How to Increase Creativity: Produce, Structure, Emulate, Ignore

One of the things that brings me the most happiness is creativity.

Even though my life feels completely overwhelming at times — juggling young children, getting woken at night, enforcing school work, etc. — I still make time to write / podcast / work on my businesses because I achieve flow and it’s just plain fun to play with ideas.

The primary way I enjoy creating is by writing. To me, writing is like a big puzzle. You have a jumble of ideas that you hope to convey in a logical way. Each idea builds on the previous one. When I figure out the correct pattern, I get immense satisfaction. And sometimes I don’t even know where the story is going until it leaves my fingertips (like this morning).

Here are some tips I’ve discovered for revving up your creativity:

1.) Creativity begets creativity: One key way I come up with ideas is by actually participating in the work. For example, I generate ideas for blog posts by actually writing blog posts. Oftentimes tangents want to drift in to a post. If they don’t fit perfectly, I put them on a google doc of ideas to tackle later. The physical act of writing stimulates my brain to generate a lot of ideas. Taming these ideas unleashes others for the future.

2.) Get organized: I have many google docs on my phone so whenever a story idea pops into my brain, I stop what I’m doing, rush to my phone and add it to the list. Or I text myself the thought. Ideas are crucial to my work and I never want to lose them. For example, this morning I pulled up a draft of a potential blog post, saw notes, but couldn’t remember what I planned to write. (I should’ve made more notes!) Also, as I read through the lists of ideas for my blog / podcast / businesses, they can spark other ideas.

Ideas are gold, so keep track of them.

3.) Emulate: I love reading and some of the best books I’ve read on creativity lately are the Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron, and Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert.

The Artist’s Way inspired me to write morning pages, a 3-page handwritten brain dump of all the random things in my head, ideally right after I get up. I find writing by hand to be valuable because it helps me slow down, and I enjoy the way my vibrantly colored Pentel RSVP pens run across high quality journal paper. Also, studies show the act of physically writing something down on paper, rather than typing on a keyboard, aids memory retention.

The Artist’s Way also helped me give myself permission to go on Artist’s dates, solo trips to a variety of settings that inspire one’s inner Artist. Lately for me it’s been the woods, art galleries, nurseries and the ocean. This is important because my free time is so limited that the Asian immigrant mentality in me wants to produce and be practical. The Artist’s Way has taught me that creativity is valuable and it’s important to nurture my inner Artist. It also gave me permission spend money on art supplies, like fancy paper and brush pens for my fledgling hand lettering hobby.

I enjoyed Big Magic because the author, who wrote the iconic best seller Eat, Pray, Love, shares that she never expected to make it big. The author writes purely for the sake of writing. I was raised with a classic achiever mentality so I find my self worth is very much tied to accolades. Big Magic gave me the permission to spend time creating, potentially without a huge payout beyond the psychic benefits of helping others (and myself).

Despite the lack of recognition, Elizabeth Gilbert says, just do the work. Don’t worry about the outcome. That is very freeing because I can take creative risks without worrying about a paycheck. (I support my creative projects through my other business endeavors.)

4.) Create Structure: I like to use my mornings to write blog posts and work on the podcast. Depending on the day, I can wake up around 6a and squeeze in around two hours of journaling, Bible and book reading, podcast listening while walking, and writing before the kids wake up.

5.) Don’t focus too much on what other people are doing: After I joined Instagram this Christmas, I eagerly started following a lot of mental health professionals and podcasters so I could keep track of their work and be inspired. While it’s generally encouraging, I must admit it can be intimidating to witness the quality and volume of output from others in my space. Sometimes I start comparing myself with them, wondering if my work is original or deep enough.

I’ve decided to remedy this by only being on Instagram in short spurts, like 15 minutes twice a day. I also try my best not to compare. The creative world is big enough for us all, and everyone has a unique voice (so I try to remind myself!) No one has the exact same story or perspective to share, yet we overlap enough that our experiences will resonate. Every single voice is valuable, so go ahead and share yours!

How do you like to create? And what are your top tips for creativity?