Get Creative Again

By Stephanie Christie

Creative Development & Creative Coach at Creative Waikato

Lots of people are finding it difficult to do creative things at the moment. Talk about frustrating!  You can make getting to your creativity easier, with these 3 deceptively simple and magically effective steps.

Step 1:
Get moving! Start with some physical activity that will wake your brain up. It could be a quick walk around the block. You could put on a song you like really loud and dance around to it. You could try out a “power pose” – basically you stand like any classic action hero of your choice, for up to 30 seconds, long enough for your body to decide that it’s ready to do Something Magnificent.

Step 2:
Go to your room! I mean, go to your creative space (or set up your creative space if that’s how you work). The aim of this step is simply to be physically present in the space. Take a moment. Here you are! If you’ve been craving and resisting your creativity in equal measure, getting here is already a big accomplishment.

Step 3:
Do anything. Anything! Rearrange your brushes. Talk to the dust mites. Open your laptop and open That Document. Sing a sea shanty. Action leads to motivation, so take some kind of action. It’s surprising how quickly this can shift into: “Oh yeah, this thing over here is actually pretty interesting” – and you’re off.

Often, getting started is the hardest part. If you usually focus on a big creative dream project and then somehow hardly ever get round to working on it, you may be overwhelming your brain with expectations. Instead, you can focus on simply getting to your creative space. Once you’re there, you’re likely to remember why you like it.

If you want to create regularly, you can link this process to a habit that you already do daily, such as “while drinking a morning coffee,” or “right after breakfast”. It’s then a matter of training yourself: after a week or two, “I go to my studio for a bit first thing in the morning with a cup of tea,” will become more automatic. This lays the foundation for the fun stuff, like projects, skill development and being in creative flow.

Stephanie is available for free creative coaching sessions through Creative Waikato. To book yours – contact stephanie@creativewaikato.co.nz