If you work in a corporation or an agency in the West, there’s a good chance you’ll be taking the next couple of weeks off work to celebrate, catch up with friends and family and relax.
Here are a few ideas to give your creativity a little boost while you’re away from your desk.
Go for walks
Fresh air and greenery are great for creativity – to allow new ideas to bubble up to the top of your mind and give you fresh perspectives on existing challenges. So even if you can only manage a 10-minute stroll, get your walking boots on and go and blast the cobwebs away. Keep your head up while you’re walking, and you’ll give your eyes a break from the screen too – allowing them to focus on something further away than your laptop.
Do something completely different
If you don’t normally like schmaltz, watch the Knight Before Christmas on Netflix. If you wouldn’t normally read philosophy – or an airport blockbuster – give them a go. If you normally like reading from paper, try Audible. Check out some outdoor sculpture – or an exhibition. Give your brain something new to chew over – and you may be rewarded with new ideas bubbling up in your mind.
Laugh
Have fun, run around, play silly board games, joke and give yourself a laugh. There’s a common belief that creativity is something that soul-seeking, tortured artists do in solitude. But psychologists believe that laughter is a powerful way to get creativity flowing. So make sure you let your hair down this holiday.
Do something creative for creativity’s sake
If you’re used to creating things to order, try creating things just for fun. If you normally write for clients, take half an hour to do a creative writing exercise. If you normally design on screen, pick up some paper and a pen and sketch something by hand. Try a craft or pick up your SLR and take some nice piccies.
Do nothing
Rushing, feeling the pressure of time and filling up every spare moment with social media and reading can cause stress. And this results in hormones like cortisol chugging around your veins and making it hard for you relax enough to think new things. Of course, you can force half-decent ideas out when you really need to. But research suggests that doing nothing is one of the best ways to boost your creative superpowers. And besides, it’s fun to daydream and let ideas pop up and take you by surprise. So take the time for a decadent daytime nap – or just zone out while everyone else is watching the Queen’s speech. Relax and see what happens.
As always, if you’d like to talk to us about creativity, give us a call. Have a great break – and we’ll see you again in 2020.