How to Engineer Creativity if You’re Not Really Creative Like That
Weird but effective hacks to engineer creativity in everyday life
In today’s job climate, it pays to be creative. Whether you are a project manager at a startup, a math teacher at a high school, or a journalist for The New York Times, creativity can help enhance your performance on the job.
Some people are naturally more creative than others. For those of us in which creative thinking doesn’t come naturally, here are some ways to exercise your creative muscle in everyday life.
Make Micro Changes to Your Routine
Making small changes to a routine can force the brain to become more comfortable with unfamiliarity. Finding comfort in uncertainty can take time but is nonetheless an essential part of the creative process.
The key is to not make drastic changes to your routine. Drastic can feel jarring, induce anxiety and create a constant state of chaos. However, slight unfamiliarity does the trick. It’s when you can strike a combination of familiar and slightly unfamiliar that you are able to tie the nodes together to discover creative outlets.
Here are some examples. If you’re a cook, try making a vegetarian version of a dish that you like. You may be surprised to find that using mushrooms in your recipe tastes better than the original that uses beef! Similarly, if you are someone who drives to the gym every morning, try replacing your transportation with a bicycle. Slight changes like these can train your brain to feel more comfortable with the unfamiliar and can make you more open to taking risks.
Remove One of Your Five Senses for a Week
Vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell — these are the five senses that most of us are born with. Intentionally removing one of these for a whole week might change your perspective on life. Because senses are fundamental parts of our everyday lives, it’s hard to imagine life without even just one of them. Experiencing this lack could change something within you.
Again, while a constant state of chaos and anxiety can hinder creativity long-term, experiencing slight changes and unfamiliarity (in the form of moderate inconvenience for a period of time, in this case) might make you more creative. Losing one of your five senses will most likely foster creativity in this way:
discomfort → empathy toward those who are born without or lost this sense → acceptance of your new normal state → creativity toward how to effectively adjust to a new normal state
The most impactful creative thoughts often come from lack, not abundance.
Accept (and Learn to Appreciate) the Lemons
I once knew a lawyer who quit his job to start a health food business. His reason? “I was extremely stressed and angry in my role and felt completely unfulfilled. My health was failing and I knew I had to do something about it.”
A writer friend of mine recently complained that her creative ability had diminished since getting married and having kids. When asked why, her response was, “When I was single and living alone in a small studio in New York City, I was miserable. But something about my misery helped me to tap into the most creative aspects of my brain. My writing was poetic. My words were so vivid. Now that I’m married and happy, it’s hard to tap into that side of my brain.” Wild.
The moral of the story is not to quit your job or to get a divorce. Instead, the moral here is that seemingly unfortunate situations can sometimes pave the way for creative thinking in the most unexpected ways.
Conclusion
There can be unique ways to engineer creativity even if you are not a naturally creative person. If you ever feel stuck and are in need of creative inspiration, try one of these three hacks!
Thank you for reading! Feel free to visit my website at https://www.ayaspencer.com to learn more about my work.
