Guest Author - Elsa Neal

It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut, especially if your daily life has some complexity to it, such as juggling a career and home life and/or having to organise children as well as yourself. In many ways, keeping a tight hold on your routine can make the difference between getting everything done or dropping some of those balls you have in the air.

Inevitably, creativity is something we think we have to make time for, and have to have energy for. As our lives become busier and busier, we find ourselves looking at the unfinished painting in the corner and saying, “No time for that today.” All too often six months, or a year, can slip by like that, and our creativity curls up inside us into a tiny injured ball.

Try a two week creativity overhaul. Choose a different part of your daily routine to alter for one day. If you like the changes, keep them. If not, revert to your normal routine the next day, and try the next change in the queue. If changes like this don’t fit in to your week day, use the weekends instead over 7 weeks, or save them for a holiday. Or select one or two changes that appeal to you (or scare you!) and try them over a week or two.

This article features the overhaul for Days 1 to 6. Click here for Creativity Overhaul Week 2.

Week 1, Day 1 to 6:

Day 1. Waking up

If you wake to an alarm, try a more gentle approach. Place the alarm in a drawer where the sound is softer but you have to get up to turn it off. Or use a timed radio or music system set to a gentle music station or CD.

Stretch to wake up your muscles gently.

If your usual waking system is slow and sluggish, try coaxing yourself into sitting up immediately and doing something, like a sketch, some freewriting (perhaps record a dream if you remember it), humming a song.

Day 2. Getting up

If your routine is one of get up and go the moment the alarm goes off, slow down today. Stretch first. Bribe someone into bringing you a hot cup of something in bed. Roll out of bed and do some gentle yoga stretches.

If your start is slow, try to get yourself moving more quickly today. While leaping out of bed is supposed to be too strenuous first thing in the morning, try some gentle dance moves as you get yourself ready for the day. Notice the feeling of your movements and your mood.

Day 3. Your attitude to your body

Today, try to think of your body purely in terms of its function – instead of wobbly thighs, appreciate your ability to walk, and experience each movement of your muscles as they interact with each other and move your body around. Don’t judge any of your functions as faulty (perhaps, say, you’re hard of hearing) – instead state it in terms of what you can hear, see, and do, or in terms of your other, more heightened, senses.

Day 4. Changing your routines

Wake up your mind by challenging it to keep up with a sudden change in routine. Routines are good for us, because they clear the way for more important things to take precedence in our lives, but once in a while it’s good to throw your mind a little curve ball to keep it sharp.

Get dressed and eat breakfast in a different order. Drive a different route to work. Stop at the park on your way home for a walk.

Day 5. Nourishing your body

If you prepare the meals in your household, today is creative cooking day. What different tastes can you put together? What food items do you never buy because you have no idea what they taste like or how to cook them?
Try something new today.

If you don't cook, perhaps today's your day to give it a go!

Day 6. Organisation

Are you organised or disorganised? Be the opposite today. This doesn’t mean you have to tidy your entire office if you’re usually a clutter-bug. Instead, deal creatively with whatever comes across your desk – no setting it aside unless you have a folder for “pending”.

Or, if you’re usually super-structured, let it all go today. No tidying.

If you dare, try to extend this to organisation of people and other elements of your day. What happens if you let the kids sort themselves out? Can you have fun if you leave the shopping list behind and go to an unfamiliar store? Or if your shopping run is usually chaotic, today’s the day to sit down and make a comprehensive list.

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For more inspiration to improve your daily dose of creativity, try:
Inspiring Creativity : An Anthology of Powerful Insights and Practical Ideas to Guide You to Successful Creating by Rick Benzel, or
Art Escapes : Daily Exercises and Inspirations for Discovering Greater Creativity and Artistic Confidence by Dory Kanter