One Big Strategy to Tapping into Your Creative Genius
Are you ready to tap into your creative genius and get more writing done? Would you like to sit down to write and be rewarded with a fountain of ideas that never runs dry?
Many writers, especially aspiring writers, are afraid they’re not creative enough to write a novel. They think that if they were meant to write, they’d have ideas coming out of their ears and that they’d be able to write easily and effortlessly. The writing would flow. And the ideas would keep coming in one after another.
Because of this belief, many of these writers don’t even try. Or they do try it out, discover it’s a lot harder than they thought, and then give it up.
If a writer thinks he’s not creative enough, he may be right. But he’s only taking into account his current abilities. He may not feel creative today, but if he devotes time to it, he’ll start to feel differently.
The thing is, creativity can be developed.
When we nurture our creativity, we tend to have more of it. But when we find ourselves getting comfortable and we start to ignore it, that fountain often dries up. This is especially true if we haven’t written a thing in years or we haven’t given ourselves time to daydream and think about things other than the day-to-day activities that run our lives in today’s world.
The good news is, it’s easy to replenish our fountain of ideas.
Here one big strategy to tapping into your creative genius…
In order to build creativity, we need to work on replenishing the well. The more effort we put into replenishing the well, the more ideas we’ll have. They may not be good ideas, but if we keep working on it, eventually we’ll stumble upon some good ones.
See, the creative cortex is the part of the brain that allows us to have fun and be creative when we write. When we’re gung-ho about a story, we have some ideas about how the story should go, and we can’t wait to get it written… that’s when the creative cortex is in the driver’s seat. But then the limbic system takes over and protects us from whatever danger it thinks we’re in. That’s when we start looking for ways to avoid writing. We get up for another cup of coffee or we grab the phone and send a text to a friend. Or worse, we get up from the chair to do laundry.
When the limbic system is in charge, feeling creative and being productive is nearly impossible. But when we allow our creative cortex the free reign to explore ideas, we’re doing our best to keep our fountain of writing ideas full.
We need to keep the creative cortex in the driver’s seat by training our brains that writing isn’t a dangerous activity. There’s nothing to fear or be anxious about. We’re just writing and seeing what comes out.
When we devote time to brainstorming ideas, we get the creative juices flowing and the fountain starts to fill back up.
So, how do you brainstorm ideas?
It’s easy. Here are some quick steps…
1. Grab a pen and paper.
2. Sit at your desk or on the couch or wherever you feel comfortable.
3. Let yourself daydream.
4. Ask yourself questions (what-if scenarios are a great place to start).
5. Take notes.
This process may take some time to get used to, and the first few days or even weeks may not yield much, but stick with it. Let yourself explore ideas. Ask silly questions. Don’t worry about producing usable ideas. Just get the creative juices flowing.
Eventually, you’ll replenish your fountain of ideas and you’ll have more writing ideas than you know what to do with. The more time and effort you put into writing and brainstorming, the more creative you’ll feel.
- It’s been a long time… - February 10, 2024
- Realizations About Tracking Progress - May 28, 2020
- Goal Setting & Productivity 101 - May 25, 2020