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To get more creative ideas, try changing the conditions around the task: lift your mood before brainstorming, take a simple break after you have started, or give yourself a small creative constraint. These are experiments, not guaranteed fixes. Research suggests that a technique can help with one part of creative work—such as generating options—without improving another, such as choosing a solution.
For painters, that distinction matters: making a long list of possible compositions is different from deciding which one will work on the canvas. The ten approaches below separate evidence-backed findings from practical prompts, and explain what each is—and is not—known to do.
First, identify which kind of creativity you need
Creative work involves at least two different processes. Divergent thinking means generating multiple or unusual possibilities; convergent thinking means evaluating options or moving toward a solution. A strategy may affect one without affecting the other. Studies also use different measures, including fluency (how many ideas), flexibility (variety across categories), originality, and accuracy. Those measures are not interchangeable.
Before trying a technique, name the goal. If you are exploring compositions for a painting, you may want a wider range of possibilities. If you are resolving a perspective problem or selecting a color arrangement, you may need to assess and refine. That distinction helps you judge whether an approach is useful for the job at hand.
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10 ways to experiment with your creative process
1. Use an upbeat cue before brainstorming
In a 2015 experiment, participants who listened to happy music and thought about happy events generated more divergent ideas than a neutral-mood group. The groups did not differ in convergent ideas. For a painting session focused on possibilities—such as thumbnail sketches or alternate palettes—try an uplifting song before you begin. The result supports a modest mood cue for idea generation, not a claim that music improves every kind of creative performance.
Yamada and Nagai, “Positive mood enhances divergent but not convergent thinking” (2015)
2. Keep generating and judging as separate phases
Try a short round in which you make options without evaluating them, followed by a separate review in which you select or revise. This is a practical application of the distinction between divergent and convergent thinking; the cited studies did not test this exact two-stage recommendation. For example, make several small composition studies first, then compare their focal points and value patterns.
3. Take a break with a simple activity
A break does not have to mean sitting still. In a 2012 experiment, an undemanding activity designed to allow mind wandering improved performance on previously encountered Unusual Uses Task problems compared with demanding activity, rest, or no break. The authors wrote that “engaging in simple external tasks that allow the mind to wander may facilitate creative problem solving.” A later study found no significant mind-wandering effect on divergent thinking, however, and reported that incubation results varied with task type, novelty, and difficulty. Treat a low-demand break as a promising trial, not a universal rule.
Baird and colleagues, “Inspired by distraction: Mind wandering facilitates creative incubation” (2012); “The Role of Mind Wandering During Incubation in Divergent and Convergent Creative Thinking” (2025)
4. Return to a problem you have already started
The reported benefit in the Baird experiment concerned problems participants had encountered before the break. A practical version is to write down a specific painting question, such as how to simplify a crowded background, work on something low-demand for a while, then return and generate more options. The study does not establish an ideal break length or show that this works for every kind of problem.
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5. Give yourself one small constraint
Constraints are not automatically creativity killers. A 2022 meta-analysis covering 111 published and unpublished studies found an overall positive relationship between constraints and creative performance. The size and direction of that relationship varied with the kind of constraint, study design, funding status, and how creativity was measured. Try a bounded prompt—such as using a limited palette, a particular format, or a defined audience—and see whether it helps you focus. The analysis does not mean that every restriction improves every creative task.
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6. If you try meditation, keep the evidence specific
One study randomly assigned 40 Chinese undergraduates to integrative body-mind training or relaxation training. The training group practiced for 30 minutes a day over seven days, and researchers reported improved divergent-thinking performance compared with the relaxation group. This finding concerns one named intervention, a short program, and a small student sample; it does not establish that any meditation practice improves creativity generally.
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Tang and colleagues, “Improving creativity performance by short-term meditation” (2014)
7. Match the strategy to the problem in front of you
For open-ended work, set a near-term goal of expanding options. For a problem with a target answer, focus on assessing and selecting. This is especially useful when switching between sketching many possible ideas and resolving a specific technical decision: success at one does not automatically predict success at the other.
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A 2019 study of 52 students found that more frequent mind wandering during incubation was associated with improvement in one flexibility indicator, but that result was no longer significant after adjustment for the other four facets examined. The study also associated creativity improvement with more negative affect. You can notice whether a break leaves you refreshed or distressed, but this study does not validate awareness as a reliable creativity technique.
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9. Judge a technique by the outcome it targets
After trying an approach, ask what changed: the number of ideas, their variety, their originality, or your success at solving a particular problem? These are different outcomes. A technique that helps you produce more composition ideas may not help you choose the strongest one.
10. Change one thing at a time
Try one adjustment—such as an upbeat cue, a low-demand break, a bounded prompt, or the specific meditation format studied—and note the task and the outcome you care about. This is a practical way to learn what suits your own work, not a self-tracking routine tested by the cited studies. One good or bad session is not proof that a method will work for everyone.
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What the evidence can—and cannot—tell you
The findings come from separate experiments and a meta-analysis, not from a trial of one ten-part program. The clearest lesson is to match the method to the task: mood induction showed a benefit for divergent ideas in one experiment, incubation findings are mixed and context-dependent, constraints had a positive overall relationship with creative performance but varied by study factors, and the meditation result applies to one short intervention and sample.
None of these findings establishes a guaranteed outcome, a best break duration, or a universally effective set of creativity techniques. Use them as prompts to test thoughtfully in the kind of work you actually do.
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