Creative exercises you can do in your office to help move you towards getting your next big idea, brought to you by redhotblue.

1. BRING OUT YOUR MOST
CREATIVE SELF
GETTING THE BIG I-DEER
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2. EXERCISE 1
THE OLD SWITCHEROO
Pick a random role from the ones below and put yourself in that person’s shoes – what are you wearing, what do you enjoy doing, what
did you have for breakfast etc. Get those creative guns fired up, then switch back to your real topic and fire away!
SUPERHERO KING OR QUEEN PASTRY CHEF TEDDY BEAR OFFICE TEMP
REAL ESTATE AGENT UNI STUDENT OLYMPIC ATHLETE

3. EXERCISE 2
“WHAT IF” YOU TRIED THIS EXERCISE?
What if?
Consider one of the below “What if” exercises and come up with the most unique idea
you can think of. See if these mental gymnastics stimulate your creative idea process:
What if people didn’t have to sleep?
What if the air was flammable?
What if we all lived to be 120?
What if your industry didn’t exist, what would you be doing?
What if time machines were real?
What if you could read the What if you woke What if all the movies What if all types of
private diary of anyone you up one day and ever made were based
wanted, who would it be? you were invisible? on true stories? phones didn’t exist?

4. EXERCISE 3
IMAGINE THERE’S NO STOPPING YOU
Take a leaf from Forrest Gump’s book and run to the door, then
to end of the street, then to the end of the city, then to the end
of the state – the only difference is that you’ll be doing this from
your desk. Sit back, close your eyes and tell yourself out loud
how your feet feel running along the pavement, what you’ll see
as you run across town and what people you may encounter
– all the while feeling your body breathing in time to your pace
and the rush of wind as you run with no end in sight.
Open eyes and commence creative expression!

5. EXERCISE 4
TURN THE PROBLEM UPSIDE DOWN
Little bit of physical activity here, off the chair and lay
down on your back – knees propped up. Now stare
at the ceiling, look around at the corners and textures
and the path that leads out of the room you’re in.
Concentrate on this more and more while slowly
imagining that you’re walking where your eyes are
going – so that the ceiling becomes your floor and your
normal floor is now the ceiling.
Turn everything in the room on its head and once
you’re totally entrenched in your new Upside Down
Land, come back up – ready to look at all problems
from a different angle.

6. EXERCISE 5
QUESTION TIME
Make a list of your 10 “unwritten laws” for the week – 10 things you ensure you do as part of your everyday life – such as shopping for
groceries, what time you wake up, what TV shows you regularly watch etc. Now look at each item and consider why you do that thing,
what its purpose is and what would it take for you to stop doing that activity.
As you ponder it out, your creative barriers should also fall.

7. EXERCISE 6
Raid a nearby child’s toybox and borrow their Lego set. Try creating one
LET GO WITH LEGO of the items below and you’ll find your creativity building block by block.
Garden of Eden
The “I’m flying” scene in Titanic – Jack and Rose at the bow of the boat
Sushi plate
Fort Awesomely Impenetrable
Batman’s Batcave

8. BLOW YOUR MIND