5 Tips to Promote Creativity

I’ve never been one for big, weighty New Years resolutions. It’s too much pressure - particularly when the world is dormant where I am. I’d much rather hibernate in winter, conserving my energy to bloom come spring. But our society rarely moves with nature’s rhythms.

After years of trial and error, I’ve learned to compromise. Now, I prefer to approach the new year the same way I’d ideally approach any beginning: with fresh eyes and an open heart. With that in mind, I like to set an intention. My goal this year is to continue to nurture my creativity. If you’re setting a similar intention, I have a few tips I thought I’d share.

1. Digitize Your Scrap Paper

Many of my best ideas come to me when I’m doing other things. Walking the dog. Playing with my kids. Running errands. I like to keep a pretty, small Moleskine notebook to jot down notes. But honestly? It’s rarely within arm’s reach when I need it.

Instead, I’ve fully embraced using technology to capture an idea before it floats away. I like the notes section of my phone, but I know others who rely on apps or send themselves emails. These digital spaces are the Mason jars to serendipity’s lightning bugs.

Later, you can consider whether an idea is worth pursuing, but take care not to lose that first spark of magic. It might be your next beginning.

2. Ritualize Your Flow State

There are countless scientific descriptions of the flow state, otherwise known as the headspace when we’re in peak creative mode. For me, I know I’m flowing when time falls away. I’m engrossed and alive and fully present. It doesn’t happen every time I sit down to write, but I’ve trained myself to get there faster.

Ever noticed that you will be hungry if you eat at a certain time of day? I’ve found that creativity works that way, too. At a certain time of day, most days, you’ll find me in the same place. Listening to the same music. Surrounded by the same distractions. These rituals serve as a cue that it’s time to get started and get on with it. There’s alchemy on the other side of routine if you can make it special enough.

So whatever you were doing the last time you were flowing? Do it again.

3. Stop Before The End

When the setting’s conjured and the dialogue’s crackling and the scene’s heading toward resolution, that’s when I cut it off. Why? Because stretching a scene beyond a work day keeps the momentum going. Returning to work in the middle gives you a foothold to begin again - always a less daunting prospect than starting from scratch.

Full disclosure: this is NOT my tip. It’s Ernest Hemingway’s. He wrote, “Learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it. I worked until I had something done, and I always stopped when I knew when was going to happen next.”

Bet you’ll write this one down now.

4. Find Your Tribe

We’re raised with a scarcity mindset. The world is like pizza. If you have a slice, there’s less for me. It’s an incredibly depressing (and false) perspective.

In reality, creative expression has always flourished in community. Let’s take inspiration from the Renaissance painters, the Impressionists, the Bloomsbury Set, or Warhol’s Factory crew. I could go on and on. Something mystical and productive happens when we surround ourselves with people who love what we love.

We get better. We get closer. In raising other artists up, we all ascend.

5. Celebrate Your Effort

We’re all working hard toward the day. The book launch. The gallery opening. The awards ceremony. We wait to celebrate until our progress is something the outside world can recognize. But that’s tantamount to trying to nourish a body on a single serving of dessert.

My creative life became infinitely more fun and rewarding when I started celebrating the steps forward that matter to me, however small. Because if small, consistent efforts align with our intentions, that’s worthy of praise. It’s also the only aspect of any creative journey wholly within our power.

Celebrate your effort, rather than the outcome. And start today. I have a hunch that you’ll take stock of your progress and find that it’s more than enough.

So, what do you think? Do my tips match yours? I’d love to know how you make time to be creative!