Find Your Inner Creative Genius with 10 Exercises

1. See Through New Eyes

Unlock fresh perspectives by capturing the world from unexpected angles.

Open your mind to a whole new outlook by capturing images of everyday life from different angles. Try photographing them from unique angles, like a worm's-eye view or a bird's-eye perspective to reveal fresh dimensions of familiar sights. This exercise teaches you to spot potential inspiration in even the most ordinary spaces, transforming how you perceive your surroundings.

2. Discover the Art of Serendipity

Use random prompts to generate ideas that can lead to surprising, joyful outcomes.

Embrace the unexpected by using random prompts to kickstart new ideas. Whether flipping through a dictionary to find random words or using online generators for prompts, these unplanned surprises might lead to innovative and joyful ideas. The goal is to uncover how inspiration can come from the most surprising places when we allow ourselves to explore without a specific outcome in mind.

3. Imagine the Impossible

Challenge yourself with visualisation exercises that defy logic and gravity.

Push the boundaries of creativity by visualising scenarios that defy the laws of nature and physics. Picture yourself walking on the ceiling, trees growing upside-down, or cities floating in the sky. This mind-bending exercise strengthens your creative muscles by challenging your imagination to break free from conventional limits, opening up new avenues for fantastical and unique ideas.

4. Revisit Your Favourite Daydreams

Explore the creative potential in those cherished daydreams you keep returning to.

Dive into your most cherished daydreams, the ones you find yourself returning to again and again. Use these familiar musings as inspiration for new creations. You might write a short story, sketch a scene, or map out a world inspired by these thoughts. This practice allows you to honour and expand on your inner visions, nurturing the unique images and ideas that make up your creative core.

5. Bring Inspiration into Focus

Create a personal inspiration board that visually represents your unique vision.

Assemble a personal inspiration board, gathering images, colours, and words that capture your current creative energy. The board should reflect your unique aesthetic vision, giving you a powerful visual reminder of what drives you creatively. Display it in your workspace to keep motivation high and to serve as a compass for your creative journey.

6. Reimagine Ordinary Spaces

Practice seeing your surroundings with fresh eyes to spark instant inspiration.

Transform the way you view your surroundings by using them as a creative playground. Picture how your bedroom, a park, or a street corner could become something fantastical. Perhaps a magical forest or a mysterious secret hideout. This exercise helps you realize that any space can be a catalyst for creativity when seen through an imaginative lens.

7. Express Emotion Through Colour

Experiment with colour palettes to find moods and emotions you didn’t know you had.

Dive into a world of colour by creating palettes that reflect different emotions and moods. Gather colours that represent joy, nostalgia, mystery, or serenity, and combine them in unique ways. This exercise not only strengthens your sense of colour harmony, but also teaches you how to convey complex emotions visually, which can be a powerful tool in any creative medium.

8. Shift Reality with Music

Let music guide a creative flow session that opens up new emotional landscapes.

Allow music to transport you to new emotional landscapes by playing tracks that resonate deeply with you. As you listen, try jotting down images, colours, or scenes that come to mind. Let the rhythm and melody guide your thoughts, allowing you to explore and create from a place of instinct and emotion. Music can act as a gateway, enabling you to connect with parts of your creativity that are harder to access through words alone.

9. Map Out a Journey of the Mind

Craft a mental map that leads to unexplored destinations of the imagination.

Create a mental map that represents an imaginative journey. This could be a “road map” of your thoughts, or a “treasure map” of ideas you want to explore. Allow each point on the map to signify a step in the process, a new discovery, or even a challenge to overcome. This exercise allows you to chart your creativity as a landscape you can revisit and develop over time.

10. Manifest Your Inner World

Translate your thoughts and emotions into a visual or written expression.

Capture your thoughts and emotions by translating them into art or writing. You might paint a landscape that reflects your current mindset or write a stream-of-consciousness journal entry that embodies your thoughts. This practice helps you externalize your inner world, providing a tangible representation of your feelings and creative spirit.

5 Simple Exercises to Find Your Inner Creative Genius

A short video with 5 fun ways to spark your creativity.