Creative Flow

Everyone loves the idea of going into deep work mode and losing the sense of time while doing so. We imagine ourselves in the most elegant way getting into creative flow and producing masterpieces. Sometimes, we get there by coincidence. Other times, it’s an intentional journey. I want to share with you 3 ways to help you design your route for that creative destination.

1. Create rituals

Just like bedtime rituals that get you to your deep sleep mode, try to materialize your unconscious rituals that gets your creative juices flowing. Begin by analyzing the time and space where your most creative ideas materialize. For me, the connections happen after a fast walk and the ideas cascade. For others, the ritual might include food, journaling, exercise, or after reading a poem. If you can examine the conditions to the spark, you can arrange them, on purpose, to invite ideas.

2. Warm up exercises

Ask any sports enthusiast of their ways of warming up and you get plenty of advice. Every person has a different way and depending on what muscles they need to warm up will require its own method. Same rule applies for flow. Warm up your brain engine to produce the dopamine it needs to create ideas. This can be an idea quota for a single challenge (say, 20 ideas to make your kid love math), or an analogy exercise (ask: in what ways is the orange similar to the challenge I have this morning?). Let your brain explore connections in a unique way without the pressure of presenting them to anyone else. Once produced, get to work on your challenge.  

3. Block strict time

Create a mini deadline that will force your brain to think produce. My favorite method is to take my laptop without the charger and sit in a co-working space or a coffee shop. This gives me around 3 uninterrupted working hours. Within this time, I need to complete whatever task I came to do, knowing that if I ran out of battery I will not be able to save my work or extend my deadline. This helped me get into working mode at a much faster pace and became very productive since I did not need to look at the time and interruptions were kept to a bare minimum.

I’m curious to learn what’s your method? How do you get into flow?

Cheers,

Randah