A strong foundation can help you through any creative obstacle you face.
You can’t hope to sustain creativity if you don’t have the right foundation to support it.
I spent years struggling to put pen to paper. Fingers to keys. I marveled when creative flow took over my mind and body, and despaired when it left me.
I used to create only when the moment seized me.
But to be creative, you need to create.
You can’t wait for lightning to strike. For the muses to visit your dreams and get you pumped up to work on your creative projects.
To be creative, you need to create.
Perfectionism and self-doubt are a deadly combination of poison for the creative mind. I hope to give you the antidote so that you can cement a solid foundation to build your creative home on.
1. Create every day
The first pillar to construct is to make creating a daily habit.
To cure your perfectionism, demand from yourself a creation a day.
It doesn’t matter how bad that creation is. Or how quickly you created it. You need to start creating, every day, even if the result makes you want to puke.
Why?
Because you want to make creating automatic. Second-nature. You want to make it as easy as breathing.
I struggled to produce anything for years, swearing up and down that I just didn’t have the spark. School and work became my excuse as to why I couldn’t write or draw or pursue anything creative. But as I got older and learned about habits and how they define us, I realized I made a huge mistake.
I made a habit of not creating.
The resistance I felt when I even thought about putting writing or drawing was insurmountable. Day after day, I grew more and more disappointed in myself as I missed my goals and targets, further entrenching the bad habit of not creating.
So I decided to start with the small habit of creating something, anything, for at least five minutes a day.
And from there, I build a daily habit of exercising my creativity.
2. Practice in public
The second pillar to construct is practicing in public.
One of the greatest obstacles for creatives is the fear of judgment. The fear of people looking at your babies and calling them ugly. Wretched amalgamations spawning from your mind.
Nothing is more demotivating than to have your blood, sweat, and tears laughed at.
But you need to get over it.
Posting your work online is a discomfort you need to embrace. An exercise to steel your skin and be willing to share your art in all of its forms. It’s a humbling experience, but one that needs to be done if you hope to elevate your craft.
You can’t hope to grow if no one sees your work.
Sharing your work, your ups and downs, will allow you to cultivate a community where others are doing just the same.
3. Find community
People underestimate just how valuable community is for your creativity.
Community will keep you engaged and motivated.
When you feel the creative juices begin to sputter, community can reinvigorate the desire to create. My fellow introverts may hate to hear it, but creativity is a collaborative effort among your peers and audience.
In Creativity, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi writes, “…creativity does not happen inside people’s heads, but in the interaction between a person’s thoughts and a sociocultural context” (23).
Community is integral to developing your aesthetic taste and growing as a creative.
Go out there and join as many groups as you can. Network. Talk to people. Find the community that shares your interests and watch yourself grow.
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