5 Small Changes That Can Help You Improve Creativity and Well-being

When it comes to living a life worth living, many people look for the bigger changes that they might need to make to boost their quality of life. If you believe the same, we are here to challenge your belief and introduce the idea of the power of small changes that can actually help you live a better life. Without further ado, let's examine the list of small changes that can help you improve your life permanently. 

1. Keep a Journal

The first small habit that can help you improve your life is keeping a journal. If you are a little skeptical about the power of journaling, we recommend keeping a journal with the intention of writing in it for 90 days straight.

Each day, you might want to write down the one thing that excites you the most right now. Even if the thing that you are excited about isn’t linked with your goal or anything else that you might want in life, you will want to keep a log of what excites you the most in life right now—in that very moment.

In case you are wondering what you will get out of keeping a journal, you should know that you will get a whole list of hobbies, new passions, and even new friends. For instance, you might develop a passion for writing a picture book, and before you know it, you are working on your draft and writing a picture book query letter to get a literary agent on board to send the book out for publication. 

Scientific studies show that keeping a gratitude journal will decrease stress and improve overall mental health and well-being. These journals may also contain doodles and scrap book-style collaged images that can act like a vision board to keep you inspired and a visual reminder of the things that brought you joy.

2. Write Down Your Gut Feelings

Another small change that can drastically improve your life is tracking your gut feelings. Again, you will need to have a journal so that you can record your subtle yet important internal feelings. It wouldn’t be wrong to state that your biggest thing in life might stem from your gut feeling, such as becoming a real-life author. 

Of course, there is also the logical objection when it comes to gut feelings, but you will want to write your gut feelings down so that you know where your hunches want to take you. For instance, you might need to take a trip to improve your health or pick up a new hobby.

Perhaps your gut is telling you that you cannot trust your friends as they might have a dark side that could potentially ruin your reputation by associating with them. You might have been on a couple of dates with a potential partner, and despite how the potential partner looks a certain way, your gut instincts might be telling you that they are not what they appear to be. 

The thing about this little exercise of writing down your daily hunches is that you will start to trust that feeling instead of being passive to them. By writing down your feelings, you will train yourself to be more aware of your intuitive side as loads of the things in life, such as your career and your choice of partner in life, come from that gut feeling. 

3. Visualize Your Goals Every Morning

After you wake up, and even before you pick up your phone, you will want to spend at least five minutes thinking about your goals and envisioning the life that you want to live in the upcoming five years or so. You don’t necessarily have to go fancy when establishing your goals and jotting them down on paper. 

Here is the thing: just having five minutes every day dedicated to the goals in your life is by itself one of the most redirecting forces. The worst thing that you can potentially do to yourself is to live a life as if you were traveling in a rudderless boat.

For instance, if you wake up, have your morning coffee, watch the news, and go to work, you are essentially on a rudderless boat, as you are living life on autopilot. In this example, you are not taking control and becoming the captain of your ship, steering consciously and deliberately in a certain direction. 

So, to take control of your life, you might want to create a vision board and hang it somewhere where you can see it first thing in the morning. You will also want to spend at least five minutes every day looking at your goals and the character traits that you want to have. This way, you will set the intentions for the day and get your subconscious active, as your subconscious will start working all day long on your goals.

For instance, if you want to write a book or graphic novel, you might want to buy a book, enroll in a course on how to become an author, or take a digital illustration class. And this is also how you will start your writing or illustration career. The point is that everything starts with a subconscious process, and once you have your subconscious mind aligned with your goals, it can change your life. 

4. Read, Read, Read

Another small change that can help you immensely in life is to avoid using your phone in the first and last hour of the morning. As a matter of fact, you will only want to use the phone when you really need to and then put it away after you have ended the call or responded to the text message. Many successful and productive people will set their "do not disturb" function on their phone so their notifications are muted between set hours of each day.

Of course, you will want to replace phone usage with a better and more productive habit, which is to read at least ten pages every day. Ideally, you will want to start your mornings by looking at the vision board and thinking about your goals for five minutes. Subsequently, you will want to read for at least twenty minutes. You can keep the fiction and novels to read before bedtime; however, in the morning, you will want to read books that help you move toward your goals. Also, if you are working on a specific goal, you might want to re-read a chapter until you have absorbed the information in your mind and heart. 

5. Make Daily Time for Creativity

Setting aside daily time for creativity is not just about honing a skill; it's about nurturing our well-being. Whether it's taking an online art class, improving your craft, or even cooking a new recipe from scratch, engaging in creative activities can significantly improve our mood and overall happiness. Incorporating creativity into our daily routine can enhance various aspects of our lives, including our careers. Creative thinking fosters innovation, problem-solving, and adaptability, making us more valuable assets in any workplace.

Creativity isn't just a luxury; it's a fundamental part of being human, and why art is essential to humanity. By dedicating even a small portion of our day to creative endeavors, we not only enhance our skills but also prioritize our mental and emotional wellness.