How to Be More Creative (my top 10 tips)

Living a creative life is an epic adventure. The world is your canvas and everything is waiting for your spin. But, like so many things, creativity is a skill that requires practice and intention.

So this is my complete guide on how to be more creative.

I’m a musician, artist and blogger who loves to travel and make short film projects. And this post shares my top advice for becoming more artistic in your life.

Because the truth is, everything and anything can be art. So let’s wrap up this intro.

Let’s get into it.

Table of Contents Show

What Is Creativity? (meaning + examples)

There’s an intuitive understanding of creativity – but what about a technical definition? Let’s start there.

I think both Walia (2019) and Berry and Harvey (2023) offer some solid insights.

According to them (and my own take on things), creativity is the creative act itself and the process of making something unique and useful.

Of course, “usefulness” is open for debate and doesn't just refer to practicality. For example, personal fulfillment is a strong form of usefulness.

But I think this definition works well (and stands up to my own personal litmus test of things I’ve created in my own life).

So let’s look at some examples of creativity now.

Recommended: My Core Principle of Creativity

Some Examples of Creativity

Photography
Playing an instrument
Songwriting
Cooking
Designing your home
Parenting
Writing
Painting or drawing
Debating or arguing your thesis
DIY projects or crafting
Problem solving
Entrepreneurship
Fashion

Why Be More Creative? (the benefits)

Living a more creative life is full of benefits.

While there can be downsides (such as creative burnout, artistic anxiety or new feelings of imposter syndrome), it’s generally positive.

Here are some of my favorite benefits to being a creative:

It’s one of the best forms of self expression, which is healthy stuff
It’s a strong source of pride and personal fulfillment
It’s a way to build new and in-demand modern skills
Get better at problem solving
Be more adaptable and flexible
Become more competitive and expand your career opportunities
Become more curious and improve your learning speed and effectiveness
Enhance your communication
Get better at “connecting the dots”
Be more innovative in your thinking and ideation
Better manage (or reduce) stress
Improve your emotional and physical wellbeing
Improve your cognitive abilities and brain health
Have more fun and boost your sense of fulfillment
Find your “ikigai” (or purpose)

How to Be More Creative (10 awesome tips)

Ready to embrace the creative life? Epic.

Here are my top tips for becoming more creative.

1. Cultivate A Creative Mindset

Being more creative requires thinking more creatively.

It’s a way of viewing the world from a more creative POV. Because anything can be art.

Also, I believe everything in life starts and ends with your mindset. So naturally, I see this as an important part of being a modern creative.

Mindset is about your self belief and the way you see and experience the world around you. And creativity is amplified tenfold by your mindset.

A creative mindset is the belief and perspective of experiencing life through an artistic lens.

When my mindset is right, I’m more creative. But when it’s off, I’m also off.

So here’s my best advice:

Accept, expect and emotionally embrace that you are creative.

Live as a creative person. Create an alter ego. Embrace who you wish to become. Our brains are dynamic and neuroplasticity tells us we can learn any new skills.

And as H. Ford said: “...whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

2. Do More Creative Things

This next tip feels obvious, but if you want to be more creative in life, then do more creative things.

Makes sense.

I categorize creative acts into two buckets:

Actively creative stuff
Passively creative stuff

Active creativity is when you are directly involved in the creative action.

For example, painting, making music, writing, learning a new creative skill or even parenting are all examples of active creativity.

Passive creativity, on the other hand, are things that don’t require your direct involvement.

For example, going to a museum, visting an art gallery or consuming creative content are more passive in nature (but still creative).

So if you’re keen to become more creative in life, simply start doing more creative things.

Anyone can start passively.

And the more you make these things a regular part of your life, the more creative you’ll become (naturally).

3. Do More Things That Put You In Flow

Flow state is like the holy grail of creativity. Because when you’re in a state of flow, you’re more intuitive and creative.

Flow state quiets the logical, self-judging mind and embraces play and fun. Creativity thrives in this environment.

It’s when you’re so lost in the moment, you lose track of time and things like overthinking step aside. We’ve all experienced this (to some degree) at one point.

The more time you spend in flow, the more creative you’ll be.

So the trick is to be able to create a flow state, on command. You can start by simply doing more things that you enjoy (ideally, creative things).

Then, look at how you can optimize your creative time to enter a flow state more easily. For example, turning off distractions and actually scheduling in time for your creativity are helpful.

Creative flow is a sweet spot for artists. It can be fickle and sometimes absent, but flow state will always be there waiting for us.

4. Try the Quantity Over Quality Principle

Don’t get me wrong, quality is important — but it can also get in the way sometimes. That’s why I love to take advantage of the quantity over quality principle.

There’s a story that describes this strategy perfectly. You may have heard it already, but it starts with an art professor assigning a class project between two groups.

Group A was assigned with making one single pot for the semester — the best one they could make.

Group B was assigned with making as many pots as possible for the semester — good or bad.

The result?

Group B (who focused on quanity) ended up also making the most beautiful pot. Why is this?

Sometimes, when we focus on quality too much, we become less creative and experience extra pressure.

Also, creating for quantity increases practice time and the number of opportunities that one of your items will be objectively better than the others (it’s a numbers game).

Detaching yourself from expectations of what something should be (or shouldn’t be) is liberating. It’s artistic freedom.

So focus on quantity instead of trying to make something beautiful and perfect.

Set aside your quality beliefs or goals and instead focus on making stuff without a need or desire for it to be “good”.

Often, some of my best work comes when I’m not trying to do my best work.

5. Do Creative Skill Building

Creativity sometimes requires a set of creative skills. So this can be a great way to strengthen your existing skillset and become more creative.

Whatever your domain is, there’s always something new to learn. New software, tools and techniques are always available.

Creative skill building is an active way to become more creative. It’s an expansion of your technical expertise and a hands-on approach to art.

Also, if you’re serious about being more creative, skill building never really ends (like most things in life).

I’m always practicing more music production techniques, exploring new creative tools and trying to hone my travel film skills.

I’m forever a student — but I love it.

6. Lean Into Spontaneity

Spontaneity is an awesome shortcut to creativity.

This tip is about leaning into your innate spontaneity with certain things. So what things in life do you act on without thinking?

This is often a precursor to the creative flow state.

Creative spontaneity is taking action on something without thought and based on the mood of the moment.

It’s quick decision making and free-flowing action without analysis or much contemplation.

While following the whims of a wandering mind isn’t always productive or helpful, it’s great practice for finding and reaching creativity.

So take stock of the things in your life you tend to act on spontaneously. What is it about them that makes you take action without much thought?

Are these things creative? And if not, how can you make them more creative?

So often, spontaneous creativity is where the magic lives.

7. Infuse Your Life With More Creativity

I am a reflection of my life context and the people I spend the most time with.

So if you want to become more creative, try infusing your life with more creativity. This seems like an obvious equation, but it’s an easy thing to skip.

After all, it can be difficult to change the context of your life. Sometimes, that means cutting ties, changing routines and deleting comforts in your life. This can feel painful and awkward.

But here are a few ways to add more creativity into your life:

Do more creative things (like the tip above)
Find more creative friends
Redesign your home to be more creatively inspired
Consume more creative content

So start with baby steps and focus on addition rather than subtraction (this is what works for me, at least).

These things will compound over time and eventually, creativity will be a key part of your daily life.

8. Go Traveling

Creativity is all about trying more new things and doing what’s uncomfortable. And I can think of no better way to do this than to travel (especially solo travel).

Traveling is amazing, but it also puts you in discomfort and forces you to think outside of the box, feel awkward and solve problems on the fly.

Your perspectives naturally expand and you become more worldly – you become more creative.

This is one of my favorite side effects of traveling. And it’s also why I have a whole travel section on this blog.

Because for me, travel and creativity are inseparable.

The confidence and joy you get from experiencing new places and cultures is unmatched. And, inevitably, these experiences will spill over into your life, often in very creative ways.

Recommended: How to Travel More Often

9. Have Creative Projects

A creative mind without a creative project is unrealized potential.

It can even be stress-inducing as your mind swirls with ideas, but there’s no place to put them.

And if left unchecked, this can diminish your artistic inklings and eventually suppress your creativity as a whole.

So let’s avoid that.

Let’s expand and enhance our creativity by intentionally having a home for it to live. How do we do this?

We need to have creative projects to be more creative and grow as a creative human.

Creative projects are personal passion projects that have some specific intention and/or meaning.

They’re usually attached to some larger goal and have a more specific purpose. Creative projects are fun and a strong source of personal pride and fulfillment.

They can be big or small and anything at all.

For example, replacing all of your artwork at home with original paintings or writing, producing and releasing your first song.

I usually start with the bigger picture in mind, but even if you have no plan at all, starting is better than nothing.

But my favorite strategy is to start with some macro creative project (like a long-term vision for your creativity). From there, work backwards by reverse engineering things into smaller, micro projects and nano steps to take first.

It’s all one big creative journey (and a fun one at that).

So if you’re looking to become more creative, try attaching things to a project. It makes creativity much more tangible and active.

10. Find Your Thing

There are tons of ways to express creativity. And none of them are better than the other.

It’s a personal thing. Some creative outlets will resonate with you more than others. It’s related to your personality, personal preferences, environment, current skills or expertise and goals.

For me, my core creative domains are music, art and writing. My next big project will add filming and camera stuff to the mix (as I blend all of these domains together against the backdrop of travel).

I know that sounds like a lot. But I’ve built out these separate creative areas my whole life and they’re just now starting to come together as one thing.

I started with art.

Then came music.

I stayed in music mode for many years. But eventually, I started writing (blogging), which required website design and research and so many other side-creative projects.

Naturally, I was writing about my creative passions. And thus, this blog was born.

So if you’re not sure what your thing is yet, start small and batch test different ideas until you find one that resonates.

Then, focus on practice and skill building (from a place of fun).

As you progress in your creative journey, you’ll naturally stack on new passions and skills, often in new domains.

It’s a personal journey and an exciting one to embark on. And anything goes.

So start with whatever artistic pursuit your intuition is telling you to try. It may be a process of elimination in the beginning.

Recommended: My Favorite Creative Outlets

Final Thoughts (optimize for play)

The most important part of creativity (in my opinion) is fun. So let’s make sure we’re optimizing things for play.

This post has outlined key tips and steps to finding and building your creativity. But even if you follow this advice, it’s still way too easy to become stressed or experience anxiety.

(social media and comparison culture don’t exactly help)

But with a little intention and awareness, you can build a habit where you always circle back to fun and personal fulfillment.

This is the importance of testing many things and sticking with the stuff that you have the most fun with. It’s the creative pursuits where you lose track of time and have fun that will make you the most creative.

So enjoy the journey and have fun with it.

That’s probably my best advice (as broken record as it may sound).

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