How to Squeeze Out Creative Juice

My sister used to complain that because she’s been writing professionally (what can I say, our family looooves writing), she neither had enough time nor enough creativity left to pursue more personal projects such as her poetry and her short story writings. That is until she learned enough exercises on how to get those creative gears working again. Come to think of it, how can one actually generate much needed creativity juice either for work or for personal pursuits?

According to my sis:

Expose yourself to the arts (err… that doesn’t sound right). What I mean is, go to art exhibits and look at paintings. You don’t have to be an Arts Studies major to appreciate beauty. Watch arts films (I heard European art films are must see’s… I wonder why). Go to clubs where indie bands play. Get yourself cultured! Just absorb the sights and sounds. You might pick some sort of inspiration in the process.

Read! It doesn’t matter if the subject matter is intellectually stimulating; learn! The more stuff you get to know, the more your mind is introduced to many different possibilities.

Try something new everyday. Eat a new dish. Wear something you haven’t worn before. Enroll in a course totally different from your field. Go jump off a cliff with a safety harness, if you’ve been meaning to do so. The idea here is to let these new experiences broaden your perspective.

Focus on a creative activity everyday. My sister practices on her electric bass guitar at least 30 minutes a day in the afternoon. Sometimes, even in the middle of work and she gets distracted, she simply takes the acoustic guitar and strums a song or two and then get back to work.

Think outside the box. Do not deny the eccentric genius in you.

Add a little discipline as well. Sis remembers a creative writing professor telling her class that a writer should not write as the mood strikes. Whatever your creative outlet is, set a few minutes or an hour each day where you just write, or paint, or play music. They don’t have to be concrete projects. They may start out as doodles and scratch material but in the end, they might turn out to be a great opus!