Inspiration is unreliable, and boredom often arrives when you have a little time and no plan. A daily creative habit solves both: you always have something to turn to, and small efforts add up to real progress.
Start tiny
Choose a session so short it feels almost silly: five or ten minutes, one drawing, one paragraph, one photo. The aim in the first weeks is to show up, not to make great work. You can always keep going once you've started.
Anchor it to your day
Attach the habit to something you already do: after your morning coffee, on the train, straight after dinner. Keep your tools where you'll see them, such as a sketchbook next to the kettle. Some writers and artists use "morning pages", a practice popularized by Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way, which involves writing three pages by hand first thing each morning, without editing.
Use constraints
A blank page is intimidating; a rule is inviting. Limit yourself to one color, one shape, 50 words, or a single object. Constraints push you past the obvious first idea and are a well-known antidote to feeling stuck.
Capture ideas
Keep a notebook or a notes app just for ideas: overheard phrases, colors you noticed, projects you'd like to try. On bored or blank days, open it and pick one. Over time this becomes your personal list of things to do when bored.
Walk and let your mind wander
A 2014 Stanford study by Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz found that people generated more creative ideas while walking, and shortly afterward, than while sitting. Walking without headphones and letting your mind drift is a simple way to use the restless energy of boredom. Our guide to why boredom happens explains the link between mind-wandering and ideas.
30 prompts for a month of making
Use one a day, in any medium: drawing, writing, photography, stitching or collage.
- Draw your breakfast
- Photograph something round
- Write a 50-word story
- Doodle with your non-dominant hand
- Collage a mood
- Sketch a shoe
- Describe a smell
- Photograph a shadow
- Invent a creature
- Map your street
- Stitch a single leaf
- Write a letter to your future self
- Draw a plant three times
- Photograph reflections
- Make a pattern from one shape
- Rewrite a fairy tale in five lines
- Draw a view from a window
- Make something blue
- List 20 things you're curious about
- Sketch a stranger's hat from memory
- Design a logo for your day
- Photograph a texture
- Draw your keys
- Write a haiku about the weather
- Make a tiny zine
- Paint with coffee or tea
- Redesign a cereal box
- Draw a sound
- Photograph the same spot at dusk
- Make a self-portrait with objects
When you miss a day
- Never miss twice is a kinder rule than a perfect streak.
- Lower the bar on busy days: one line, one doodle, one photo still counts.
- Review monthly. Flip back through your work. Seeing progress is the best motivation.
- Change it up if the habit itself becomes boring; try a new creative hobby for the next month.
Adapted from the earlier edition of The Bored Brand. Layout and publishing information have been updated; no independent expert review is claimed. Editorial policy · Corrections