People Don't Usually Like Their ID Pics, But These 35 Are Hilarity On Another Level

To learn how we all can look at our everyday life from a different perspective — whether it's our ID photo or something else — we contacted the author of Lazy Creativity and creator of an online community for anyone looking for resources to become a more creative person, Kyle Bernier.

He told Bored Panda that our inner and outer critics can really limit our creative thinking. "Because one critic isn't enough, we've got two," Bernier said.

"The inner critic plays on your doubt, insecurity, and negative self-talk. The outer critic plays on your external fears, such as physical or resource limitations. Sometimes you're lucky enough to only have one critic speaking to you at once. Other times, you have two critics coming at you at the same time. That's especially 'fun.' These critics can instill fear and anxiety into your creative process and can derail current projects or ideas or can prevent you from acting on new ideas."

Another obstacle to tapping into our imagination, according to Bernier, is gatekeeping. "Beware of gatekeepers as you try to explore new creativity, as they will do whatever they can to make you feel weird about exploring your new interest," he said.

"They started somewhere too and weren't always the high and mighty holders of knowledge and expertise they are now. They were noobs at it once too, and now that they've put in the time to learn more about it, they feel the need to defend their interest from others. That can be extremely discouraging when you've finally worked up enough courage to try something new, only to find resistance within the community you’re trying to enter."

And the third issue Bernier thought was worth pointing out is benchmarking. The creative likes to think of us humans as creatures of comparison; it's hard not to be one these days. But this mindset isn't always helpful.

"We're always comparing ourselves to others in the room. That's called benchmarking. For some people, this can bring out the competitive spirit and motivate them to rise above their peers. For other people, it's deflating and can take the wind out of their sails before even getting started. Your work is unique because you made it, so it doesn’t need to stack up to anyone else’s work."

Somewhat counterintuitively, Bernier thinks the first step to fueling our creativity is allowing ourselves to be bored. "Our thoughts are consumed by things we need to get done, anxious thoughts, or plans we've made. It's go go go all week. Our minds rarely have a break to just be. But when we're bored, our mind has the opportunity to wander," he explained.

"What's fascinating is that when we're bored, our mind has the space to think more creatively. We begin thinking about projects we can do or creative ways of looking at our worlds."

"If you're the type of person who has a difficult time justifying being bored, gently remind yourself that by doing so, you're setting yourself up for a creative mindset by letting your mind wander and develop ideas that it may not otherwise be able to with the stressors of your daily life interfering," Bernier added.

He's not alone on this. In a radio interview with the station LRT Opus, Lithuanian musician Kabloonak said that boredom is what really drives his ideas—once you get rid of all distractions and set aside some time to actively do nothing, the mind engages itself. Just let it do its thing, he advised, and it will surprise you with interesting discoveries.