25 Ways to Boost Creativity That Take 5 Minutes or Less

Creativity is good for the brain.

Creativity helps you solve problems, boosts your immune system, improves your mental health, and reduces stress. Some even say creativity is a basis for human life. Creativity is all about experimentation, so it's also a safe space to make mistakes. With such great benefits, you probably want to discover a few easy ways to boost creativity.

Creativity is for everyone.

"But aren't only some people creative?" you may ask. No, everyone can be creative! Most people define creative people as those who can draw or play music. Creativity is so much broader than this limiting perspective. Consider this definition of "creative" from Vocab.com:

Creative
adj. having the ability or power to create, especially something new or imaginative; promoting construction or creation

Vocab.com

With this sweeping declaration of what is means to be creative, you can easily see that it's possible for everyone. How do you exercise your creative muscle, though? How do you tap into the many benefits of creativity?

Explore this list of ideas to get your ideas flowing and your creativity growing.

When you boost your creativity, you'll decrease your stress, build your problem solving skills, and improve your health, all in just 5 minutes a day.

1. Listen to music. This activates several parts of the brain and helps it network better!
2. Get someone's opinion. You'll likely broaden your perspective and look at things in a new way.
3. Write by hand. You'll slow down your thinking, engage your motor skills, and connect your right and left brain.
4. Move! Shifting your environment can help you think more outside the box.
5. Paint. Science says this helps us deal with trauma as well!
6. Dance.
7. Sing.
8. Meditate.
9. Play a kazoo. Music helped Albert Einstein with his creativity.
10. Build something: legos, origami, bricks, blocks... anything!
11. Doodle.
12. Learn a new word. Thoughts and ideas are just strings of words, so the more the merrier.
13. Sign up for a class about something you've never done before.
14. Walk in the grass barefoot.
15. Watch the clouds roll by. Blue helps calm our brains and boosts creative thinking.
16. Go on a one-sense walk: notice everything you smell or everything you hear. It helps us shift into a different way of thinking.
17. Take a picture.
18. Think about something from far in the past.
19. Think about something far into the future.
20. Observe one thing and make a list of all that had to happen for it to get where it is. The deep dive into details will help you grow your perspective and your observation skills.
21. Daydream.
22. Drink some orange juice. Oranges are high in tyrosine, a which helps your body produce dopamine, which is linked to creative thinking.
23. Explain something by gesturing with both hands. It increases cognitive flexibility!
24. Schedule time to be creative each week.
25. Read some poetry. Reading poems boost creativity far more than reading self-help books on creativity.