How to Practice Improvisation to Boost Your Creative Thinking

To understand why improvisation is important, we first need to look at how the creative process in our brain works. Science now tells us that when we are being creative, our dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which is responsible for selective attention and impulse control, shuts down and allows our so-called Default Mode Network to make new connections. Imagine the Default Mode Network is a crazy monkey who uncontrollably runs around, doing whatever random stuff it wants. The DLPFC is the monkey’s boss, the only one capable of keeping it under control.

We need the “monkey boss” to be able to shift and sustain attention on the important tasks without being distracted by all the random thoughts popping up in the Default Mode Network. But in order to be creative, we need the network, the monkey area, to be left alone. To do that, we need to get into a relaxed state. That’s the time our monkey boss goes to sleep, which allows the Default Mode Network to create new connections, using the information it has.

Why is improvisation important?

Studies have shown that practicing improvisation changes the structure of our brain, which will make the creative process faster and easier. So instead of getting only three new ideas on your way to work, you can generate ten or even more. Most of them won’t be good, but you need those ten to find the one that will have value.

Here are 9 exercises and challenges you can try alone or with your friends to practice improvisation.

1) Do freestyle singing/rapping/poetry

When you’re alone on a long ride, start singing, rapping, recite poetry making it up on the spot. This makes you think creatively while also engaging the prefrontal cortex.

2) Play improvisation games with friends

If you’re lucky enough to have friends who don’t mind embarrassing themselves and play some of the silly improvisation games, organize a party. You will be forced to role-play, improvise, use your imagination, and think quickly on the spot. It might seem terrifying, but it’s actually a lot of fun. There are a lot of games all over the Internet you can choose from.

3) Turn simple shapes into pictures

You might have heard about the 30 Circles Exercise during which you turn a simple circle into a picture. The first eight or ten are going to be the most ordinary ideas (sun, clock, car, snowman, etc.), but soon you might reach your limit and you’ll have to push yourself. That’s when your mind will start to think outside of the box.

4) Improvise with a musical instrument

Whether you can play an instrument or not, there is nothing that stops you from picking it up and playing. Not even the lack of the instrument itself. You can always make one out of, for example, cooking pots, beer bottles, wine glasses, and so on. Even if you’ve never touched a guitar, pretend as if you had and play. Who knows, maybe after a while it’ll start to sound as if you knew what you were doing the whole time.

5) Explore freestyle storytelling

Sit down, play some music, and close your eyes. Enter the relaxed (alpha) state of mind and let it go. Follow your emotions, instincts, and thoughts. Imagine the main character, who are they? Where are they? What do they want? Start writing and don’t stop for at least ten minutes. If, after those ten minutes, you still feel like writing, keep going. It doesn’t have to be good or grammatically perfect. The point is to keep going.

I find that my best story ideas came from freestyling writing or daydreaming — when I let my mind go on an adventure and don’t think too hard about the plot. If you want, use a picture or a song for inspiration.

6) Combine two different things

Think of two things that are very different from each other and combine them. Let’s say art and chemistry, poker and neuroscience, or history and the world of My Little Pony. Finding connections between things that don’t have much in common can give you an extra push to come up with something new and unique.

Strange combinations might not solve a problem, but they can help us look at it from different angles. Exercises like this train our brain to think outside of the box more often and do it automatically.

7) Cook something with few ingredients without looking at a recipe

This exercise is helpful for more than one reason. If you can cook a good meal out of a few, cheap ingredients and make it healthy as well, you’ll nurture your creativity while also saving money.

You would be surprised how much can be made from beans, onions, and potatoes. Once it’s time for a trip to the shops, take what’s left in the house and think of as many options as you can. The only result to aim for is for the food to be good.

Another option is finding a picture of a great looking dish and trying to imitate it without looking at the recipe. In fact, food gives us a lot of fun options for improvisation and creativity.

8) Build something using limited tools

When you have limited resources that’s when you’re pushed to solve problems creatively. Traveling has put me in tricky situations countless times and I learned how to rely on myself and not panic when a problem occurred. For example, building a comfortable and secure bed at the airport after missing my flight to Alaska. Or making a coffee filter out of a plastic cup.

Go to the kitchen, closet, back yard, or garage and gather all the unnecessary stuff lying around

Throw them in the middle of the room and ask yourself, what can I build from this?

You’d be surprised what our brains can come up with when there are limited resources. My grandpa built a water pump, out of stuff other people threw away as junk.

9) Ask yourself strange questions

Ask yourself the powerful question ‘what if…?” write down the first thing that comes to your mind and answer it. Don’t think too hard, be quick.

Doing many creative exercises and playing improvisation games will, without a doubt, make you a better and faster creative thinker. But don’t forget about learning new things, and relaxing. It’s important to remember that you first need to enter the creative zone and allow your subconscious to get into action without being limited by your DLPFC.