Your Unique Senses Can Build Up Your Creative Process

When things get our of hand around the office, your projects and to-dos suffer due to distractions and overwhelm. With so many things that are vying for our attention these days, especially in a home setting, work gets difficult. Your senses can help.

Creativity comes and goes as you work, but is there a way to cultivate that creativity to stay as you continue throughout the day? Of course! Your environment and atmosphere can play a role in your creative process. There is a reason why writers goals are to provide a view of the story using the senses as a tool. It gives the reader everything they need to mentally experience the story as it’s being read.

Purposefully activating your senses can also help you with your work and get your mind on a creatively driven process to succeed.

The Senses

Some days the creativity is present, strong, and the ideas flow like a river over a waterfall. Other days it seems like a beaver set up a dam. This keeping you from continuing or completing the task you set out to do. So what do you do to get back to that constant flow of success? Let’s move forward and find out!

Touch

Every part of your body including your fueling your body is a touch. (bathroom, food/drink, posture, comfort, etc nearby) even temperature.

Taste

Stay hydrated and give yourself a little flavor with a treat or snack for getting things done. Give yourself the taste of something that will invoke the feelings you’re trying to accomplish. If you’re trying to remember a travel destination, order that type of food to jog your memory. If you’re like me, I just like to have something easy and within reach that I can eat while I work. Something like trail mix, grapes, or small candy pieces. (Yes, candy is not a healthy choice, sometimes you want something chocolate and sweet). Obviously, eating healthy is better for you, but you do you.

Sight

Distraction free mind – Tidy everything in line of sight (just did that), close all extra tabs not relevent to work, phone notifications off or phone put away, etc.
Create the atmosphere you need to keep creative, use colors, images, and lighting to your advantage. Diagrams, models, sketches, notes, quotes.

Sound

Some work well with music, some with background noise whether static, nature, podcast or a movie you don’t watch, but listen too. Still others work well with no sound at all. Headphones come in handy to keep other noises out and the ones you want in.

Smell

Smells are a pathway to memories, those that make us cringe and those that bring warm feelings to heart. Plan scents that you wear and those you put into the air such as candles or essential oils. Create a connection between the scent you like and the activity you’re doing to get your mind ready for the activity.

studies show that scents like Jasmin and lemon boost cognitive performance, while vanilla and cinnamon increase creative thinking.

Use Them All

If you’re able to create the right atmosphere, you can use all of your senses at once for a powerful creative session.