Creativity – whether you’re negotiating, writing listings descriptions or launching marketing campaigns – is invaluable, but how do you sustain it?

Real estate is a profession that demands many attributes from its most talented agents, among them multitasking, amicability, and of course, perseverance. But among the many other attributes we failed to list, perhaps none is more important than creativity.

After all, you could be the hardest working agent around, but if you’re unable to distinguish yourself creatively – whether its in your marketing, your listing descriptions, your negotiating, your initial contact with leads – it’ll be hard to stand out in what is a highly competitive marketplace.

But how do you stay creative? How do you keep the good ideas coming, and incorporate them into your business? Here are three points to consider:

1. Read – A LOT: Few activities are better for inspiring creativity than reading, and not just in real estate. Of course, read plenty about business, real estate and entrepreneurship, as the ideas and activities of successful professionals are almost always a great starting point, but you’ll also want to evolve your perspective, and reading about other topics – say, history, or works of fiction – can lead to unexpected revelations.

2. Keep Lists – and Update Them Obsessively: While you’re reading – or watching television, or going to the movies, or surfing the Web, or even walking down the street – always have something handy to record your various ideas, because after all, you never know what will inspire you. It could be an interesting billboard; it could be a magazine advertisement; heck, it could be a license plate! Whatever the source, write it in a notepad, or even better, if you have a smartphone, download the Evernote app (don’t worry – it’s free), and maintain a list of ideas on there.

3. Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone: Comfort is the bane of all creative efforts. Though you may be pleased with your creative efforts at the moment, the last thing you want to happen is for complacency to set in, and for your efforts to become stale and predictable; therefore, move outside of your comfort zone, and do unexpected things. Watch foreign films. Check out books from the library you normally never would. Attend new business seminars, and real estate courses. Challenge your presumptions of what creativity is, and see how your own creative life responds.