A Creative Mindset Is A Superpower (so here are 25 tips)
You have a creative mindset that’s just waiting to be unleashed. And even if you’re already a creative thinker, there’s always room for expansion.
The world is a canvas and everything is art. From product development to how you dress, it’s all creative.
It just depends on how you look at it. Creativity is a choice and a way of seeing the world.
I’m a musician and artist who travels and blogs. And creativity is one of my core values in life. It’s also a main theme for this website and my brand vision.
So this post shares my top moves for how to think more creatively and build an epic artistic mindset.
Alright, let’s get to it.
Table of Contents Show
So, What Is A Creative Mindset?
A creative mindset is the ability to think and see the world like an artist.
It’s choosing to view things (anything) openly and more like malleable projects that have deeper meaning and purpose.
For me, learning to think more creatively is the first step to actually becoming more creative.
Creative thinking is like a muscle. It takes practice and awareness to build, but anyone can get stronger. And that’s the role of mindset in creativity — to add more intention and awareness to the process.
According to a creative mindset, everything is creative. From art and music to the way you raise a child and entrepreneurship, it’s all art.
Life is one big creative act and the world is our stage.
We’re simply writing the script (if we choose to see it that way).
Recommended: The Core Principles of Creativity
Characteristics of A Creative Mindset
Curious
Open-minded
Strong imagination and a dreamer personality
Ability to embrace mistakes
Non-judgmental
Intuitive
Examples of Creative Thinking
Interior design and home decor
Mixing and matching old clothes for a new look
Connecting the dots between two or more unrelated topics
Innovation in business
Writing or blogging
Content ideation and brainstorming
Testing and trying things in new ways
Problem solving
Customizing a recipe
Why Is It Good to Have A Creative Mindset? (some benefits)
A creative mindset is more fun. It makes life more colorful and everything more interesting.
So here are some of my favorite benefits to thinking more creatively.
1. It’s A Growth Mindset
Creative minds are never still or static. Naturally, this leads to a growth-focused way of thinking. Creative mindsets are growth-oriented.
A creative mind isn’t focused so much on finish lines as much as checkpoints and growing through the journey at hand.
2. You Embrace Failure More
Perception is everything. And how we view failure is important for success and wellbeing (in my view).
A creative mindset tends to reframe failures and setbacks as creative challenges. They’re more like art projects and less stressful.
3. You’re Smarter
Creative minds are forever curious. They’re able (and excited) to grasp a variety of different topics, often outside of their expertise.
And the connection between creativity, IQ and how our brains work is a fascinating interesting topic.
In my view, creative thinking leads to new and interesting connections or observations about the world around us. This boosts intelligence (again, in my opinion).
4. You Get Better At Innovative Thinking
Creativity leads to more innovative, outside-of-the-box thinking.
This means you’re more likely to stumble upon new opportunities, solutions and insights that would be otherwise missed. Your ability to see beyond the obvious will improve.
5. You’re More Competitive
If you’re keen to stand out in your market or industry, creative thinking is a solid way to do that.
According to Harvard Business School, creativity is vital for business and supports innovation, productivity and flexibility.
6. You Have More Fun
Creating thinking is more fun. There’s no way around it.
Thinking like an artist makes life more interesting and inspiring. And cultivating a creative mindset is one the best ways to do that.
So have fun and embrace your new mindset — it’s a good time.
How I Cultivate A Creative Mindset (25 tips)
The ideas below will help you cultivate a creative mindset.
The last tip links to another article of mine on actually becoming more creative. For me, this would be the logical next step after your initial creative mindset development here.
While there’s some overlap between thinking and being more creative in life, these are two different goals that require different strategies.
So let’s kick this list off with one of the first things you should do for mindset development — set your intention.
1. Set the Intention
Thinking more creatively starts with setting the intention to think more creatively.
Because anything can be a creative act. Whether it’s cooking a meal, getting dressed or making a sale at work, creativity is part of everything.
Getting used to seeing the world through an artistic lens will be your greatest asset.
Your creative mindset starts (and ends) with your intention.
2. Define What Creativity Means to You
Creativity means something different for everyone. So it’s important that you find your own meaning.
Your personal goals, experience and lifestyle can all influence how you view art and creativity. So understanding your perspectives on things is important.
For me, creativity simply means making (or thinking of) something that wasn’t there before. Whether that’s a cover song, a new idea, a business or a painting — it’s all creativity.
So how about you — what does creativity mean?
3. Change Up Your Routine
Routine takes the thinking out of our daily tasks.
And changing things up in a surprising way naturally interrupts our thought patterns, which can spark creative thinking.
Here are a few ideas to switch up your routine and force your brain to think in new ways:
Brush your teeth with the opposite hand
Change your morning routine
Cook different foods
Try different brands
Try a new evening routine
Take a different route to work
A creative mindset is all about seeing things in new ways and learning new ideas.
Switching up your routine is a subtle way to practice this.
4. Have A More Creative Lifestyle
Food, exercise, hobbies — our lifestyle has a big impact on our mindset and creativity.
So this tip is about reworking your lifestyle to become more creative.
A creative lifestyle is one that prioritizes and is optimized for more creative activities and things.
For example, visiting more art galleries, trying new meals every week and adding more spontaneity into life are all examples of a more creative lifestyle.
Anything that sparks more imagination and artistic thinking is the goal here. So if you want to think more creatively, make your lifestyle more creative.
Recommended: My Favorite Creative Outlets
5. Prime Your Mind for Creative Thinking
A calm, stress-free mind is primed for more creative thinking. But a stressed out or worried mind destroys creativity.
So setting yourself up for success here makes sense.
A few of my favorite ways to prime my mind for creative clarity include:
Meditating more
Deleting stressful things in my life
Addressing any causes for anxiety
Creating more free time to do more of what I love
Recommended: My Meditation Routine for More Creativity
6. Study Everything + Anything
Studying a diverse range of topics offers a lot of benefits. But one of my favorites is it makes you more creative.
Specifically, learning about many different things helps you connect the dots and make novel connections more easily.
Creativity is often the result of layering seemingly unrelated topics or combing old ideas in new ways.
And one of the best ways I know how to do this is to become a student (forever). Always learn and stay forever curious. No knowledge is ever wasted because you never know how subjects will intertwine down the road.
In fact, the stranger the combination of subjects, the better.
So if you can find a way to combine animal psychology with fashion (for example), that’s epic and truly a masterclass in creative thinking.
7. Consume More Creative Content
If you want to cultivate a long-term creative mindset, then don’t stop at this article.
Keep watching more creative content. Follow artists and people who inspire you. It’s a content-first world and there’s an overwhelming amount of amazing creative people sharing their journeys online.
Whether you’re learning a new creative skill, looking for inspiration or just passing the time, try to consume more creative content in your daily life.
Replace things like the news with more creatively inspiring posts and videos.
Content shapes our reality and changes how we think — so I say, make it more creative.
8. Dress the Part
Fashion plays a big part in how I think and feel. So for me, this is one way I like to spark more creative thinking.
I don’t know why, but something happens when I simply look and play the part of an artist. Of course, everyone’s depiction of an artist is different, so it’s best to first identify how you see creative fashion.
For me, I see worn-out shirts from a no-name brand, some simple jewelry and a few unique secondhand gems I found thrifting in Tokyo as artistic. But for someone else, maybe creative fashion just looks like a pair of comfy pajamas.
Whatever the case, getting into character (through fashion) sparks more creative feeling and thinking.
Recommended: How Fashion + Creativity Are Connected
9. Create An Alter Ego
An alter ego is a great way to become more creative.
An alter ego is a separate persona with traits that better embody who you’d like to become. Many musicians and performers will create an alter ego to express their art.
To start, you can make a list of ideal creative characteristics you’d like to embody. Then you can practice them in your daily life. You can even create a separate pen name and social media accounts — it’s like a whole new identity.
This is like creative play and actually quite fun.
Technically, my site here started as an alter ego (Jake You is not my name, but the phonetic spelling of my initials, JQ).
Recommended: How to Create An Alter Ego
10. Travel More
Traveling forces you out of comfort zones and expands your perspectives. Traveling makes you more creative.
This is actually one of my favorite ways to build a creative mindset. It’s fun and adventurous. It’s also one of the best teachers you can find in life (you gain skills far beyond a greater artistic sense).
Travel and creativity are two things I love to layer. I infuse travel into my music and writing about these ideas here on my blog.
While I’ve been making art and music for many years, I can tell you (from firsthand experience) that traveling has made me much more creative.
Recommended: How to Travel More
11. Be More Minimalist
For me, living more minimalist helps my creativity.
I have less stuff and less clutter to fill up my mind and the spaces I live. The result? I have more clarity and can prioritize things like creating projects and thinking.
While this may not be a solution for everyone, it’s worth a try. Besides, living closer to the essentials has a ton of benefits besides just a boost in creativity.
So your time won’t be wasted.
Recommended: How to Be More Minimalist In Life
12. Find More Creative Friends
Are we truly the average of the five closest people in our lives? According to Jim Rohn, we are.
While there’s some debate here (and I’m sure “five” isn’t the end-all, be-all number) the old adage of “you are who you hang with” probably holds some water.
So let’s take advantage of this by surrounding yourself with more creative, growth-oriented people. This is an effective strategy. Because I know for me, I’m often as good as the company I keep.
Sooner or later, the people in your life influence how you think or act.
13. Reverse Engineer Creative Minds
Working backwards and deconstructing success is a smart move.
So why not reverse engineer examples of awesome creativity to better understand creative processes, strategies and thinking patterns.
Here’s a quick way to reverse engineer creativity:
Choose a creative person (or achievement) that you look up to
Analyze the methods, opinions, styles, quotes and strategies of that person or achievement
Analyze related projects and the impact that person or thing has had
Then, borrow their methods and use them in your own life or creative projects
14. Try Color Psychology
Similar to hanging around more creative people or switching up your routine, using color psychology to redesign your surroundings can spark more creativity.
We’re further stacking the cards in our favor here.
This could include buying (or making) new artwork for your walls, painting your room in colors that promote creativity or even changing up the lighting in your rooms to be more inspiring.
Creativity can be fickle, so controlling our external environment as much as possible will set us up for success.
15. Study Deep + Esoteric Topics
I love getting esoteric and existential. It forces me to think way outside of the box.
It’s an amazing way to practice creative thinking.
For me, I like to to try and reach a point where my brain starts to sort of melt. It’s like hitting a threshold where my scope of understanding the world and my creative perspectives reach their limit.
For example, thinking about the universe and quantum physics are two of my favorite ways to play with esoteric ideas.
Other concepts such as simulation theory, the law of attraction and alternate realities or dimensions are a few more deep and complex topics that can spark a more creative mindset.
16. Challenge Your Beliefs
There’s nothing creative about dogma and unchallenged belief systems.
The artist is always challenging their own beliefs and the social mores of the cultures they live in. So let’s borrow this technique and become more creative (and smarter) with it.
For me, I like to challenge my beliefs in a few different ways:
Using science or hard evidence
Using personal experience
Getting outside feedback and perspectives
Challenging your belief systems can be difficult and uncomfortable. So it’s important to stay open to new ideas and not attach yourself to or hold on to any one concept too tightly.
The only constant is change and new ideas are always replacing old ones. And staying open to novelty and different perspectives is an awesome soft skill.
The benefits extend far beyond more creativity.
17. Find More Flow
Creativity can be an unhinged, spontaneous and deeply focused experience. This is pretty close to a flow state.
So the idea here is to do more things that put you in a flow state.
A flow state is when you’re so focused on a task that you totally lost track of time and space. It’s “the zone” and it’s a sweet spot for creativity.
The more in flow you are, the more creative you are.
So do more things that put you in flow — whether that means golfing, painting or going to the beach. Because remember, anything can be creative if you that’s your intention.
Trying a new golf swing or making a sand castle are ways to practice art.
And by getting to this place more often, you can subtly rewire your mindset to a more free-flowing and creative default mode.
At least, that’s been my experience.
Recommended: How to Harness Your Creative Flow State
18. Change How You Speak
How we speak and the words we use matter. They shape our thoughts, perceptions and subconscious every day.
So speaking differently and using different words can subtly change the way you think over time.
To get into a creative mindset, monitor yourself and stop using uncreative phrase. For example:
Stop saying “I can’t…” or “I’m not…”
Start using phrases like “yet…” or “I will…” and “I wonder…”
Your speech can play a big role in building a new creative mindset.
19. Stop Fixed Mindset Thinking
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Do you have a growth mindset or a fixed one?
Because to fully change how you think, you should probably have a growth mindset. Believing that you can think more creatively is the first step to having a creative mindset.
So take a quick self assessment and be honest with yourself about any limiting beliefs you have about your creativity and ability to think more artistically.
Just remember, anyone can develop a creative mindset and become more artistic. The science of neuroplasticity tells us so.
20. Daydream More
Daydreaming is creativity having fun.
It’s related to the idea of letting yourself be bored. According to research, boredom can spark creativity. So I say, embrace those quiet moments and get lost in a daydream or two.
Because you’re actually practicing creative thinking (especially with a little more intention).
Recommended: 8 Traits of A Dreamer Personality
21. Reframe Life As A Movie
Stories are great creative acts. So reframing your life as a movie will naturally force you think more creatively.
So imagine your life was a movie and you’re the main character.
What’s the genre and the main plot? What challenges are you facing and where are you in this epic, multi-part series?
Reframing our own life as if it were a story is an artistic exercise. It’s a fun way to deal with challenges while supporting your creative mindset shift.
So become a self-aware actor in this movie we call life.
22. Become More Happy-Go-Lucky
Optimism plays a big role in my creative process. When I’m happier, I’m more creative.
So I like to optimize my life so I’m more happy-go-lucky. This means reducing stress, doing more things I love and learning to see the positive sides of things.
Practicing gratitude also helps a lot too.
Recommended: How to Be More Happy-Go-Lucky
23. Learn A New Language
Language learning is fun (and beneficial). It gives you new opportunities, better memory and literally changes your brain.
This about neuroplasticity and our brain’s ability to change and learn new things.
But language and creativity are also closely connected.
When you’re studying a new language, you’re forced to find new ways to express your thoughts using a limited set of tools (words).
You’re pressuring your brain to think in new ways and use new words. This helps build a creative mindset.
24. Practice Intuition
Intuition and creativity are closely connected. So getting better at listening to your gut is a great way to get better at creative thinking.
Whenever I overanalyze stuff and try to overuse logic, my creative mind gets shut down.
But when I lean into my intuition, I can feel my creativity expanding. Intuition is a precursor to flow state and taps into your innate creative abilities.
So if you want to sharpen your creative thinking, try getting better at listening to your gut. It’s a creative muscle, after all (well, according to me at least).
25. Take Action
The last step to thinking more creatively is to take action and actually become more creative.
This will grow your creativity exponentially. Because while learning to think more creatively is important, actually doing more creative things is even more powerful.
It’s the next step of going from passive creativity into active creativity.
This is when you’ll focus on things like skill building, having creative projects and setting a schedule to do more creative things.
So whether you feel ready or not, just take action.
Recommended: My Top Tips to Be (not just think) More Creative
Conclusion
Everything doesn’t need to happen all at once. Small steps add up over time and compounding is a thing.
Also, you don’t need to be 100% creative, 100% of the time. As with most things, the best solution is usually somewhere in between.
So stay patient and focused and embrace the journey. You will get more creative in time.
And if you want a little more evidence for this one, consider Josh Kaufman’s 20-hour rule. He says it only takes 20 hours of practice to become “good enough" at any skill.
And good enough is good enough for creativity.
You don’t need to be the next van Gogh to be a great painter. And you don’t need to be a prodigy or change the world.
Novelty and creative thinking often look pretty ugly and can even confuse people.
But just trust the process. And have fun being different (and way cooler).
Want More? Check Out These Sweet Reads!
