Explore Your Secret Selves to Be More Creative

Wanna be more creative?  Want to tap into your creativity in a deeper way?  Whether you’re in the throes of mad, passionate creative expression…or finding yourself in a creative rut…or, more likely, somewhere in between, you can boost your creativity by understanding more about yourself.

Here are some fun ways to discover more about yourself and your talents:

1.  What were your favorite childhood books?  Write down as many as you can think of.

2.  What were your favorite movies as a youth? Write down as many as you can think of.

3.  Now, review your two lists.  What do your answers say about you? What themes do you see?

4.  Grab a bunch of magazines you are ready to recycle.  Set a timer for twenty minutes.  As fast as you can, flip through the magazines.  Rip out whatever words, phrases, and images resonate with you.  Don’t analyze or edit, just pull out whatever strikes your fancy.

Once the timer goes off, go through the clippings and sort them into piles of similar images.  What groupings do you see?  What themes? Any surprises?

In my case, for example, I was surprised to have created a pile of images depicting ‘nature’ or ‘jungle’ or ‘animals’.  I mean, sure I’m an animal lover — I foster dogs and am a lifelong vegetarian — but what was with all the exotic wildlife and safari images?  There was something there — a strong connection of which I hadn’t been aware. Maybe that was my inner Adventurer?

5.  Now, clear some time to compare the results of all these activities. What do they say about you?  Who are you, deep down?  Who are your ‘secret selves’?

Some selves won’t be so secret.  You probably already know if you’re a ‘scientist’ or a ‘stripper’ at heart.  An ‘athlete’ or an ‘artist’.

But some selves will surprise you.  Gosh, who knew I harbored an  inner nun / cowboy / nerd / fashion model?

Once you bring these lesser known, lesser expressed selves to light, you can have fun with them.  You can use them to inspire or inform your creative work.   You can depict them via different talents and different media.  You can revisit older projects with fresh eyes.  You can jump-start stalled projects.

Okay, my sci fi novel isn’t going so well.  Maybe it’s a western. What if my inner cowpoke was the main character?

This marketing copy is stale.  Maybe my inner teenage brat can breathe some fresh life into it.

One of the joys of creativity is that it is, literally, limitless.  The more you express it, the more creativity you generate.  By identifying your secret selves, you will have that many new touchstones to energize your creative work.

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For more tips and techniques, check out my workbook  BE MORE CREATIVE:  101 Activities to Unleash and Grow Your Creativity

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