Because we are always thinking, planning, and worrying about things, our minds tend to get cluttered with thoughts and it becomes difficult to focus all of our mental energies on a specific task. You can’t think creatively about a problem when half of your mind is thinking about what you want to eat for dinner or how bad the traffic is going to be when you leave work. Before you begin a task where you want to apply all of your creative ability, start by clearing out your mind.

There are many ways of doing this, try this one to start. Sitting comfortably, find a nearby object such as a pencil. Now, stare at it. Try to empty your mind of every thought that isn’t related to your object. Your whole universe is the pencil. What would it be like to be a pencil? Without touching it, close your eyes and imagine what a pencil feels like. Does it have a smell? A taste? If any unrelated thought enters your mind, refocus your attention onto your object. With practice you will become better at shutting out unrelated thoughts. Do this for at least 5 minutes (set a timer so you aren’t thinking about the time). You should find that your mind is more focused and has fewer distracting thoughts. This is the correct mindset for creative thinking.