Do you ever feel the pressure of creativity? The pressure to have great ideas always on call? The pressure to have unique answers for the problems that exist in our organizations? The pressure to produce better work with every project?
Creativity is a unique gift, but it’s not like the ability to count – that never goes away. Creativity is more of a muscle than it is a talent. So what can we do EVERY DAY in order to be prepared to be our creative best?
- Remember The Law of Scarcity – Creativity is not unlimited. We have to make deliberate actions to refill our creative tanks. We have a limited number of hours a week to work on a project. Make sure we’re doing all necessary tasks to make those the most productive. Scarcity of time is a killer of creativity so ensuring we’re prepared and the tank is full when we are working on creative projects is vital to daily creative momentum building.
- Rehearse The Action – As we tend to our “business”, we should be rehearsing our creativity, even if just mentally. What colors will we need? How will we use them? What do we want the melody to sound like? Where do the drums go? How do we craft that paragraph in order to create a clincher.
- Embrace Inspiration – Spend time each day reading something, looking at something, listening to something that inspires you. Then document the inspiration so it can be used later when we need to have a catalog of ideas at hand in order to be our creative best.
- Shut it Down – The resistance is going to do everything in its power to distract our creative process. Be willing to shut down the distractions. Our phones, twitter, Facebook, email, the door to our office, whatever necessary…if it distracts our attention, shut it down.
- Find The Right Space – Space matters. Get into a space that allows for good work flow. Personally, I need sunlight. Matt Singelton, our creative director, loves dark and dreary, rainy days. Every creative person has their own space. Coffee shops, parks, offices, couches, desks – whatever your space, get there to get the juice going.
- Revisit the Purpose – Nothing fuels creativity better than vision. Why are we doing this? What can happen? Who can be impacted. Our purpose is paramount in daily remembering why we’re doing what we’re doing and helping us to get geared up to be creative.
- Know Your Breaks – Taking breaks actually promotes better creativity. When we take breaks, it actually is like resting our creative muscles so we can get stronger and better. Be intentional with how we break. Break frequently enough to revive, but not so often we can’t catch a solid rhythm.
- Stay On The Idea – Avoid the risk of chasing the rabbit trails. If a new idea pops up while we’re working on our current idea, document it. Save it. Be ready to go back to it, but don’t allow a new idea to kill what we’re working on right now.
What are some ways that you daily prepare to be the creative genius God designed you to be?
Thanks Stephen for your amazing posts. Thanks for taking time to write and share what you have learnt. Thanks for serving us in that way. I am working with university students at the university of Nairobi and I find your input so helpful. Keep on.
I read your post and wished I was good egonuh to write it
My most important exercise: be disciplined to create (through writing), even if as I write, I sense that the draft is nothing close to what I want to final product to be and it may be thrown out completely. Too often I stare at a blank screen or unfinished paragraph, refusing to start or continue until perfection suddenly manifests itself in my imagination. When I keep writing–even about nonsense–I resist the urge to short-circuit the process of creating.