1 Make a Mess, and Fill it with Mistakes

Perfectionism is a creativity-killer. Perfection itself is—gasp—impossible. It’s impossible for fear to coexist with freedom. We need freedom to create.

So give yourself permission to make a mess. Write badly. Draw without skill. Paint the wrong color. You may be surprised to find the wrong color is actually the right color, or that mess of veggies and flour made the best zucchini bread you’ve ever tasted.

The actual dining room. Sponge painted with bold, dark colors.

Let me tell you a story. Years and years ago my husband and I were personalizing our first home, gradually imprinting the bland beige walls with our own color picks and personality. I’d had great success painting the lower half of the nursery walls with a soft purple, layered with a subdued sponge technique of blue and red. It looked like cotton candy and had a softness, perfect for a nursery. I got bolder with the dining room. I chose dark brown, pumpkin, and a deep red and created a look that received compliments for years.

I had a vision for the upstairs bathroom: stark white trim, cobalt blue walls rag rolled with ...black. I had misgivings. This technique would take a lot of time, it could go badly wrong, but I had to try. The outcome

Ummm...

That mistake (oh, what a mistake!) led to more work, true, but the soft gray we ended up with was a color I never would have contemplated otherwise. Mistakes are inevitable. The real issue isn’t whether you’ll make mistakes (you will). The real question is, will you let fear of mistakes keep you from beginning at all.

2 Set Small Assignments

You may be surprised by how quickly a few tiny changes add up to big results. A popular outcome of making Big Plans is accomplishing nothing. It’s called resistance.

“A popular outcome of making Big Plans is accomplishing nothing. It’s called resistance.”

Do you want a more creative home? Don’t make it your goal to repaint every room. You’re likely to give up before you start. Instead set a small assignment: Declutter a table. Add a vase of flowers. Paint an accent wall or hang some artwork.

The same goes for creating art. Don’t set out to write the next great novel. Instead, write a scene or a poem—something you can do in one sitting.

Want to be more creative in the kitchen? Instead of shooting for a week of new recipes, try a new entree once or twice in a week to serve with favorite sides.

3 Ask: What If...?

What if I planted nothing but edible greens in that pot? What if I moved the desk to the other side of the room? What if…?

Writers have been using this trick for eons. It’s central to our task, so vital it’s a wonder everyone doesn’t use it. So, everyone, use it!

Don’t be boxed in by what IS. Instead imagine what could be. Your what-ifs can be as small as, “What if I wore the green socks with these pants?” or as large as, “What if I went back to school for a graduate degree?”

4 Manage the Chaos

If you’re anything like me, you are constantly battling stuff. Kids’ toys, outdated electronics, paperwork, cords for those outdated electronics. So many cords. Short of learning macrame, what can we do? Every few days or weeks set a timer. Ten minutes. And sort, purge, store, put in a pile to donate. And if you’re a parent, consider setting up a Toy Rotation System. It literally changed our lives, revitalized the kids’ (waaay too many) toys, and made evening clean-up a breeze.

How can having less lead to more creativity?

Imagine how awful it would be if each of your things had a voice. You walk into the kitchen and that stack of papers is calling, “Hey, over here! You need to sign me! Get some stamps, yo! Don’t forget!” And in the living room, as you step over the doll stroller with the loose wheel, you forcibly decide to ignore it, to pass the laundry basket, weeping softly, and snap at the stack of library books to quit telling you they’re overdue…

Decision fatigue is a real thing. And if you think overstimulation is only a concern for toddlers, you’ve never tried to cook dinner after half-dozen kids have dumped their lunch bags and must-have-signed paperwork on the counter.

Your mind needs space. It needs to know where the car keys are (or at least, to not worry about where the car keys are). It needs a little bit of order in its environment if it’s going to do the heavy work of imagining.

Let your mind wander to experience TUITs (task-unrelated-internal-thoughts) and to set your creativity free!

5 Stare out the Window

Something happens when our bodies are engaged in monotonous activity. Our minds leave the task because it doesn’t require our full attention, and it goes elsewhere. How many times have you caught yourself daydreaming on a familiar drive, or mentally writing emails while stirring the risotto? (If you’ve ever made risotto, you have my serious respect.) The technical term for this is Task Unrelated Internal Thoughts (TUITs), because everything needs a technical term, right? The short version: when we’re doing something repetitive or boring, our minds go on a walk.

So wash dishes by hand, knit a scarf, take a long walk, color in a coloring book. Not only are these tasks relaxing, they can stimulate creative ideas!

6 Go Beyond Naughty and Nice

One under-utilized but amazingly effective tools is the simple list. We all do this—we make the obvious lists like movies to watch or books to read. But to truly light the fire beneath your creative kettle try some of these: list things to do with a quiet hour. What are your Dream Jobs? What superpowers do you want to have right now? In fact, I’m putting together a list of lists, so watch for it in upcoming posts!

Is there a method? Sure! Set a timer and add to your list for 90 seconds, or number a paper 1-10 and don’t stop until you have something on every line. The key is to get to a point where you’ve thought of everything, and then think of two or three things more.

7 Play!

“By removing the strain and constraints of the real world, play allows us to more openly explore possibilities in our work.” —Tanner Christensen of creativesomething.net. The type of play that ignites creative thought involves exploration, and freedom to create outside the lines. Games like Dixit and Apples to Apples are favorites in our house. Plus, try out Story Dice or Magnetic Poetry. We use both for our weekly Friday Free Writes—they’re great for inspiration or for any time you want to make new connections.

8 Give Yourself a Surprise

Do you want to know some easy ways to ignite your creativity? How easy, you ask? RIDICULOUSLY easy!

Read something, watch something, listen to something. Anything. Okay, almost anything. There’s one requirement to this exercise: it has to be something outside your usual. Are you a huge fan of Netflix Originals? Watch an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras instead. Love top-40s pop? Listen to country (for real) or stick with the 40s, as in the 1940s. Love yourself a romance novel? Switch to a SciFi. You’ll force your brain to make all sorts of new connections, which could just spark your best idea yet.

By the way, you don’t have to like your experimental song-show-book—you only have to show up for the performance!

9 Don’t Stop at the First Right Answer

I’m unabashedly stealing this from Photographer, Dewitt Jones. In the previous step, did you come up with The Perfect Solution to a pressing problem? Don’t stop thinking! Brainstorm 5-10 more possibilities, and sit with them a while, as you did above, no matter how outlandish they may seem. The first right answer is often the expected answer, whether it’s to a plot problem or what to make for dinner. It’s reasonable. It has worked before. It makes sense. But that right answer may only be the gateway to other, better and even more creative answers.

10 Habit, Not Inspiration

Creativity breeds creativity. Here’s an unpopular truth: the muse doesn’t exist. Or...maybe if she does exist, she doesn’t show up until you’re off the couch, away from the proverbial bowl of chips and elbow deep in work.

Don’t wait for inspiration, instead pick one of those Small Assignments, and DO IT. Soon you’ll develop creative muscle memory and you’ll find that idea, innovation, and action flow naturally every single day.

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