What do you do when you want to get more creative but there's no classroom, no team workshop, and no facilitator in sight? In this hands-on episode of Now Go Create, Claire Bridges hands you a solo toolkit to supercharge your creative thinking, just you, a notebook, and twenty minutes.

The episode was sparked by a call from an ambitious agency professional itching to sharpen her creative skills on her own terms. So Claire maps out a self-guided journey built from the exact moves, mindset, and exercises she teaches in her acclaimed Creative Ninja courses, drawing on research, real-world examples, and the anniversary of her book In Your Creative Element.

Across the episode, she walks you through five creative practices designed for immediate use on live briefs and real business challenges. Each one comes loaded with coaching questions, reflection points, and techniques you can put to work straight away, so grab a pen and follow along as you listen.

You'll discover why creativity is a muscle anyone can build, and learn how to challenge your assumptions, ask sharper questions, borrow from unexpected worlds, fuel creative incubation, and evaluate ideas without killing them too soon. With nods to thinkers like Carol Dweck, Alan Alda, and Julia Cameron, this is your invitation to turn creativity into a daily, repeatable habit.

Key Takeaways

• Creativity is a skill and a mindset, not a lottery win - swap your fixed beliefs for a growth mindset.
• Surface and challenge your hidden assumptions to unlock fresh solutions.
• Try "question storming" before you brainstorm, so you understand the real problem first.
• Steal inspiration from unrelated fields (related worlds) to break out of your rut.
• Feed your creativity with new experiences, fresh input, and deliberate incubation time; try some Julia Cameron-style ‘artist dates.
• Separate generating ideas from judging them, and give fragile ideas room to grow before you critique.
• Make creative thinking a repeatable habit; practice always beats perfection.

Something to Try

Take a real business challenge and run it through Claire's five moves: list and challenge every assumption, question storm around the problem, hunt for inspiration in a completely different field, deliberately step away to let your subconscious do the work, and only then start evaluating your ideas. Treat it like a creative workout, twenty minutes at a time and watch your confidence and creative muscle build.

About Claire Bridges:

Claire Bridges is Chief Spark and Founder of leading creative training consultancy Now Go Create, whose philosophy is that everyone can be creative.

Claire worked as a PR agency Managing Director and Creative Director working with global brands including Starbucks, Kellogg’s, Unilever, P&G and Danone in her previous PR career. Upskilling individuals, teams and organisations with practical creativity tools is Claire’s mission.

She’s one of only 250 people globally to hold an MSc in Creativity, Leadership & Innovation, and authored an Amazon best-selling creative handbook In Your Creative Element based on her academic studies.

Claire and her hand-picked team of experts have worked on thousands of creative projects and trained over 50,000 people around the world since starting Now Go Create in 2011.

Connect with Claire:

Website: https://nowgocreate.co.uk/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowgocreate/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NowGoCreate

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/claire-bridges-b6205b14

Produced by winteraudio.co.uk