100 Ways To Be Creative
By Mary England
Being creative is part of a lifestyle. If you’re having trouble with figuring out how to implement creative thinking in your daily life, it might help to do some isolated activities. Over time, you will begin to think in a more innovative fashion and be a well of ideas! Here is a list for you to use as a starting point.
- Complete an online tutorial you’ve bookmarked for later.
- Stick googly eyes on inanimate objects.
- Mix patterns that people say “clash.”
- Make a list longer than you think you can finish.
- Share your life and findings via snail mail and the internet.
- Decorate cupcakes in an awesome way.
- Try to have a $0 shopping trip due to coupons, sales, etc.
- Collect something very specific.
- Wear a mask, crown (or other headwear) that you made all day.
- Clear off your entire workspace and reorganize (don’t put anything back in the same spot).
- Carry a notebook and pen with you everywhere you go.
- Fill an entire photo album with anything but photographs.
- Try to change your handwriting for the length of an entire letter.
- Utilize free and found materials.
- Knit something your cat can wear.
- Map out a descriptive music video for any song.
- Make a list of things you’re tolerating and then fix them.
- Use paint chips for anything except what they’re intended for.
- Have a dress up in costume evening.
- Wear only black clothing (down to the underwear!) and allow yourself one colored accessory.
- Use Polaroids or other forms of instant film.
- Melt crayons.
- Go somewhere outside specifically to play the cloud game.
- Write with different color inks.
- Create your own mandala.
- Take an illusion type picture.
- Decorate for every holiday.
- Add magnetic strips to your make up or other supplies for easy storage/access.
- Leave a happy note or quote in the copy machine at work.
- Leave twinkle/Christmas lights up all year round.
- Use ribbon as a belt (but only if your pants are definitely going to stay up!).
- Change the lyrics to a song that you are singing to your pet (about your pet).
- Don’t stay seated for too long.
- Design your own flag.
- Mail an object not in an envelope or package (as is).
- Stay up past your bed time (to keep or start working).
- Recreate a photo that you think is beautiful.
- Make up a story about people you see walking on the street.
- Do something anyway (even when you don’t have all the supplies).
- Choreograph a dance.
- Make your voicemail something other than “leave me a message and I’ll call you back.”
- Journal or write something somewhere every day.
- Make a paper chain to count down to an upcoming event or occasion.
- Have an art picnic.
- Select one of the five senses and document everything you experience with that sense for one day.
- Listen to music instead of watching TV.
- Decorate a pair of cheap/plain shoes with something wonderful and tacky.
- Take on an entirely new persona for an evening out (bonus points for an accent).
- Decide what you would want to be in a textbook for and then go make sure it happens.
- Make a mass handmade gift to give everyone for Christmas or some other holiday (personalize each one).
- Create a theme for you to follow for a day or a whole week (clothing, speech, activities, etc.).
- Make variable and attainable goal lists.
- Wrap every item of a present individually.
- Teach someone something (or make your own tutorial).
- Celebrate weird and unusual holidays.
- Write out the alphabet and then the first words that comes to your mind for each letter.
- Make a mix CD for someone based on their musical interests and include a playlist and a handmade jewel case.
- Incorporate a daily quote into your routine.
- Have an unbirthday party for someone.
- Install some guerrilla art for everyone to enjoy.
- If given the option, choose color.
- Do the Macarena to a song you don’t know how to dance to.
- Execute an elaborate Random Act of Kindness (Amelie style).
- Spend a day focusing on the similarities between things, people, etc.
- Use colored staples from here on out.
- Decorate the inside of your car.
- Pull an all-nighter.
- Document the moon for an entire lunar cycle.
- Take a picture of the same spot every day at the same time.
- Go a whole day without communicative media and/or technology.
- Build a fort to work (or play) in.
- Communicate with someone who you only text with by only images (no words/text).
- Use unique lighting (twinkle lights, color filters, etc.).
- Decide what should be on a stamp – then make your own artistamps.
- Incorporate every color of the rainbow into your outfit.
- Journal for ten minutes straight (never stop writing).
- Make your own Halloween costume.
- Write thank you cards for your friends, family, or coworkers (not for gifts, for anything else).
- Have a yard sale where you sell handmade things not (just) junk.
- Plan a surprise for someone.
- Bedazzle something.
- Measure something really large with something that’s not a ruler or other traditional form of measurement.
- Carve your own rubber stamp.
- Set an alarm on your phone (or other device) to remind you to celebrate the year anniversary of something special that happened today.
- Pretend you’re a mermaid for a day.
- Add food coloring to your meal.
- Leave nice/anonymous notes for strangers.
- Make a mural or scene with sidewalk chalk.
- Frequently change your surroundings.
- Decorate mirrors with dry erase markers.
- Wear fancy hair accessories on ordinary days.
- Make paper snowflakes out of colored paper.
- Take a road trip somewhere within 90 minutes, but to somewhere you’ve never been before.
- Create the boundaries of where your ideal state would be on a map, name it, and write down what the state would offer and be called.
- Create an outdoor natural artwork (using flowers, a rock garden, collection, etc.).
- Make your own sketch design (crayons, black paint, scratching).
- Go to a party supply store when you have no intention of throwing a party.
- Document your week in paper scraps.
- Have a meet up with other people who want to be creative and create a group project or just brainstorm.
- Explore through a park, forest, or other area of nature.