The best cure for creative blocks? Leave your desk and go for a jog. Not really practical in the middle of the workday though, is it?
Unless you work from home, you don’t want to be in the office with blotchy skin and sweat puddles the size of Loch Ness after a nip round the block in your workout shorts.
There are, however, ways you can free yourself from a creative rut without leaving your desk. Our Great British Business survey recently discovered that 30% of small business owners power their business strategies with creative thinking. So what if that thinking gets stuck?
The human mind is extremely prone to forming habits. If you want to smash those tedious habits, it’s time to rejig the familiar.
You know the one thing your teachers scolded you for in school? It actually plays an important role in being creative. Playing with stress balls, paper clips, pens (click, click, click), mini slinkies, blu tack or even mindless doodling can boost our creativity.
Why it works: Doodling has been found to produce creative insight, engaging the mind with visual language, providing neurological access you don’t have when you're in a linguistic mode. Fidgeting also distracts the part of the brain that’s becoming bored, so the other parts can pay attention to what we’re reading, hearing, thinking or seeing.
It doesn’t have to be Mozart to throw your brain into an intellectual frenzy of creativity - any music is a powerful influencer of your mood and work. Whenever you feel a creative slump coming on, plug in the headphones and crank up a tune you love.
Why it works: Music is one of the greatest ways to enter ‘mind-wandering mode’ or flow - the best state to unleash creativity and whip up innovative solutions to problems (and convince your team you’re an absolute genius).
Everyone was born with the potential to be creative. In our hectic lives, it’s easy to get tightly wound up to the point you’re working on autopilot, rather than grasping the creative wheel and putting your foot on the accelerator. Taking the time to relax and practice breathing exercises can unlock the shackles keeping your creative mind imprisoned.
Why it works: Our breathing and posture massively affect our nervous system; which plays a huge role in creativity. Breathing techniques at your desk work by communicating your state of being to your brain: if we’re relaxed in our posture and breath, our mind is more open, too.
- See more at: http://thehub.tips/articles/people/ditch-the-rut-how-to-boost-creativity-without-leaving-your-desk#sthash.nMbYe8r3.dpuf
