Spring Clean Your Creativity

Do you clean your house when spring arrives? Why not clean your creativity too?  Spring is the optimal time to revisit and tidy up all aspects of your creativity and creative practice from your physical to your mental and psychic spaces.

After a long winter, our creativity may be stuck in the doldrums. I know for me, winter is a hibernation and incubation time. It’s the time where most of my creative ideas are formed and shaped. Spring is the time I make them bloom.

Here some tips to spring clean your creativity:

Physical space: This is the first place I start. I believe that creativity thrives with a blank canvas. Begin by clearing the the clutter. Remove everything from your work space, and I mean everything. Wipe down the surface with a damp cloth.

Now that you have a clean surface, slowly add things back to it  while being mindful of what you truly need. Toss out things like dried paints or brushes or other tools that no longer work for you. Recycle any paper scraps that you don’t need. Finally, organize the rest in a way that make sense for you.

Additional ideas:

• Add some plants to your space. According to research conducted at Texas A&M University, adding potted plants and flowers to your office can significantly enhance problem-solving and creative thinking skills.

• Paint your ceiling blue. According to research out of the University of Minnesota, people in rooms with 10 foot high ceilings were found to have more abstract thoughts than those, who focused more on specific details, in 8 foot high ceiling rooms.

Mental space: Next work on your mental space. Sit in a quiet place and reflect on the creative ideas that are filling your mind at this moment. Yes, I realize there might be a lot.

Take out pen, crayon or pencil and paper – or voice record app and get them all out. You can list them, mind map them or whatever method works for you. Capture all your current project ideas and inspiration. Next assign deadlines to them. These can be to finish them the next day or the next year, but whatever they are, mark them in your calendar.

Additional ideas:

• Here are some questions to ask yourself for a creative check-in.  I’ve created a better technique for setting creative goals that doesn’t only have to be done at the beginning of the year.

• Create a visioning collage to inspire you. Take all those project ideas and inspiration and create a visual reminder to keep you motivated throughout the year.

Psychic space: Finish up cleaning your creativity by revisiting the love letter you wrote to your creativity. Remind yourself that you ARE creative.

Often as creators, we let ourselves believe that we are not good enough to create. That’s simply not true. There is no correct way to be creative. It’s a not a destination but rather a journey we are all uniquely travelling. Remove those limiting beliefs about your creativity for once and for all.

• Change your thinking on creative blocks. Understand that a creative block is not a block but rather just part of the incubation phase of the creative process.

• Get inspired and try something new. Try my top 10 Creative Cures to help you explore new ideas and techniques. Do them all or do a few. While there is no formula for sparking creativity, there are small things that can help shift your perspective.

What will you do to spring clean your creativity?