10 Easy Ways to Add Creativity to Your Life Today

“Look and you will find it—what is unsought will go undetected.” —Sophocles

Is creativity something you admire and value but somehow you either don’t have the energy to do something creative daily or you’re so busy with your grind that you don’t feel like you have time for it? 

For a lot of us we associate “being creative” with some kind of impressive output: a painting, a book, a play, a performance. But the truth is, being creative doesn’t have to involve a phenomenal product or even anything that others see or experience. 

Being creative can make a massive impact on your quality of life. It’s energizing. So I challenge you today to take me up on one of the following ten ways to add creativity to your day in five minutes or less. 

Challenge accepted? Ok, here we go! 

10 Ways to Add Creativity to Your Day (in 5 minutes or less):

1. Take a different route to work.

2. Google “good questions.” Pick one. Post it as your Facebook status or as an Instagram caption. Enjoy the responses and new engagement with people. 

3. Turn on some music and make up a new dance move. Name it! 

4. Rearrange the furniture in a room in your house. (Ok, how about just the items on a surface in your house. [We’ve only got 5 minutes.])

5. Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up.

6. If your office is in a big building use a new entrance and walk across a floor you don’t usually visit.

7. Wake up 15 minutes earlier and take a walk around your neighborhood. Observe sights, sounds and smells.

8. Take a picture of something that you see every day in your house that you really love. Post it on Instagram and explain what it means to you. 

9. Look for beauty throughout your day, whether it is visual, auditory or a scent. Jot those things down in a notebook or a note on your smartphone. 

10. Sign up for a class in something new to you. Paint and Sip? Tap dancing? 

Julia Cameron said it so well in her book the Artist’s Way: “By holding lightly to an attitude of gentle exploration, we can begin to lean into creative expansion. By replacing ‘No way!’ with ‘Maybe,’ we open the door to mystery and to magic.” 

If you think of yourself as a “formerly creative person” or a person who admires creativity but “isn’t creative” it’s time to reverse your thinking and embrace the creative spirit within you. You’ve got to start somewhere. So start with five minutes. Who knows what may come next. 

Let’s start today.