CREATIVE EXERCISE #1: Get bored
As we have discovered, you can help yourself become more creative. One of doing so is by getting bored. At the end of this article we have an exercise for you to get those creative sparks flowing.
We live in a society where we are working from task to task and by the time work is over, private life kicks in and it starts over again. Getting dinner ready, putting the kids in bath, bedtime stories and getting them in bed. Then excausted as we are we jump on the couch and binge some Netflix series. You mind is constantly busy with doing tasks, processing work and chores and they hardly get time to wander.
Creativity comes from letting your mind wander more often. There are also some tricks to do this and to increase the potential of your creativity.
First, you need to find the time for your mind to wander. Build some time in your schedule daily or weekly to look out the window and just “be”. Let your mind flow and experience your surroundings. Do not be afraid of nothingness but embrace it and let your mind flow from one idea to another. Do not guide it, do not force it. Just let it go. And if you feel the urge to deepen a though, a great idea, a spark, do so.
Second, if you feel you need to increase the creative sparks there is a way to do so. According to studies you can do this by doing a very boring task followed by an creative exercise like daydreaming.
It seems that reading phone numbers out loud is a particularly boring task. Doing that for 15 minutes and then doing your daydreaming or problem solving seems to significantly increase your creative power as this study shows.
So it seems that being a bored panda is not such a bad idea. I mean think about it, where and when have you had your best inspiration? For me? The shower, the toilet and on vacation. So it seems this is a signal we are not allowing our minds to wander off enough.
EXERSICE #1: GET BORED
Here we go, let’s get bored even today! How do we get bored?
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Easy: Go outside, find a nice spot with not to much distraction and just sit and let your mind wander.
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Hard: Lie on the floor of the room you are currently in and stare at the ceiling, wander away.
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Leave me a comment below with your experience of this exercise.
