Creativity is vital to any small business. It is the gateway to coping with challenges, solving problems, and encouraging innovation and invention. However, creativity is fluid and dynamic, sometimes disappearing as quickly as it arrives. Here are 5 ways to help you harness your imagination and get the creative juices flowing.

1. Restrict the scope of your creative focus.

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Focus on one challenge, one opportunity, one idea. Taking on too many challenges at once can be overwhelming, not mind-opening.

2. Daydream.

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While it may sound counter to the advice in No. 1, sometimes simply taking time out of your day to think freely is a great creative exercise that can often yield promising results. Mediating also works well.

3. Keep learning.

(Image: on Flickr via Thomas Hawke)

Researching and learning more about a particular subject is the best possible way to understand it better. Even if it may not be related to your job, pursuing your intellectual interests is a great way to stimulate creativity.

4. Write down everything.

(Image: on Flickr via Phil Gyford)

Creativity is not a switch you turn on and off. True creativity is a construction project in which you continually build on original ideas. Recording your ideas either with pen and paper, smartphone or computer is the best way harvest creativity and use it at will.

5. Get active.

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Sometimes the best way to invigorate creativity is just to get fresh air and exercise. Though not everyone has the time to go take a jog in the woods, getting active in some way once a day is a great strategy to boost creativity.

(Featured image: on Flickr via Mark Chadwich)