What if you could get yourself ready to be creative in order to get more out of your creative time?
You can! It’s called priming.
Many people use this and it’s a great boost for your creativity.
A simple example
There was a little test made to show how this works. Two groups of people were shown logos. One group was shown the IBM logo while the other group was shown the Apple logo. Then they were given some tests to measure creativity.
Which group would you guess did better?
The Apple group. Why? Because Apple has been considered to be a creative company and if you remember,their computers were always prized by creative types that needed to do some high power design work.
This is a great example of priming, but must you use corporate logos?
Nope, there are other ways to prime yourself for creativity.
Use words
Using words in sentences that are associated with something can shift our thinking so we take on the characteristics of that associated object or idea. If you want to paint, then you might use words like “paint”, “color”,“brushes” or something along these lines. Give it a try and see if what influences you.
Use color
Blue has been shown to make people feel more creative, so surround yourself with some blue. It’s hard to know why, maybe it has something to do with the sky.
Gather Images
Look at images that you are associated with creativity.
Think of artists that you consider tobe highly creative. Look at their photos and portraits, and then move on to some of their paintings.
You aren’t looking for ideas of what to create yourself, so there is no need to spend hours sifting and surfing. Instead, it’s that creative juice inside you that you want to start flowing and all you need is the association to creativity.
Make a board
This is a combination method. Save photos, color swatches, poems, songs, words, anything that says creativity to you and put it where you can see it every day. Change things around now and then so it doesn’t just fade into the background. You want it fresh, so you notice it.
Do some simple exercises
This is really to get your brain activated for creativity. Just mark out a section of paper and doodle. Don’t think ahead what you will create, allow the doodle to develop. Try to spend at least five minutes on it.
Or you can try writing freely about something for five minutes.
Handle your materials
One last idea, that helps me sometimes. Get out your art materials or you papers, or whatever supplies you work with and just touch and appreciate them. Think of the limitless possibilities they offer you to create.
I hope some of these help you get that creative edge!
