Royane Real
Creativity Is More Habit Than Genius
By Pat Samples
Introductory comments by Royane Real
Do you have a hard time letting out your inner creativity? There are many reasons why creativity can get blocked. One big reason for blocked creativity is that we often have very wrong ideas about what creativity is.
It took me a very long time and I followed a lot of dead ends before I was able to allow myself to be the creative person I wanted to be.
Although I had a lot of creative ideas, I also had a huge amount of perfectionism and fear. My perfectionism always interfered with my creativity, and killed it. To be creative, you have to be willing to experiment and you have to be willing to fail. You have to be willing to be mediocre while you learn to be good.
Over the years, I finally learned to let my creativity out. And I discovered that in a way, being creative is a job, not just an inspiration you get every five years. Creativity is more of a marathon than a sprint.
I realize now that to live the creative life, you have to keep on doing creative things. You have to make the creative life and the acts of creation a regular routine. If you get all starry-eyed and romantic about it like I did, then you can think of yourself as an undiscovered genius, but you never actually do anything. You don’t actually achieve anything.
You will only develop your creative skills by actually using them. You will only become an artist by doing the activities of an artist every day.
This article by Pat Samples about the topic of creativity deals with this aspect of being a creative person. Pat points out in this article that being creative is actually about the work and not just about the creative inspiration.
( The above introductory comments were written by Royane Real, author of “How You Can Be Smarter - Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative”
Download it today to find new ways to get your mind and your creativity growing ! )
Feature article
Creativity Is More Habit Than Genius
By: Pat Samples
Want to take up painting or write a memoir but never get around to it? Maybe you want to learn an instrument or perform a new song, yet that wish stays on your "someday" list. It can be frustrating when your creative fire just never seems to get lit.
Fire Up with Creative Habits
To ignite a daily fire in the fireplace requires that you bring in the wood and place it in the hearth, then strike a match to set it ablaze. In the same way, to ignite your creative fire you must have certain habits and rituals that will fire up your enthusiasm and energy, allowing you to plunge into the joys and mess of creating an artistic work.
In her book The Creative Habit, the famed choreographer Twyla Tharp says emphatically that creativity has much less to do with talent or genius than with hard work.
Tharp, who is in her late sixties, illustrates by saying she gets up every day at 5:30 a.m. and heads to the gym for a two-hour workout with her trainer. She says that, because of this kind of dedicated habit associated with her creative work, she is able to feel confident when she has just five weeks to create a new dance for a major performance venue. She has prepared her body and her mind well, beginning with a daily ritual.
It’s the ritual of calling the cab that actually gets her in motion, she says. The well-established routine of making the call gets her past the resistance that might arise about being too tired or otherwise reluctant to put herself through the hard routine at the gym.
Set Up Habits and Rituals That Inspire You
So, what are the daily or frequent habits and rituals that activate your creative productivity? Here are five examples of habits you can borrow from successful artists, along with rituals to set the stage for each habit:
Habit #1: Be observant and make a record of what you observe.
Ritual: Carry a notebook and pen or pencil with you everywhere you go to do a quick sketch, jot observations, or make a note of dialogue you overhear.
Habit #2: Study the work of artists you admire.
Ritual: Keep a set of books by your reading table or bedside and spend 15 minutes or more reading before going to bed. Or check out the arts calendar each Sunday and select a show to attend.
Habit #3: Practice, practice, practice what you want to get better at.
Ritual: Set a specific time to practice each day or on certain days. If you begin with a specific activity such as sitting in a certain place or turning on a certain light, you set up the habit to take on a life of its own.
Habit #4: Take time for solitude to give your muse a chance to play and have its say.
Ritual: Have a pen by your bedside and pick it up as soon as you wake, using it to record your creative ideas before you engage with other people (even before your coffee). Your muse will soon get in the habit of showing up for the appointed time. Or plan a weekend a month when you retreat to your bedroom or a quiet getaway place, and always start the weekend with a set activity such as lighting a candle.
Habit #5: Celebrate your successes. You may need encouraging memories to offset the many disappointing times you may experience.
Ritual: Create a screensaver of an art piece of yours that you’re happy with, or display a testimonial quote from an admirer.
Being creative is most satisfying when it moves from an idea in the mind into the actual creation of an artistic work. That happens more easily and more often if you have habits and rituals that light your creative fire. When starting or renewing a creative habit, build in a ritual to start you off each time you do the activity. Be sure to do the ritual every day for at least 30 days to make it stick. That ritual, faithfully practiced, will become like a book of matches you can count on set off that creative spark.
About the Author
Learn how to play your way through your day and hear other tips from Pat Samples about living creativity and aging fearlessly at http://www.patsamples.com. Pat's new book The Secret Wisdom of a Woman's Body: Freeing Yourself To Live Passionately and Age Fearlessly has been called by AARP's magazine "what our generation wants to read."
Article source: http://www.articlerich.com
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