3 Step Program to Be A Creative Powerhouse

(Photo by Adriana Curcio)

You know how people say that in order to do something important in your life, often times you have to push yourself out of your “comfort” zone, or act out of character, or be more spontaneous?

While it is easy for someone who naturally likes to get naked at the drop of the dime and make an impromptu speech at a public gathering, or write an Emmy winning screenplay, most people are not blessed with this ability

And it’s this very ability that can lead you to be more attractive, interesting, fun, exciting, admired, and a load of other good terms that I am too lazy to type out

And while many people simply are more conservative and laid back, there are moments in a person’s life when they simply have to act out of character in order to grow as a human being

If in these moments you decide to cower in the corner like a little scared bunny rabbit, your character dies a little bit inside (not to mention if I see it I will call you out 😉 )

Here is a short guide on how to act a bit more spontaneous, act out of character, and push your limits in order to ultimately grow and succeed in any area of your life

Being spontaneous does not require you to be a cast member on “Who’s line is it anyway”, you simply have to be willing to go the extra mile and be willing to screw things up a few times

Every failure is going to be a brick in your palace for this stuff, even if you think the palace is going to be made of dog crap

Now to get your spontaneous side into action there are a few exercises you need to perform before I will even offer you any advice

1) Access your “fun” state

Because like building a muscle, every rep of higher weight in time makes the muscle larger. If you want your spontaneous abilities to better serve you, practice is needed

Try making some ridiculous noises

This is as simple as it sounds. Think of the most ridiculous and over the top sound effect you can think of (it can be anything) and scream it out so the neighbors down the block call the police

How was that?

It was bullshit because I know you haven’t done it yet, you wimped out

Really go for it this time

By doing this you will break your mental state from “I’m reading and being very serious” to “alright I’m ready to have a bit of fun”

This fun state is critical for acting spontaneous and taking more beneficial risks and challenges in your life

A few other ways of breaking character include

1)      Acting like an animal

2)      Running around your room flailing your hands

3)      Screaming

4)      Pretty much anything that is someone walked in on would think you are mentally insane

You know how to access this state of mind fairly easily; you just need to give yourself permission to not be such a buzz kill

Once you know how to access this state, you need to get yourself in a fun frame of mind every time you know that being spontaneous can serve to your benefit

Whether you are trying to score a date, be inventive at a business meeting, get over your writers block, figure out what you want to eat, this fun spontaneous state can serve you to succeed

Now that you’re in this fun state that next step is to

2) Recognize the randomness in the things around you

Now I know that sentence looks like I took a hit of LSD and rolled my face across the keyboard, but it truly is necessary in order to get your spontaneous gears moving

Lets say for a moment that you are at a bar and there is a napkin sitting on the table

Is a napkin fun at all? Not at all

But what if the napkin was folded into a paper crane? Or made into a hat? Or made into a paper football?

Its these little creative spins on simple things that have revolutionized many things we use in society today

By looking at a seemingly boring object and changing the terms from which you can derive a sense of pleasure from it, you can literally create an infinite amount of possibilities from even a stupid piece of paper

Try looking around your room for something completely mundane, and attempt to think of fun ways you could use this object to accomplish things

You could think about how that pencil on your desk, stacked with a million other pencils, could make a mini pyramid

Does this sound stupid? Yes

Does it work? Yes

Who really cares if you’re having a bit more fun and making something out of nothing

Making the endless out of the seamless is what creativity is all about, and by doing exercises like this you will get your brain churning in a creative mindset, ultimately lead you to

3) Letting the words and ideas flow

If you have already made noises to sound like a cow and began to ponder the use of your computer speakers as flotation devices then you are already at the mindset you need to be for ultimate creativity and ultimate spontaneity

This is where most people screw it all up

They choke, come up with reasons why it’s not proper at that moment, get scared, anything, and back down instead of stepping up

All you need to do now is let it all out, let your mouth, pencil, mind, paintbrush, and keyboard run free like a 10 year old that just started summer vacation

Don’t back out and make excuses for why you can’t just open your mouth, write, etc

Just go for it, chances are you will be handsomely rewarded for doing so

And If the shit hits the fan (which it never does) you can blame me

“That really wasn’t me, that was Gabriel acting vicariously through me”

Be sure to let me know how being creative and spontaneous has served you in the past

Gabriel