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Creativity is much more intentional and requires far more effort on your part than you might think at first.

If you laze about all day, simply waiting for inspiration to strike, you might not get very far with your artistic endeavours. You can’t leave your ambitions to be at the mercy of just luck.

So, you have to make changes to your lifestyle to grow and sharpen your creative instincts.

As Bas Korsten explained in a piece in the Harvard Business Review, creativity isn’t inherent, and you actually have to actively hone it.

According to him, creatives of all kinds ought to train their brains in a similar way that athletes train their bodies. If you want quality performance, you need disciplined, sustained effort over a long time.

One thing that you can do right now to be more creative is actively engage with nature.

“It’s been proven that spending time in nature makes us more creative. Looking at trees and leaves — instead of our electronic devices — reduces our anxiety, lowers our heart rates, soothes us, and allows our brains to make connections more easily,” Korsten writes.

Other ways to get your creative muscles growing include things like picking up meditation, moving and exercising more every single day, and intentionally trying to connect with different kinds of people.

“When consciously seeking inspiration, not enough can be said about diversity. Remember the brain and its predisposition to take the lazy way out? Diversity makes the brain work harder by challenging stereotypes,” Korsten shares his thoughts on HBR.

He adds that people are far better at creative problem-solving when they “don’t have the comfort of knowing what to expect.”

Meanwhile, Verywell Mind stresses the fact that creativity is a skill that anyone can develop and strengthen, given enough effort. It’s not just great for artistic projects, though.

“[Creativity is] all about finding new ways of solving problems and approaching situations. It's also a valuable skill for people from all walks of life, whether you work in an inherently creative field or want to find new opportunities for self-expression.”