes can be a powerful source of creative inspiration.
Humor and laughter can also lead to inspiration by reducing stress and increasing creativity. Experts recommend using humor at work to generate ideas and create an environment that fosters innovation.
12. Appreciate other people’s work
Engaging with high-quality content — creative or otherwise — from people who inspire you can open up new possibilities and make you feel more motivated. Feel free to stray outside your field: looking at visual artworks can inspire better creative writing, for example.
Copying others’ work is also a good way to start thinking of your own ideas. Research shows that copying work by others can relax your brain and open up different perspectives, especially if it’s in an unfamiliar style.
13. Find a role model
Finding a role model who represents what you’d like to achieve can be surprisingly powerful, as it allows you to identify with an actual person rather than a disembodied idea. Whether it’s a famous person, a family member, or a mentor, pick someone whose achievements feel attainable so you can picture yourself reaching the same heights as them.
14. Collaborate and build community
If you’ve ever been in a successful brainstorming session, you’ll know that inspiration sometimes comes more easily when you can build your team’s ideas. In many cases, collaboration sparks inspiration, especially if you’re in a group where you feel a strong sense of belonging.
Try talking through your ideas with the people around you and listening to the perspectives they offer. If you’re a senior employee or business owner, talk to workers on the ground. They’ve likely noticed things you haven’t.
15. Change your mindset
To root out things that might be blocking positive emotions, try building your self-esteem and letting go of self-criticism and perfectionism. It’s easier said than done, but going easy on yourself can give you the space you need to think of new ideas.
