If you’re looking to unleash your ideas, schedule a creative retreat.
You don’t discover your best ideas behind your desk or pecking away at your keyboard. And you don’t have a-ha moments when you’re following your daily routine.
Moments of brilliance happen when you change things up.
One of the most effective ways I have found to shock the creative system into overdrive is to schedule a “creative retreat.”
What is it? This is a short, deliberate getaway to work on a problem and discover new ideas.
Getaway To Get Creative
Last week I took a 3 day creative retreat. It was amazing.
For the last few weeks I’ve been suffering from creative constipation. I’m working on my Sticky Branding customized Sticky notes, but I’ve been unable to get the ideas to gel. The topic is defined and the research is well underway, but key elements eluded me: the design of the sticky notepad their usage and the list could go in mind brains and to every nerve of mine, the premise, and the destination.
I was spinning my wheels, and it was starting to cause me a great deal of stress. Finally, I realized I needed to take a creative retreat.
The key to a creative retreat is to break your routine.
For my retreat I went to my factory @ Palghar. It’s in a quiet and pristine setting, and there’s no TV or Internet. It’s a perfect place for me to work in an undistracted environment.
To develop your creative retreat look for a physical place to break your routine. The best option is to get away for a few days. If that’s not possible, look for a place that you can work for a day or two that is completely different from your normal office setting.
- Build Your Plan
A creative retreat isn’t a vacation. It’s a structured process that balances work with unrelated activities.
Prior to heading to the factory; I formulated my plan with objectives and workflow:
- Desired Outcome:Develop a title and premise for the new sticky notes that would cover the market with its own trend of Sticky Branding ?.
- Approach:Deep research into the topic. This involved reading books, articles, and case studies. As I found key insights or ideas I logged them on my very own generated customised Post-It Notes or so called Sticky notes and organized them on my “ideas wall.”
- Activity:To let ideas percolate I booked time to go for prayers in early dawn every morning from 5:00am to 6:30 am. and post mediation think how constructive could my day be ahead till the sun takes it shine away from me into the darkness.
I followed the same routine for 3 days. It was intense, but productive.
Creativity loves routine. No matter where you host your retreat, build your agenda before you arrive. The routine helps you focus on the task at hand, and avoid procrastination and distraction.
Include Prayers & Exercise In Your Creative Retreat : As it is well said :
“Allah helps those who help themselves”
A creative retreat isn’t all about work. You need other activities to help your brain disconnect and breathe.
For me, I included prayers and sunrise strategically. It’s an activity I love, and it puts me outside in nature. I could start each day of my retreat with fresh air, natural light, and a fun activity.
When you develop your creative retreat, look for a complimentary activity. It could be hiking, biking, painting, or just about anything unrelated to your work.
I find the best activities for creativity are outdoors and not too physically demanding. You don’t want to be exhausted from your activity and unable to work afterwards!
Brilliance Happens When You Aren’t Looking
On the morning of day 3 everything clicked.
As I was riding the train journey and having a look of everything pass by me everything started to accumulate in my mind. An idea that I generated in late 2014 bounced to the forefront and linked itself to the prior day’s research; everything came into clarity.
I couldn’t contain myself. I pulled off to the side and recorded my notes in my dairy. I had it! As they are part of my bread and butter in making money from lively hood in this world.
The interesting part is I wasn’t looking for the idea. I was happily viewing the sunset and rejoicings that my goals for day were clear before the darkness strikes. This is the neat part of creativity. You find the best ideas when you aren’t looking for them.
A Creative Retreat Kick starts Creativity !
When you’re feeling stuck or need to find a brilliant idea take a creative retreat.
The combination of a new setting, a precise agenda, and unrelated activities will do wonders for your creativity. The process unlocks your mind and helps it make connections it never would in the office.
I don’t take many creative retreats, but whenever I do, I always come back energized. The process gives me clarity to post every visit I make to Burhanpur Dargah e-Hakimi!
If you haven’t taken a creative retreat, it’s high time you plan one. You will be amazed at what you can discover !
