Here are four practices to explore to develop and increase your creativity (adapted from LESS: Accomplishing More By Doing Less):

1) Trust in your own creativity: Have confidence in your creative abilities. If you lack confidence, begin by naming three of the most creative things you’ve initiated or taken part in. How does being creative feel? Are there ways you have been and are creative that are nontypical? Perhaps you enjoy baking, or karaoke, or crafting your own photo albums. Encourage your creativity by drawing, writing poetry, or journaling.

2) Be less self-judging: Everyone I’ve ever known has an inner judge. But I have also noticed that nearly everyone believes that the voice of his or her inner judge is louder and more persistent than anyone else’s. It can be difficult to accept that having an inner critic is part of the human condition. Knowing this, experiment with relaxing and giving yourself a break. Despite your judgments, you do have the ability to be creative. Everyone does.

Pay attention to your judging voice. Become friends with it. Instead of trying to push it away, invite it in and play with it. The more you push away your inner critic, the louder and more persistent it can become. By relaxing, listening, and learning from this voice, it may become quieter and at times silent.

3) Pay attention to details. Through the creative process, we see the things around us in new ways that most people may not. Pay attention to what is most obvious, to what is right in front of you.

One fun experiment is to give objects new names. For instance, take a paperclip. Examine it closely, like you just invented it — what might you call it? Try this with a telephone, a T-shirt, a strawberry, or any other everyday object in your life. Often we take familiar objects for granted and fail to notice their exquisite form and detail. Giving them new names is a way to see them with fresh eyes.

4) There are no dumb questions: Our desire to look good or smart can get in the way of creativity. Instead, question everything. Risk looking awkward. Make it a practice to look underneath the surface of things, to question why you do things the way you do.