We asked our small business community: How do you feed the creative in you?
“Meditation! When we meditate, our brain waves slow down from Beta to Alpha. This is our most creative state – and it’s why lots of people have great ideas just as they’re falling asleep. Starting each working day with a short meditation is great for optimising creativity.”
“The beast always needs a feeding. Thankfully, everything’s copy fodder – social media, good books, conversation, arguing with yourself on long walks.”
“I feed the creative in me by reminding myself I don’t have to be creative all the time. And that’s totally fine. Honestly, putting pressure on myself to be creative on demand just makes it harder. The thing is, creativity needs space, not force.”
“This one time, I was feeling creatively stuck – I was working on both a personal project and client articles. I went to the local museum. I saw pottery pieces from hundreds of years ago that weren’t just functional, but also decorated. And I came to realise that creativity is an instinct in humans.
We create not only things that are valuable in our day-to-day lives, just like pots to store water and grains back in the day. But we go the extra mile. We make it beautiful by adding designs to the pots.
Another challenge for me is that I take myself too seriously. And going to the museum led to another epiphany – we can’t control which art survives the tide of time. Maybe the earthen pots that survived and are now displayed in the museum were made by regular people. Maybe that pot wasn’t the best pot the person ever made. Maybe there was a specialist who used to make the best pots ever, but those didn’t survive. So, art is for the sake of art. Create!
As a thumb rule, I like to go for museum tours, look at old architecture, watch movies in different languages, and go in nature when I’m feeling creatively stuck.”
“Such a good question. Reading, chatting to friends, and swimming… these all help with generating my best creative ideas. But if I need to get creative in my business, then taking time off, away from client work, is where the real magic happens.”
Linda Harrison | PR specialist: Helping small businesses to get more visible
“I feed it by looking at the journey I’ve had so far, reading articles, visiting a local interest like an art gallery and stretching my legs. Get out of my head and away from the project so my brain can process its current position and give it room to actually be creative.”
Tania Gerard | Accessible Marketing Consultant & Neurodiversity Trainer
“I write every day. Even if it’s just in my six-minute diary. I read. And I go places, meet people and do new stuff regularly.”
“By styling outfits or creating moodboards for style clients – some real, some imaginary. The immersion in colour feeds my soul!”
1. Get outside (even if in an urban setting). I recently did a free self-guided Street Art tour of Rotterdam with a friend. It totally fed my novelty hunger, I experimented through taking photos of the art (photography is not my strength, but I’m learning!), discovered parts of the city I had never seen and felt inspired.
2. Starve my consumerism. There’s a lot of wonderful writing and content out there, but I’m learning that the creative in me needs a rested brain. I have the Nap Ministry’s Rest Deck – a deck of 50 cards offering restorative practices. I take a card each week as a prompt to build rest into my day – even in small ways.”
Dominique van Werkhoven | Multi-lingual copywriter & content strategist
“I stay open-minded to everything and everyone being an inspiration. That way, you get a constant stream of outlooks on life and work, can get out of your own head, and stretch the idea of creativity wider than you ever thought it could go. All you have to do then is join up the dots, and when you get an unexpected connection, that’s where true creativity sparks.”
Natalie Smithson | Helping people in emerging tech improve their messaging
“When I’m thinking through creative problems, I love immersing myself in mindful activities like knitting, crocheting or painting. There’s something powerful about keeping your hands busy on a seemingly repetitive task and letting your mind wander as you bring a craft piece to life.”
“I get curious, I ask questions, and I try new things out. I couple the new with my ‘fail-safes’ – a visit to a gallery, a kitchen disco, a pottery class, for example. The fusion of old and new maintains a creative mindset and enables new perspectives to emerge.”
“I often get inspired when I go to an event, read a book or watch a great film. I also get inspired at the most unlikely times – when I’m out for a walk or at the gym. Sometimes your unconscious mind is working hard in the background even when you’re not aware that this is even happening.”
Karen Bright | Freelance copywriter specialising in B2B and higher education
“All the predictable stuff, I suppose: walks and runs, reading, listening to podcasts, talking to creatives who enjoy simply riffing on ideas, and going to events where I’ll run into those folks.
Slowness is crucial. We’re often moving too fast for the lightning to strike us!
And we must pay attention to our environment and design so that inspiration can find us and good ideas can emerge.”
“By giving myself some room to think. Leaving my desk and focusing, yet not focusing, and allowing ideas to ferment and grow while doing something else.”
Ralph Cunningham | Journalist, Copywriter, Editor, Proofreader and Writing Coach
“All the usual good stuff like, being in nature, taking creative day trips, reading different things, speaking to people and people watching to name a few BUT most recently having pause times in regards to the amount of online content I consume so I can quieten down and tune in to my own thoughts and understand what I think or feel about things without the noise of other peoples opinions. My best creativity investment – a sketchbook.”
“Hanging around other creatives, listening to music, being happy and energetic. Surrounding myself with people I admire and love, as well as doing things I enjoy, then the creative side comes gushing out.
In January, I went on holiday and the minute I was in the airport (with a drink in hand), I had to get my laptop out as I had all these ideas I needed to write down.”
“Getting outside. Taking a shower. Reading stuff by people who inspire me.”
“More and more, intentionally exposing myself to new things accelerates my creative side.
Diving into a musical genre I know nothing about, reading books that don’t overlap with my experience, and trying things beyond my comfort zone—like starting MMA training last week—keep my mind flexible, nimble, and creative.
In my view, the worst thing a creative can do is become complacent or uncurious.”
“By giving her the first piece of my day… every day. I started prioritising my own creativity over the creativity I do for others about two years ago now and it was the best thing I ever did for me and my business. (I finally wrote the novel and the work I do for my clients has just got better and better.)”
Sarah Wayte | Copy, photos and creative writing support to help you tell your story
“I feed the creative in me by encouraging her to just DO. Don’t over-plan. Don’t attempt perfection. Just do what’s in your head before you let it sit too lon, and it never happens.”
“I swim, hitting the sweet spot of forgetting everything but my breathing. This opens my mind to some brilliant ideas and inspiration. All I need now is a waterproof pen and paper!”
