How Can I be More Creative

Unlocking Creative Potential

Creativity is a skill that can be developed and a process that can be learned. It has to begin with a foundation of knowledge, learning a discipline and mastering a positive constructive way of thinking.  You can learn to be creative by exploring, questioning assumptions, experimenting and using a lot of imagination. Like any other learning, creativity needs regular frequent practice to develop and it also needs a supportive environment in which to flourish.

One particular major influence that I firmly believe in using to improve creativity is Mother Nature. We are part of her and we belong to her. Mother Nature has a fantastic ability to evoke a creative way of thinking by making us more curious about her beauty, harmony and perfect balance.

Here is a study, The Impact of Nature on Creativity, which explains how nature can enhance our creativity.

We live a very fast-moving, busy and constantly changing life. Our brains are so very busy trying to keep up, process and analyse the vast amounts of information we are constantly bombarded with daily, almost every second – thanks to mobile phones and social media. We actually do not have time to think creatively – mental fatigue.

One of the best ways to combat this pattern is to actually remove yourself from your own everyday routine even for short periods of time.

Spending time in nature inspires a sense of awe. The feeling that the world is so much bigger than you can comprehend leads to expansive thinking. This allows us to consider different perspectives and can lead to innovative ideas.

• Nature can relieve stress
• Nature can relieve mental fatigue
• Nature can restore attention and boost positive emotions
• Nature can help overcome creative blocks
• Best of all, Nature can make you feel happier and more alive

Deep observation (or slow look) and an open mind can help enhance our creativity while spending time in nature.

Slow looking is a museum-originated practice, but it also has great importance in learning and educational environments, which can be applied not only to visual arts but also literature, science and everyday life.

I have written a blog post including further information about “slow looking”. Please have a look at How Can I Learn To Actually See Abstract Art.

It is a well-known fact that nature provides us with an awakened desire to explore, it frees the imagination and does not force thoughts in a specific direction. There seems to be a link between being in nature and walking. People, going out in the natural environment, tend to walk which, in a way, stimulates the generation of ideas and increases the mood.

You do not need to go too far to find inspiration and new ideas.  Just a short walk to the park observing and admiring the simple magic of nature can boost your creativity.

There is no doubt that all types of art provide us with a great opportunity to train our minds to become more creative. Abstract art and non-representational art allow further potential to let our imagination loose and then judge the result. Creativity does not like restrictions and that is exactly the beauty of non-representational art.

Creative ways to be more creative in art

There are several ways to develop and build your creativity in art. I will focus on one method that taught me a great deal about creativity in art.

Practice Developing Art Creativity

Let me tell you a little true story about my experience in developing art creativity. Many years ago, I was fascinated with photography. I spent a great deal of time taking photos with my favourite two Nikon SLR cameras.

Initially, I was taking pictures of almost anything and everything. But later I decided I wanted to be more focused on creative photography. So I started to take dozens of black and white photos of the same subject from different angles at different times of the day.

I, then, examined every single photo paying attention to several elements of light values, texture quality and the overall composition. This is focused learning and was one of the most valuable exercises that helped me to develop creativity.

The takeaway from this story is:

• Focus your mind on learning as much as you can about your subject.
• The second point is to put your learning practice into practical application exercises. In doing so, you may come across several mistakes. The key here is to learn from mistakes.

Learning from mistakes

How do you learn from mistakes? Mistakes are not always bad things. We all make mistakes, however, mistakes can be opportunities to learn from:

• Focus your mind on achieving your goal.
• Analyse and find out the reasons things went wrong.
• Think of other things that may help you to do a better task, e.g. tools, knowledge, skills, etc.
• Repeat the task and analyse the result.

Learning from mistakes can actually help us to develop our knowledge and ourselves.

Think outside the box

Thinking outside the box is thinking differently and thinking in innovative ways. Thinking outside the box needs a great deal of brainstorming ideas. Thinking positively and avoiding negative thoughts, such as “I can’t do this” or “I can’t solve the issue”. Rather, come up with things and ideas you can do and try.

Change habits and positively use your imagination. Keep sight of striving to achieve your goal. It can be helpful to do things outside your comfort zone and push yourself into learning and exploring new ideas.

Another helpful way to think outside the box is to widen your social network with creative people. People inspire people.

Thinking outside the box is a skill we all can learn.

I hope this article has added some answers to the questions of how can I be more creative and what is creativity.