If this is not the first time you come across this website, you should already know seempli is all about practicing and developing creativity. It is our mission to provide you with the best platform there is for doing that, while having loads of fun on the way.
There are so many contexts in which you can practice and apply your creative skills in real-life – bringing the creativity game to your everyday activities. The really fun part is using the game and your enhanced capabilities and apply them in surprising ways.
So, here’s a random selection of contexts you can apply your creative skills and the seempli Creativity Gym in. Are you ready to be surprised?
Preparing Breakfast
It is said to be the most important meal of the day. It will influence your entire day. And… it is an excellent opportunity to be creative!
Preparing a dish or an entire meal can certainly be a creative task. Chefs are often considered artists, and for a good reason. But let’s face it, many of us are approaching this activity in a purely functional way, especially when we are not preparing a special meal but just an ordinary everyday breakfast. And that’s what makes this a great setup for being creative.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Try to make tomorrow’s breakfast extraordinary #creativity #imagination” quote=”Try to make tomorrow’s breakfast extraordinary “]
Breakfast is a context full of constraints. You are limited in time, and in many cases, you are limited in options. For other meals, you probably have more options to play with. But as you already know: constraints are the steroids of creativity, so breakfast is a perfect choice for this experience.
Try to make tomorrow’s breakfast extraordinary. Try to surprise yourself. How to do that? Just pick a random seempli Seed from the Get in Shape page and use it to inspire the breakfast you are about to prepare. Maybe it will be a Kandinsky breakfast? Or a Touching the Moon breakfast?
The key is not thinking fancy, but rather working only with what you already have in your kitchen. This is not an exercise in finding a fancy recipe and rushing to your nearest grocery store. It is all about working with what you have and coming up with something new and surprising.
You can do this exercise even if cooking is “not your thing”. There’s a good chance this will produce even more surprising results. You can make the next breakfast extraordinary in more than one dimension. Your cooking skill is only one way to express yourself in this exercise.
Planning a One Day Trip
Got any plans for the weekend? Let’s try doing something slightly unusual. How about taking a one-day trip somewhere, but planning it with a twist?
We usually think of trip planning in terms of choosing a destination, planning the route, finding some things to see on the way, and maybe choosing a place to eat. We don’t usually think about such activity in the context of a theme or something that can spice it up in entirely different dimension. How about planning a Time Tunnel trip? Or an Opposite Attract trip? Or a trip inspired by a book you’ve just read?
Pick a random seempli Seed and use it as inspiration to plan a creative day trip.
You don’t have to take such triggers literally. If you are reading a book taking place in Paris, for example, you can still plan a short day trip inspired by it wherever you are in the world. That’s the challenging part… and the fun part as well. Spicing up your trip with loads of imagination will turn it into an even greater fun. It’s the key to making discoveries in familiar places and turning any trip to an adventure.
Oh… and don’t forget to actually go on the trip you are planning!
Having a High Tense Discussion at Work
Risky territory ahead, but the riskier it is, the more unusual the results can be. So, imagine you enter a meeting at work, and you just know it is going to be explosive. It has CONFLICT written all over it. It is not even a matter of solving some urgent problem creatively. It is just two (or more) parties with different strong opinions. Now, try the following…
Ask every participant to advocate the opinion of the person sitting to their right. They should be as convincing as if this is their own opinion. Risky right? Well, apart from being a wonderful way to break the tension, this is an excellent exercise in changing perspective. And this, in turn, is one of the pillars of creativity.
This activity might require some preparation such asking everyone to send a brief of their view, which, by the way, will make any “traditional” meeting more effective as well.
Commuting or Walking to Work
If by any chance you are using public transportation on a regular basis or if you are walking a lot, today is your lucky day! Did you know you can use this time as a fun, creative time?
[clickToTweet tweet=”Next time you are walking or commuting take a look around you and imagine. #crativity #imagination” quote=”Next time you are walking or commuting take a look around you and imagine.”]
I am using public transportation all the time, and the great thing about it is that I don’t need to drive and have my eyes on the road. And so, I have a lot of time I can use to observe and imagine.
Next time you are walking or commuting take a look around you and imagine. You can do that with any of the seempli Seeds just by picking a Seed and looking around you for something inspired by it. But one of my favorite activities is observing someone from a distance and then trying to imagine their story: who they are? What do they feel? What have they been doing earlier today or last night? I am not trying to guess. I am just letting my mind imagine freely.
This is a great creative exercise. We subconsciously use what we see to trigger a story in our mind. The result shouldn’t be necessarily a written story. Any insight you might have based on what you see will do just great. If you want to take this exercise further, try capturing a visual Insight, a drawing or a photograph, inspired by what you sensed when looking at the person you chose without drawing or photographing them.
Doing Nothing
OK. So this one is going to be a shocker. You can practice your creative skills while doing nothing!
Well, let’s be more accurate. You are never really “doing nothing.” Your mind is never in off mode. The question is, how can you make better use of the time when you are not doing any specific activity – the time when you just want to disconnect from it all.
Next time you want to disconnect, use this opportunity to reconnect to your dreams and your imagination. Just sit back, don’t do anything, and try to imagine. Something. Anything.
If you are having a hard time starting, pick a seempli Seed and begin to associate. It will help your mind make the first move and start wandering.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Letting your mind wander and imagine is a great #creative exercise #creativcity #imagination” quote=”Letting your mind wander and imagine is a great creative exercise”]
Letting your mind wander and imagine is a great creative exercise. Your creativity depends on your ability to imagine so working on this muscle is essential. And let’s be honest: what better way is there to disconnect from reality for a couple of minutes?
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Practicing and developing your creative skills is an essential activity. But this doesn’t mean it should be a burden. You can spice up ordinary everyday activities with open-ended fun creative challenges. It will not only help you be more creative – this practice is bound to help you make the most of these activities and make you and everyone around you surprised!