Eat a healthier diet, go to the gym more often, or spend less money: We’re all familiar with these – the numerous resolutions for each new year. But which goals did you set for your creativity at the beginning of 2019? Read our tips now to improve your creative performance.
#1 Expand your skills.
This is one of the most popular solutions for creative people! Acquiring a new skill is beneficial and rewarding on many levels. Not only will you become a more versatile and competitive creator, you will also challenge your brain!
Learning new skills thickens your myelin (the biomembrane that surrounds your nerve cells) and creates better connections between areas of expertise.
In addition, gaining new knowledge is one of the best ways to use your free time, invest in your future, and make your creative life more exciting.
Online, you can find countless possibilities ranging from courses and workshops to a full-blown creative degree. All you need is the initial motivation to get started!
We have chosen some links to some great education platforms for you to review:
#2 Leave your comfort zone.
Have you left your comfort zone? Then step out a little further! Maybe you've just created a new and wider comfort zone, but now it's time to step out again.
Alasdair White has his very own definition of "comfort zone.” He describes it as a "state of behavior in which a person acts in an anxiety-neutral space and uses limited behavior to deliver a consistent level of performance – without a sense of risk."
Your task now is to research, explore, learn, and gain new insights to eventually broaden your horizons and integrate the magical unknown into your comfort zone.
Simple presentation, big impact: "Threadless" from theCreative resources blog.
#3 Increase your productivity.
Productivity is defined as the effectiveness of production performance, or formula: Output - Input = Productivity.
All well and good, but how do you quickly change your productivity? We have collected some approaches for you that will encourage you to get started:
Reorganize yourself.
Funny, but still important - bring order to your chaos.
Unfinished projects, overloaded processes, ideas that are stuck: these things can result in very low productivity. Try reorganizing yourself for a fresh start with clear goals and planned tasks. It is immensely important to have finished with the past and present in order to focus on future projects. Next:
Focus on yourself.
Too high a stress level is unproductive. We recommend that you plan your day so that you only do your priority tasks.
Learn to say NO – to others and to yourself. In addition to a to-do list, you should also keep an emergency to-do list that reminds you of the limits of your activities and gets you back on track. Try it out!
Bring distance between yourself and your computer.
Of course, you don't have to be that strict, but a little computer-free time won't hurt you.
It is important that you increase your mental and physical energy. For this, it is important to actually move away from the flickering screen. Ideally, you spend 20% of the time you need on a project without digital influences. Discuss your ideas, draw on your notepad, or take a long walk with your dog. Your creative batteries will recharge quickly.
By the way, this is also a hot tip to prevent creative blocks!
#4 Improve your work-life balance.
Work-life balance is becoming one of the most valuable benefits in the workplace. For Millennials, it's actually one of the most important, even beyond salary or promotion expectations.
Achieving a healthy work-life balance will have a big impact on many aspects of your life, including your health, your creativity, and your productivity. Avoid burn-outs and keep the tension and sharpness at work by paying equal attention to your social and personal development as well as your professional goals.
Paulo Catumba is sure: "A balanced life requires a lot of time for personal freedom.
Work and career – both dimensions go hand-in-hand. So professional and creative achievements can (and should!) bring you happiness and fulfillment in your personal life.
In the same way, a healthy and exciting personal and social life is the perfect foundation for professional excellence. Therefore, pay as much attention to your social and personal development as to your professional goals.
#5 Share your knowledge.
You are a creative genius – you must share that! In return, creative karma will come to you, because we all learn from other people's inputs and processes.
In order to increase creativity within a working group, there are some creativity techniques that have proven themselves.
Sharing and cooperation is part of our human nature. So grab a camera and tell us exactly how you did this amazing piece of work. Or write an article that explains your latest workflow discovery that takes your productivity to a new level. Or share this amazing color palette app you found – you’ll make the world a better place.
Online, you'll find some sites where you can share your knowledge and skills and win new ones. Make something of it!
Now it's your turn.
Did you like our suggestions? Did you like a particular method? Then utilize it and take your creativity to a new level!
