100 Ideas

1. Go for a walk. draw or list things you find on the the sidewalk.
2. Write a letter to yourself in the future.
3. Buy something inexpensive as a symbol for your need to create, (new pen, a tea cup, journal). Use it everyday.
4. Draw your dinner.
5. Find a piece of poetry you respond to. Rewrite it and glue it into your journal.
6. Glue an envelope into your journal. For one week collect items you find on the street.
7. Expose yourself to a new artist, (go to a gallery, or in a book.) Write about what moves you about it.
8. Find a photo of a person you do not know. Write a brief bio about them.
9. Spend a day drawing only red things.
10. Draw your bike.
11. Make a list of everything you buy in the next week.
12. Make a map of everywhere you went in one day.
13. Draw a map of the creases on your hand, (knuckles, palm)
14. Trace your footsteps with chalk.
15. Record an overheard conversation.
16. Trace the path of the moon in relation to where you live.
17. Go to a paint store. Collect 'chips' of all your favorite colors.
18. Draw your favorite tree.
19. Take 15 minutes to eat an orange.
20. Write a haiku.
21. Hang upside down for five minutes.
22. Hang found objects from tree branches.
23. Make a puppet.
24. Create an outdoor room from things you find in nature.
25. Read a book in one day.
26. Illustrate your grocery list.
27. Read a story out loud to a friend.
28. Write a letter to someone you admire.
29. Study the face of someone you do not like.
30. Make a meal based on a color theme. (i.e. all white).
31. Create a museum of very small things.
32. List the smells in your neighborhood.
33. List 100 uses for a tin can.
34. Fill an entire page in your journal with small circles. Color them in.
35. Give away something you love.
36. Choose an object, draw the side you can't see.
37. List all of the places you've ever lived.
38. Describe your favorite room in detail.
39. Write about your relationship with your washing machine.
40. Draw all of the things in your purse/bag.
41. Make a mini book based on the theme, "my grocery list".
42. Create a character based on someone you know. Write a list of personality traits.
43. Recall your favorite childhood game.
44. Put postcards of art pieces/painting on the inside of your kitchen cupboard doors, so you can see them everyday (but not become deaf to them.)
45. Draw the same object every day for a week.
46. Write in your journal using a different medium (brush & ink, charcoal, old typewriter, crayons, fat markers.
47. Draw the individual items of your favorite outfit.
48. Make a useful item using only paper & tape.
49. Research a celebration or ritual from another culture.
50. Do a temporary art installation using a pad of post it notes & a pen.
51. Draw a map of your favorite sitting spots in your town/city. (photocopy it and give it to someone you like.)
52. Record all of the sounds you hear in the course of one hours.
53. Using a grid, collect various textures from magazine and play them off of each other.
54. Cut out all media for one day. Write about the effects.
55. Make pencil rubbings of six different surfaces.
56. Draw your garbage.
57. Do a morning collage.
58. List your ten most important things, (not including animals or people.)
59. List ten things you would like to do every day.
60. Glue a photo of yourself as a child into your journal.
61. Transform some garbage.
62. Write an entry in your journal in really LARGE letters.
63. Collect some 'flat' things in nature (leaves, flowers). Glue or tape them into your journal.
64. Physically alter a page. (i.e. cut a hole, pour tea on it, burn it, fold it, etc.)
65. Find several color combinations you respond to in public. Document them using swatches, write where you found them.
66. Write a journal entry describing something "secret". Cut it up into several pieces and glue them back in scrambled.
67. Record descriptions or definitions of subjects or words you are interested in, found in encyclopedias or dictionaries.
68. Draw the outline of an object without looking at the page. (contour drawing).
69. What were you thinking just now? write it down.
70. Do nothing.
71. Write a list of ten things you could to do. Do the last thing on the list.
72. Create an image using dots.
73. Do 3 drawings at different speeds.
74. Put a small object in your left pocket (or in a bag), Put your left hand in the pocket. Draw it by feel.
75. Create a graph documenting or measuring something in your life.
76. Draw the sun.
77. Create instructions for a simple everyday task.
78. Make prints using food. (fruit and vegetables cut in half, fish, etc.)
79. Find a photo. Alter it by drawing over it.
80. Write a letter using an unconventional medium.
81. Draw one object for twenty minutes.
82. Combine two activities that have not been combined before.
83. Write about your day in an encyclopedic fashion. (i.e. organize by subject.)
84. Write a list of all the things you do to escape.
85. Cut a random shape out of several layers of a magazine. Make a collage out of the results.
86. Write an entry in code.
87. Make a painting using tools from the bathroom.
88. Work with a medium that is subtractive.
89. Write about or draw some of the doors in your life.
90. Make a postcard that has some kind of activity on it.
91. Divide a journal entry using "layers".
92. Divide an entry using "layers".
93. Write your own definition of one of the following concepts, sitting, waiting, sleeping (without using the actual word.)
94. List 10 of your habits.
95. Illustrate the concept of "simplicity".
96. Play with doggy.
97. Sing with bird.
98. Read Doraemon.
99. Take nap.
100. Do nothing.

30 Ways to Spark Your Creativity!

By Michael Kerr

1. Keep an idea journal to keep track off all your ideas, no matter how zany they may first appear!

2. Have fun! Humour and creativity are directly related and feed off each other. Humour helps reduce inhibitions, promotes lateral thinking and opens up more honest and open communication. (Ha + Ha = AHA!). Play a fun game, play Pictionary, brainstorm something wacky or do a theatre improv game before sitting down to brainstorm.

3. Become a browser of information. Studies suggest highly creative people tend to be generalists who make associations between unrelated information. Look for ideas everywhere and anywhere and from anyone!

4. Take the time to carefully frame the wording of your problem statement or goals for ideas to make sure that you are solving the right problem and not limiting your solutions.

5. Create a creativity and humour library in your office or workplace.

6. Circulate an idea file to collect ideas from ALL staff and even outside clients.

7. Hold contests for new ideas. Reward yourself and others for their creativity.

8. Establish a fun physical working environment and ambience. Our physical environment can have a huge impact on our ability to be creative.

9. Establish a “no sacred cows allowed” policy. (Challenge ALL rules, assumptions and outdated thinking!)

10. Keep a mini-tape recorder in your vehicle to capture ideas on the road.

11. Tolerate individual quirks in other people - recognize them as the opportunity for diverse perspectives. Ask total outsiders for their ideas.

12. Establish teams with a good mix of abilities (combine “idea people” with “doers”, “sellers” & “planners”).

13. Use puzzles and toys to stimulate creative thinking during meetings.

14. Hold regular brainstorm meetings to practice the process. (Remember the rules: quantity over quality, no blocking, no judging, build on other ideas – “Yes, and!”)

15. Ban idea-squashing language (“we’ve always done it this way”) from your vocabulary.

16. Hold meetings in different locations (have a picnic, go for a walk, go to someone’s house, a museum, the zoo. . .) to change your perspective.

17. View your problem from the opposite or reverse perspective.

18. Force random connections. Choose a word from the dictionary and look for novel connections between the word and your problem.

19. Make an idea list: force yourself to list 20 different ideas related to the issue.

20. Mindmap possible ideas. Put a key word or phrase in the middle of the page and then let ideas branch off in different directions, writing them all on the same page, branching ideas off each other in related categories.

21. Always ask yourself what the “other” right answer is. Force yourself to keep hunting for more ideas.

22. Exaggerate a trait connected to the problem and see what ideas follow.

23. Look at your problem or goal from a different perspective by imagining it from the perspective of another profession, a famous person or even an animal.

24. Re-word your problem statement and see what new ideas emerge by simply posing a different question.

25. Ask a five year-old for ideas for a totally novel perspective!

26. Choose your “peak brain hours” to brainstorm. (Don’t brainstorm at 3:00 p.m. if your brain always feels like sludge at that hour!)

27. Minimize the risks associated with implementing a new idea by minimizing any possible downsides, communicating the risks and developing a plan for the “worse case scenario.”

28. Learn to SELL new ideas. Become an idea cheerleader and champion their cause.

29. Create an action plan with deadlines to implement new ideas.

30. Give yourself permission to play and be to be creative!

What is an idea?

An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements.

Books

• Change the Way You See Everything: Through Asset-Based Thinking by Kathryn D. Cramer
• How to Get Ideas (BK Life) by Jack Foster
• Design Your Self: Rethinking the Way You Live, Love, Work, and Play by Karim Rashid
  
• It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be: The World's Best Selling Book, by Paul Arden
• Zing!: Five Steps and 101 Tips for Creativity On Command, by Sam Harrison
• Ideaspotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea, by Sam Harrison
• Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain, by Stefan Mumaw, Wendy Lee Oldfield
• Change the Way You See Everything: Through Asset-Based Thinking, by Kathryn D. Cramer, Hank Wasiak
• Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage by Pat Fallon
• Fingerprint: The Art of Using Handmade Elements in Graphic Design by Chen Design Associates
• Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads, Second Edition by Luke Sullivan
• Ideaship: How to Get Ideas Flowing in Your Workplace by Jack Foster