10 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Creativity

Ever took VIA Institute’s 24 Character Strengths Survey? If yes, which Character Strength is your number one based on the results? Did Creativity make it to your Top 5 list?

We may hear statements saying that creativity trait is inherent and that it can only be possessed by those who are already great with art, music, and writing. While we do often associate creative people having skills that relate to beauty, imagination, and aesthetics, truth is, creativity is more than that. And individuals have the ability to be creative in a myriad of ways (not just limited to producing mind blowing art, composing music, or weaving stories).

Thinking of boosting your creativity even though it isn’t your best strength right now? Well, of course, you can! According to research, creativity can be developed in anyone (Neumann, 2007), so don’t let anyone stop you from doing otherwise (yes, including yourself).

What is Creativity?

In a nutshell, creativity is the ability to produce something valuable and original. According to University of California, Davis’ Psychologist Dean Keith Simonton, Ph.D., “You can’t be creative unless you come up with something that hasn’t been done before. The idea also has to work, or be adaptive or be functional in some way; it has to meet some criteria of usefulness.”

Based on VIA’s Character Strengths, Creativity has two significant components and these are Originality and Adaptiveness. But here’s a note though: originality is not enough as the product or idea must also be adaptable or useful.

How to Boost Creativity

Creativity is for everyone, it’s just a matter of fostering it, let’s check out these science-backed ways of boosting creativity (and no, unless you’re a savant, it does take time).

Surround Yourself with Motivational and Inspirational Things

Your yoga or meditation teacher will tell you that – if you feel you’re stuck, try to create or go to a stimulating environment to help you feel inspired. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, environments play a significant role to help you in your creative process.

Walk

Yes, walk! Instead of sitting at your desk all day trying to come up with new ideas, start doing daily walks, and see where your ideas take you. In S.M. O’Mara’s book, “In Praise of Walking”, he mentioned that “minds in motion, we think more creatively”. Plus, with our moods improved, our creative muscle starts to activate. Hello, fresh concepts!

Practice Active Thinking

Not kidding, it goes the same way as learning a new skill – you need to practice! Creativity isn’t something magical that just appears all of a sudden, you need to enhance it by dedicating some time to think actively. How? Well, try dedicating some time unplugging your devices and staying away from getting a social media overdose (may be difficult at first, I know, but you’ll eventually realize the benefits of it ) – instead, schedule daily brainstorming sessions or get mindfulness training online.

Spend Time to Relax

When was the last time that you felt truly relaxed? According to a study, when you’re in a state of relaxation, it enhances your thought processes that are significant for creativity. Some suggested ways to promote relaxation is through yoga, meditation training, and diaphragmatic breathing. The latter having been associated with improved attention which is a key component in creative problem solving (Ma et al., 2017). So after reading this blog, take a breather.

Keep a Journal

What do you do when an awesome idea pops out of nowhere? Write it down in a journal! Who knows, those ideas may not be that useful as of now but possibly in the future, yes? And once they have been more “developed” and you can fully commit to them (like a plot of a story for example), it will be easier for you to extract the full concept and not just fragments of it.

Brainstorm Ideas with Like-Minded People

In a paper by Uzzi and Spiro (2005), they mentioned that “creativity is not only, as myth tells, the brash work of loners, but also the consequence of a social system of actors that amplify or stifle one another’s creativity.” So if you think you need to collaborate your ideas with a friend or co-worker or just about anyone who you believe will understand you, do so! Who knows, it might just be the only step that’s keeping you from completing a project or an unfinished idea.

Set Limitations or Restrictions

Not everyone may know this but setting restrictions or limits can also boost creativity and innovation. Some examples would be setting a time limit or other unusual constraints like Dr. Seuss who was challenged (actually, it was a bet) to create a children’s book using 50 different words. And what did the beloved author conjure? Green Eggs and Ham (1960).

Use the Color Blue

In a study conducted by the University of British Columbia, findings showed that blue is the ultimate color for individuals to think outside the box and become more creative. “The benign cues make people feel safe about being creative and exploratory. Not surprisingly it is people’s favourite colour,” says Juliet Zhu, author of the study. And oh, if you want to enhance your attention-to-detail ability, pick red.

Get Some Sleep

Yes, even sleep is crucial for boosting creativity. Penny Lewis and her colleagues from Cardiff University formed a new theory linking creativity and sleep, which construes that both REM and non-REM are significant for creativity. While non-REM sleep elicits ideas, the REM one would connect them. “The obvious implication is that if you’re working on a difficult problem, allow yourself enough nights of sleep. Particularly if you’re trying to work on something that requires thinking outside the box, maybe don’t do it in too much of a rush,” says Lewis.

Change Your Surroundings

It doesn’t need to be grandiose changes as even the smallest of changes (like changing the plant on display on your desk or reorganizing some stuff in your home office) can already help increase creativity and productivity.

Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research explains, “New ideas arise from an interconnection of old ideas. So that means, at the very least, you have to be exposed to a novel stimulus. It gets you thinking thoughts and combinations that you’ve never experienced before. It’s those interconnections among different ideas. That’s where new ideas come from. And your environment helps to create those interconnections. And the good news is, to some extent, we all can control our surroundings.”