It sounds fantastic to be a creative, we basically do no real work and spend our time ‘finding inspiration’ by being free travelling, reading, watching movies, going to the theater, partying hard and acting on impulse.
Unfortunately I too was tricked by this disillusion. but have realised is to be a creative you need to be the exact opposite! instead of being a hippy and doing whatever your mood takes you, we actually need a lot of discipline! You can have the wildest imagination and the best ideas, but if you don’t delivery it on time, it’s pointless. For me, the hardest part of being a creative apart from all the deadlines, the pitching, client chasing is having the right idea at the right time!
Inspiration is like a ghost, it’s hard to find most of the time, but to have the right idea at the right time is almost a miracle.
How can I be a better creative?
There are of course steps we can take to help our odds. For a start, i firmly believe the human brain is a muscle and like any muscle the more you flex it and challenge it (within limit) it will get stronger and better at what it does.
Because I know I have an awful memory, I’ve long developed the habit of writing everything down. The aim was to write down any strange thoughts or ideas I have. I could be working on a website project and suddenly thought of a cool product idea. I would write that down. doesn’t matter if the idea is strange or completely impossible or completely unrelated to what i’m working on. Just write it down!
I know writing unrelated ideas down doesn’t necessarily mean I would be able to solve whatever task is ahead of me, that is why I also turn to other sources of Wisdom: BOOKS!
If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants by Issac Newton
There are so much wisdom before my time, I greatly enjoy spending the time to absorb what wisdom I could from the great minds before me, here are some of my favourite books:
- Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko
- Brain Rules By John Medina
- Thinking Course By Edward de Bono
- The Creative License By Danny Gregory
I have nothing against the internet and sure I browse for inspirations all the time, but it only provide the end result and I would rather know how to build the path myself. After all, each project is unique in it’s own way.
Enter My Daily Practice
After reading James Altucher’s blog, I have decided to be more proactive in my own creativity and have started to take part in my own daily practices. These are tasks I will complete everyday without any excuse. Here’s my list
- 10 mins Meditation
- 5 ideas a day (Businesses, Graphics, Gadgets, Stories… anything that interest me)
- Exercise and Stretch
I have managed the above for 3 weeks now and am enjoying it’s affects, 5 ideas a day is the hardest, if I come out with only OK ideas, I would force myself to come up with something else.