6 unusual habits of the worlds most creative people

6 unusual habits of the worlds fruchtwein creative people6 unusual habits of the worlds most creative peopleI expend a huge amount of my time and energy writing books and articles and working to keep my company innovative. Ive developed an obsession with some of historys most creative minds in the hope that I might learn some tricks to expand my own creative productivity.Some of the things Ive learned are mora useful than others, and some are simply too weird to try.Steve Jobs, for example, routinely sat on toilets, dangling his bare feet in the water while he came up with new ideas, and Yoshiro Nakamatsu (inventor of the floppy disc) would dive deep under water until his brain was deprived of oxygen, then write his ideas on an underwater sticky pad.Weird ideas aside, Ive developed a pretty good understanding of the habits of some of historys most creative minds. Theres enough commonality between different people that Ive distilled their habits into strategies that anyone can follow. Six of these strategies stand out because they have the power to change the way you think about creativity. Give them a try, and youll reach new levels of creative productivity.1. Wake up earlyNot all creative minds are morning people. Franz Kafka routinely stayed up all night writing, and William Styron (author ofSophies Choice, among other best sellers) woke up at noon every day and considered his morning routine to be staying in bed for aelendher hour to think.However, early risers make up the clear majority of creative thinkers. The list of creative early risers ranges from Benjamin Franklin to Howard Schultz to Ernest Hemmingway, though they didnt all wake up early for the same reasons. Ben Franklin woke up early to plan out his day, while Schultz uses the time to send motivational emails to his employees.For many creative people, waking up early is a way to avoid distractions. Ernest Hemingway woke up at 5 a.m. every day to begin writing. He said, There is no one to disturb yo u and it is cool and cold and you come to your work and warm as you write.The trick to making getting up early stick is to do it every day and avoid naps- no matter how tired you feel. Eventually, you will abflug going to bed earlier to make up for the lost sleep. This can make for a couple of groggy days at first, but youll adjust quickly, and before you know it, youll join the ranks of creative early risers.2. Exercise frequentlyTheres plenty of evidence pointing to the benefits of exercise for creativity. Feeling good physically gets you in the right mood to focus and be productive. Exercise also forces you to have disconnected time (its tough to text or email while working out), and this allows you to reflect on whatever it is youre working on. In a Stanford study, 90% of people were more creative after they exercised.Its no surprise that so many creative and successful people built exercise into their daily routines. Kurt Vonnegut took walks into the nearby town, swam laps, and did push-ups and sit-ups, Richard Branson runs every morning, and composers Beethoven and Tchaikovsky both walked daily.3. Stick to a strict scheduleIts a common misconception that in order to be creative, one must live life on a whim with no structure and no sense ofneed to do anything, but the habits of highly successful and creative people suggest otherwise.In fact, most creative minds schedule their days rigorously. Psychologist William James described the impact of a schedule on creativity, saying that only by having a schedule can we free our minds to advance to really interesting fields of action.4. Keep your day jobCreativity flourishes when youre creating for yourself and no one else. Creativity becomes more difficult when your livelihood depends upon what you create (and you begin to think too much about what your audience will think of your product).Perhaps this is why so many successful and creative people held on to their day jobs. Many of them, like Stephen King, who was a schoolteacher, produced their breakout (and, in Kings case, what many consider his very best) work while they still held a 9 to 5.Day jobs provide more than the much-needed financial security to create freely. They also add structure to your day that can make your creative time a wonderful release. The list of successful, creative minds who kept their day jobs is a long one.Some notable individuals include Jacob Arabo, who started designing his own jewelry while working in a jewelry shop William Faulkner, who worked in a power plant while writingAs I Lay Dying and musician Philip Glass, who worked as a plumber.5. Learn to work anywhere, anytimeA lot of people work in only one place, believing its practically impossible for them to get anything done anywhere else. Staying in one place is actually a crutch studies show that changing environments is beneficial to productivity and creativity. E.B. White,E.B. White, author ofCharlottes Web, said it well A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a stimmt on paper. The same is true for any type of creative work. If you keep waiting until you are in the perfect place at the ideal time, the time will never come.Steve Jobs started Apple in his moms garage, and JK Rowling wrote the first ideas forHarry Potteron a napkin on a train. When you have a creative idea, dont wait- put it into action as soon as you can. Recording that spark of creativity may very well be the foundation of something great.6. Learn that creative blocks are just procrastinationAs long as your heart is still beating, you have the ability to come up with new ideas and execute them. They may not always be great ones, but the greatest enemy of creativity is inactivity.Author Jodi Picoult summarized creative blocks perfectly I dont believe in writers block. Think about it- when you were blocked in college and had to write a paper, didnt it always manage to fix itself the night before the paper was due? Wri ters block is having too much time on your hands. If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You cant edit a blank page.I dont believe in writers block. Think about it- when you were blocked in college and had to write a paper, didnt it always manage to fix itself the night before the paper was due? Writers block is having too much time on your hands. If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You cant edit a blank page.Picoults comment describes all creative activity- the only way to stay creative is to keep moving forward.Bringing it all togetherIn my experience, you must get intentional about your creativity if you want it to flourish. Give these six strategies a try to see what they can do for you.Travis Bradberry is the co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and the co-f ounder of TalentSmart.This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.6 unusual habits of the worlds most creative peopleI expend a huge amount of my time and energy writing books and articles and working to keep my company innovative. Ive developed an obsession with some of historys most creative minds in the hope that I might learn some tricks to expand my own creative productivity.Some of the things Ive learned are more useful than others, and some are simply too weird to try.Steve Jobs, for example, routinely sat on toilets, dangling his bare feet in the water while he came up with new ideas, and Yoshiro Nakamatsu (inventor of the floppy disc) would dive deep under water until his brain was deprived of oxygen, then write his ideas on an underwater sticky pad.Weird ideas aside, Ive developed a pretty good understanding of the habits of some of historys most creative minds. Theres enough commonality between different people that Ive distilled their habits into strategies that anyone can follow.Six of these strategies stand out because they have the power to change the way you think about creativity. Give them a try, and youll reach new levels of creative productivity.1. Wake up earlyNot all creative minds are morning people. Franz Kafka routinely stayed up all night writing, and William Styron (author ofSophies Choice, among other best sellers) woke up at noon every day and considered his morning routine to be staying in bed for another hour to think.However, early risers make up the clear majority of creative thinkers. The list of creative early risers ranges from Benjamin Franklin to Howard Schultz to Ernest Hemmingway, though they didnt all wake up early for the same reasons. Ben Franklin woke up early to plan out his day, while Schultz uses the time to send motivational emails to his employees.For many creative people, waking up early is a way to avoid distractions. Ernest Hemingway woke up at 5 a.m. every day to begin writing. He said, There is no one to d isturb you and it is cool and cold and you come to your work and warm as you write.The trick to making getting up early stick is to do it every day and avoid naps- no matter how tired you feel. Eventually, you will start going to bed earlier to make up for the lost sleep. This can make for a couple of groggy days at first, but youll adjust quickly, and before you know it, youll join the ranks of creative early risers.2. Exercise frequentlyTheres plenty of evidence pointing to the benefits of exercise for creativity. Feeling good physically gets you in the right mood to focus and be productive. Exercise also forces you to have disconnected time (its tough to text or email while working out), and this allows you to reflect on whatever it is youre working on. In a Stanford study, 90% of people were more creative after they exercised.Its no surprise that so many creative and successful people built exercise into their daily routines. Kurt Vonnegut took walks into the nearby town, swam l aps, and did push-ups and sit-ups, Richard Branson runs every morning, and composers Beethoven and Tchaikovsky both walked daily.3. Stick to a strict scheduleIts a common misconception that in order to be creative, one must live life on a whim with no structure and no sense ofneed to do anything, but the habits of highly successful and creative people suggest otherwise.In fact, most creative minds schedule their days rigorously. Psychologist William James described the impact of a schedule on creativity, saying that only by having a schedule can we free our minds to advance to really interesting fields of action.4. Keep your day jobCreativity flourishes when youre creating for yourself and no one else. Creativity becomes more difficult when your livelihood depends upon what you create (and you begin to think too much about what your audience will think of your product).Perhaps this is why so many successful and creative people held on to their day jobs. Many of them, like Stephen Ki ng, who was a schoolteacher, produced their breakout (and, in Kings case, what many consider his very best) work while they still held a 9 to 5.Day jobs provide more than the much-needed financial security to create freely. They also add structure to your day that can make your creative time a wonderful release. The list of successful, creative minds who kept their day jobs is a long one.Some notable individuals include Jacob Arabo, who started designing his own jewelry while working in a jewelry shop William Faulkner, who worked in a power plant while writingAs I Lay Dying and musician Philip Glass, who worked as a plumber.5. Learn to work anywhere, anytimeA lot of people work in only one place, believing its practically impossible for them to get anything done anywhere else. Staying in one place is actually a crutch studies show that changing environments is beneficial to productivity and creativity. E.B. White,E.B. White, author ofCharlottes Web, said it well A writer who waits f or ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper. The same is true for any type of creative work. If you keep waiting until you are in the perfect place at the ideal time, the time will never come.Steve Jobs started Apple in his moms garage, and JK Rowling wrote the first ideas forHarry Potteron a napkin on a train. When you have a creative idea, dont wait- put it into action as soon as you can. Recording that spark of creativity may very well be the foundation of something great.6. Learn that creative blocks are just procrastinationAs long as your heart is still beating, you have the ability to come up with new ideas and execute them. They may not always be great ones, but the greatest enemy of creativity is inactivity.Author Jodi Picoult summarized creative blocks perfectly I dont believe in writers block. Think about it- when you were blocked in college and had to write a paper, didnt it always manage to fix itself the night before the paper was du e? Writers block is having too much time on your hands. If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You cant edit a blank page.I dont believe in writers block. Think about it- when you were blocked in college and had to write a paper, didnt it always manage to fix itself the night before the paper was due? Writers block is having too much time on your hands. If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You cant edit a blank page.Picoults comment describes all creative activity- the only way to stay creative is to keep moving forward.Bringing it all togetherIn my experience, you must get intentional about your creativity if you want it to flourish. Give these six strategies a try to see what they can do for you.Travis Bradberry is the co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and th e co-founder of TalentSmart.This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.