Boost your Creative Thinking with these 10 simple hacks

HACK #2. Drink More Water

In short, drinking enough water makes sure the energy production of your brain is functioning well, while not drinking enough leads to lower energy production. When I'm dehydrated I feel foggy, a bit fatigued and definitely not sharp. I also find it much harder to reach a higher flow of creative thinking.

In fact, when you’re fuelling your body with an adequate amount of water, you’ll be able to think faster by 14%, stay focused for much longer, experience less brain fog and fatigue — and feel a lot more energised. That’s one easy way to boost your productivity!

Why it works…  

80% of your brain is made up of water. So not surprisingly drinking more water and staying hydrated is one of the best ways to give your brain the fuel it needs. Widespread opinion links hydration with more concentration and more creativity. So, while technically, drinking water won’t make you a creative genius, it does allow you to get the absolute most from your brain’s cognitive and creative powers. 

How to give it a go: 
Here are some easy ways to boost your water consumption from health writer, Ashley Marcin, taken from her blog entitled - 'How much water you need to drink'. 

Plus here's my daily H20 habits:
1. Set a daily goal – I aim for 2L a day
2. Keep a reusable water bottle with you
3. Set reminders
4. Replace other drinks with water
5. Drink 1 glass of water before/with every meal
6. Get a water filter
7. Flavour your water – I add a dash of lemon 

HACK #4. If you ‘Think it. Ink it’.

You know that brilliant idea that just pops into your head at the strangest of times!
For me, it can be 4am, in the shower or going for a run. I have a journal, scrap bits of paper, and digital notes. Even if you don’t refer to it, the power of writing it down is powerful. The other day I found a scrap bit of paper I’d written my career dreams on 20 years ago. Surprisingly I’d managed to achieve them all - it had seeped into my consciousness just by writing it all down.

Why it works:
The sequential hand movements, like those used in handwriting, sharpens the brain by activating large regions of the brain responsible for thinking, language, healing and working memory. In fact, according to a study performed at Indiana University, the mere action of writing by hand unleashes creativity not easily accessed in any other way. And high-tech magnetic resonance imaging has shown that low-tech writing by hand increases neural activity in certain sections of the brain, much like meditation. Another often-overlooked benefit of writing by hand is that it just plain forces us to slow down and enjoy the moment - in effect resting the brain and potentially sparking creativity.

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How to give it a go: 
Here's some tips I leverage to make the most of putting my thoughts down and getting them out of my head!

1. Keep a Quick-Access Notebook or App
Always have a pocket notebook, Notes app, or voice recorder ready for instant capture.

2. Write in Short Bursts
Jot down ideas in keywords, short phrases, or bullet points—keep it fast and simple.

3. Capture the Context
Write where, when, and why the idea came to you—it helps later when revisiting.

4. Use Headings or Tags
Categorise ideas (e.g., “Work,” “Writing,” “Inspiration”) to make them easy to find later.

5. Set a Daily Writing Habit
Take 5 minutes each day to dump raw ideas - consistency leads to breakthroughs.

HACK #6. Ask ‘What if?’

Do you ever find yourself in an ideas rut? Stuck with only one approach and needing a lot more? Never fear – it’s just part and parcel of being a creative thinker. To help you with a breakthrough, you can ask yourself ‘What if?’. This is a lateral-thinking technique that helps you to challenge assumptions and explore new possibilities. The famous decision-making philosopher, Edward de Bono (who was the originator of the term 'lateral thinking'), suggests by asking "What if”, “you will start with silly ideas, but these often lead to radical insights and innovations.” This is a technique I use to help me diversify my ideas, or when I feel stuck and need to shake things up. 

Why it works:

Creative thinking bridges the gap between what is and what could be, with the help of imagination. ‘What if’ thinking allows us to see challenges in different ways and contexts and stimulates a vision of new possibilities and perspectives. This firing of our imagination forces us to challenge accepted norms while helping us to think without limits or constraints.

How to give it a go: 

Researcher and author of ‘Creative Absolute’, Sergey Markov suggests the following 4 steps to asking ‘What if…’

Step 1. Create a list of ‘What if’ questions. Here’s some examples to get you thinking…
• What if… we had a million dollars to spend on the solution?

• What if… you would merge with your biggest competitor?

• What if… your most talented employees would leave you?

• What if… a new start-up starts giving your core product away for free?

Step 2. Generate answers and then relate them back to your current challenge

Step 3. Generate new creative ideas

Step 4. Refine your ideas down to ‘what can we do’  

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HACK #8. Be inspired

Just as success breeds success, so too does creativity generate creativity. Never expect creativity to just happen. Look for new sources of inspiration that will give you fresh ideas and motivate you to generate unique answers to questions. By observing the products of creativity – in art, music, architecture, nature, gaming, programming, theatre, writing, business, and an infinite variety of other forms – we tap into a bottomless well of inspiration. Find your own approach to uncovering and drawing upon your own sources of inspiration.

Why it works:

Creativity is about synthesising knowledge and experience and the wisdom gained from it as we go through life. The people, media and places we engage with are essential sources of creativity. Provided we take the time and care to observe and learn from them.

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How to give it a go: 
For me it's about being more observant. Even going to the supermarket, I love seeing all the brands and labels. There's inspiration all around, you just have to open your eyes and take a moment to analyse why it captured your attention and how it made you feel. Here's some other places to inspire your creative juices!

• Pinterest
• Behance
• Art Galleries & Museums
• Street Art & Murals
• Fashion & Interior Design
• Film & Cinematography
• Nature & Travel
• Vintage Design Archives

HACK #10. Limit Yourself

It might seem counter-intuitive, but setting constraints on yourself can be all the motivation you need to get your creativity motors running. What restrictions do, is take away some of the choices available to us, and with them, the paralysis of choice that stops us from getting started. Constraints also shake us from the shackles of the status quo and force us to use our creativity to find new solutions.

Constraints can be real (e.g. time, space, wording) or an artificial 'lever' (e.g. time, budget, technology) you scale up or down exponentially. An example is "What might this look like if we only had a budget of $10? or conversely, a budget of $10 million?"

Why it works...

Psychologists theorise that there is an optimum balance between focus, freedom and resources within the creative process. In a research project conducted in 2018, psychologists reviewed 145 empirical studies and found that the relationship between creativity and constraints formed a U-shape curve. Whilst too many constraints can be stifling, too little causes complacency. This means that individuals follow the “path-of-least-resistance” - “they go for the most intuitive idea that comes to mind rather than investing in the development of better ideas”.  “Constraints,” they write, “provide focus and a creative challenge that motivates people to search for and connect information from different sources”.

How to give it a go: 
Here's some limitations you can place on yourself to help squeeze out a better outcome.

1. Set a timer

2. Commit to just a small task (that contributes to a larger goal)

3. Single-task until it hurts

4. Limit your team

5. Give yourself deadlines

6. Focus your content

7. Brainstorm better - like debating ideas

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