6 Ways to Spark Creativity and Innovation

BY SYDNEY SLADOVNIK, EDITORIAL ASSISTANT @SYDNEYSLADOVNIK

As the year winds to a close, you might be thinking about what’s next for your business. Do you want to add new lines of revenue next year, or pivot your products to take advantage of shifts in the market? Maybe it’s time to update that website, come up with fresh marketing copy, or launch a new social-media strategy. Those exercises require creativity and innovation—types of thinking that may be hard to access for busy entrepreneurs who feel like they’re just barely staying on top of the work that needs to get done. Luckily, there are some easy ways for business owners to get into the right headspace for creativity:

Make a list

Julie Rice, co-founder of both SoulCycle and Peoplehood, loves lists. She makes a list every day on a paper Post-it note, she says: “It’s the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning.”

That’s when the stream of consciousness is flowing the best, she adds. Her brightest ideas or priorities for the day are often top of mind when she first wakes up, so Rice makes sure a pen and paper are near the nightstand. “I make sure that list gets done every day,” she says.

Take a shower

You may want to do that list making in the shower. That’s what Date Like Goblins founder Lise Keeney does, because some of her greatest inspiration often hits there. The marketing maven, who helped popularize dating app Hinge and is now launching her own social app for gamers, says she uses bath crayons made for kids to jot down ideas that come to her before they swirl down the drain. “As a founder with ADHD, I need a place free from distraction to ideate. The shower is where I’m able to untangle problems and think freely,” Keeney says. “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it—and successfully whiteboarded your entire Q1 marketing strategy in green crayon.”

Take time to rest

“Grind culture” is a prevalent topic on LinkedIn and might make a person feel like they need to skip meals and sacrifice time with loved ones to succeed. Don’t fall for it, says Ben Goodwin, co-founder and CEO of prebiotic soda brand Olipop: “Grind culture can be really myopic and give you tunnel vision. That actually undermines creative problem solving.” Set aside time to sleep, recharge, and explore hobbies, Goodwin advises.

Get a hobby

Speaking of hobbies, Goodwin likes to DJ on weekends and has even performed for his employees at offsite retreats. “As a founder, pursuing hobbies can be challenging during rapid growth, but I believe it’s essential for creativity and well-being,” he says. “It’s important for me to have a creative outlet, something that ideally doesn’t involve more talking.”

Make time for unstructured activity

There is no right or wrong way to brainstorm, says Cammy Miller, co-founder of Venice, California-based clothing company Show Me Your Mumu. Figuring out when is more the issue, which is why she blocks out time for it on her calendar.

Miller’s only rule for these blocks is that she doesn’t pre-plan how she’ll use the time. Sometimes she uses it to scroll TikTok for reprieve, other times she visits the mall to garner retail inspiration from stores. Or she may use the block to take a phone call. “Respecting those blocks of time and using them to do whatever you need to do that day without preplanning is so helpful when the rest of your schedule feels so planned and granular,” Miller says. “You really need that time for your brain to breathe.”

Walk and talk

Long walks started as a pandemic wellness routine for The League dating app founder Amanda Bradford, but now it’s how she takes casual calls with the team. Her only ask during her loop around a lake near her Austin home is to keep cameras off.

“I almost feel like you can share more freely when you’re not on Zoom,” she says. On a video chat, there’s a formal demeanor or presentation that subconsciously gets in the way of free-flowing ideas. “On the phone, you can kind of riff and brainstorm. Sometimes the calls can be a lot more fruitful for brainstorming or if someone wants to tell you what they’re feeling,” she says, adding that its often easier to get more information from people over the phone.

Photo credit: Getty Images.