THREE WAYS TO UN LEASH CREATIVITY

3 Ways to Unleash Your Creativity
By Paul Keetch

Have you ever been under deadline to produce something - a project or report - and your mind went as blank as the computer screen or paper staring back up at you?
If you answered, 'Yes,' you are not alone. Each day people just like you are faced with the very same challenge - how to stimulate creativity under a deadline, when nothing seems to be coming up naturally. You want to come up with something really innovative, whether it is a project for work or home, or just something you're doing "for the fun of it", but you've hit a creative wall.
You get stuck and need a breakthrough, but nothing you try seems to work. So what do you do when you seem to have run out of ideas or are low on inspiration?

Fortunately, there are a number of things that you can do to snap yourself out of your creative funk and produce at a higher level... even under pressure!
Since creativity is a form of energy, if you want to get it flowing again, a great way to make it happen is to get your own energy flowing again.
Changes in your surroundings can help stimulate your senses and enhance your ability to generate fresh ideas. Here are three quick and easy - yet highly effective - ways to get yourself moving and unleash your blocked creativity:

1.Get Moving
Grab your iPod and go for a run or a fast walk around the block. This combination of change in scenery, physical exertion and your favourite music will help you displace your previous mindset and generate an increase in endorphins in your body, making you feel better both physically and mentally.

2.Get Silly
If you're feeling overwhelmed by the demands coming at you from many different directions, try working on the floor. Once you sit down on the floor, you can spread your work out around you. You'll soon start thinking about how silly you look. What will other people say when they walk past you desk and see you?



3.Change Perspective
Simply finding a different point of view throughout your day can get the ball rolling. Regardless of where you live or work, you are bound to find another workspace you have yet to utilize.

Coffee shops, libraries, diners, hotel lobbies, hospital cafeterias, even a park bench are all perfect places to claim as your new "spot." As long as it's relatively quiet, your new surroundings can lead to new ideas you wouldn't have thought otherwise.
Ask the waitress, or the bell boy or someone with no connection to your project to look your work over and then talk about it with you. It is amazing how often people can come up with good ideas when they bounce ideas off of someone who is innovative, non-judgmental, and enthusiastic.

Your Action Step

We all experience these moments in our lives when we are expected to deliver on something but can't seem to get ourselves all the way there. Even if you're not currently stuck on something, your Action Step is to get out of your cubicle, office or home and try unleashing your creativity using one or more of these tactics.