5 Habits to Boost Your Creativity

The thing about creativity is that it doesn’t always come when called. It’s a practice, not a trained animal.

One of the things I’m hearing from more seasoned business owners lately is that they have the basics of marketing down, but what they could use is a “creative injection.”

That’s why we offer the Writing Intensives and also why business owners hire us to work with them and their team copywriters in VIP days — to freshen up their messaging in a launch they’ve done before.

But there are some things you can do to boost your creativity on a day-to-day basis.

  1. Designate a place to be creative that’s not your business. By all means, be creative in your business. But in a business, you still have deadlines and your goal is to make money – and make sense to other people. Find a place where you don’t have those restrictions, so you can just make stuff, because it delights you. For me, that’s cooking. There are no words. I can experiment. And it’s sensual. This fills your creative well so that when you’re back on the clock, you are ready to think differently.
  1. Feed yourself ideas from unexpected places. In addition to following people’s newsletters in your industry or watching all the videos of your fave internet famous icon, look outside what’s familiar. I call this “cross pollination” – it’s about exposing yourself to new and smart ideas. This is a discipline – especially in a media world that would like nothing better than to pigeonhole us into a predictable, known demographic. Play the edges. Follow what calls to you. Right now, I’ve got subscriptions to Inc. magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Ad Week, and Adventure Cycling. I read design blogs and devour stand up comedy shows. I get great ideas from all of them!
  1. Commit random acts of mischief. Nothing shakes you out of the status quo like crowning yourself a creator – and going out and playfully misbehaving. No one gets hurt, but you feel like you’re getting away from something! We like to draw naughty pictures at my house – on the kitchen white board, on little slips of paper, on our notes for work. It’s hilarious, and reminds us not to take ourselves so dang seriously.
  1. Work less. The thing about being creative is that you have to listen to hear it calling to you. And to listen, you actually need to be in an open and receptive state. Translation: step away from the laptop. Get out of the house. Go LIVE your life. Be in your body. Talk with people who have nothing to do with your business. Nap more. Comedian Chris Rock once said something like: “to be a successful comedian, you have to live like a bum” – the same goes for us as inspired entrepreneurs. You can’t work all the time and expect your energy to be all sparkly and magnetic. No matter what the workaholics tell you. You are built differently – learn to work with that, instead of against it.
  1. Be okay with having boundaries. It’s taken me years to realize that I am the Protectress of an inner creature that is both delicate and fierce… and gets cranky when I don’t take her out to play. Maybe you have a creature like this inside of you, too. And yes, you want to be successful, BUT. You relish being well rested, well sexed, and well rounded, too. It’s easy to buy into the delusion that you have to work all the time and pretend you are a workaholic, but your muse is always there. Stand up for her. Protect her. Even if we live in a world that rewards status to people who work, even if they are addicts or alone or unpleasant to be around. She’s guided you before. She’s standing by to guide you again.

The good news is, you’re in charge. You get to pick what kind of business you run. What kind of life you live. You already know this; I’m just reminding you. That said, there is a reason to learn the rules of how to market, how to build your business. They are rules because they work. But don’t let following the rules rob you of the fun and the inventive delight of growing your business. Learn the rules so you can break them.

Love this article — and want more practical tips about building and strengthening your relationship with the human beings on your mailing list? I’m teaching an all new copywriting and messaging training call on June 10th at 7pm EST called “They’re Just Not That Into You: 3 reasons your list isn’t clicking your links or buying from your emails – and how to fix it” – it’s free and you can sign up here.

Mighty thanks to Nasir Nasrallah flickr photostream for the infinite creativity.

Stella Orange is a copywriter who helps people put their work into words. For eight years, she wrote email campaigns that resulted in more than a million dollars in sales for her clients. In that time, Stella also taught popular marketing writing workshops to business owners on both sides of the Atlantic -- and a few in Australia and New Zealand. In 2017, Stella cofounded a creative and consulting shop offering a complete and slightly unorthodox line of business advising and marketing services. She continues to write copy and advise clients on customer delight, how to resonate with more sophisticated, discerning clientele in your marketing, and just who, exactly, your ideal clients are. Stella is the founder of Show Up And Write, a weekly writing group and writes a letter every two weeks or so (here’s the sign-up). She lives with the Philosopher and their two kiddos in Buffalo, New York, a fifteen-minute bike ride to the Canadian border.

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