Creativity is our birthright - but can often be hidden in the everyday. So here are tips you can take to resurrect, refresh and enhance your creative faculties.

1. Look after yourself.

Sleep well, eat well, meditate. Do what you enjoy and do it more often (if it is life enhancing). Creativity is reduced when our senses are dulled.

2. Do something different.

We do so much on auto - the route we take to work, the newspaper we read. Vary one element of your regular routine for a while. Take a different route to work, read a different newspaper.

3. Be curious about the world around you.

See the area in which you work/live as a tourist. How would you explore it if you were a tourist.

4. Read a book on something you thought you had no interest in.

...and see if you can create interest whilst reading it. No topic is boring or uninteresting if it is enthusiastically and creatively presented. You know what you like - or you like what you know.

5. Do something childlike.

...and you don't have to have the children there as an excuse to do it. Sit/play on swings, paint pictures - have fun. Children are incredibly creative and as adults we could learn a lot from how they create their world.

6. Have quiet time every day.

Not to do anything, but just to clear and refresh your mind. We are human beings not doings. There are times when our crowded schedule and minds don't allow space and time for the creative to be welcomed in. Einstein liked to go sailing in the afternoons after working in the morning. Okay, most of us don't have this opportunity, but you get the point.

7. Ask what-if questions.

Just for fun and see where the answer takes you. What if that building could talk, what would it say, who has it seen, what were they doing.

8. Forget assumptions.

...about the people we work with (especially if we don't like them!). Try treating someone you don't particularly like as if you liked them. What would you say and how would you react towards them.

9. Write and/or storyboard your life.

...as if it were a script you had to sell to a film company.

10. Talk to people you routinely ignore or dismiss.

Imagine their lives from their point of view; they often have viewpoints which you may never have considered before.

About the Submitter
This piece was originally submitted by Julie Plenty, Creator of the KickStart Your Self-Esteem coaching programme, Personal and Business Coach, who can be reached at newlife@creatingplenty.com, or visited on the web. Julie Plenty wants you to know: Julie Plenty is a Personal and Business Coach who coaches people from the creative industries to greater personal, business and career achievement. She also helps them raise their level of self-esteem and improve their creativity.
Copyright 97, 98, 99, 00, 2001 CoachVille