How to Be Creative
Edited by Savialeigh, Imperatrix, Jack
Herrick, Manuel_Montenegro_THANKS! And 57 others
There are some steps how to be creative.
1. Limit your tools to only the most vital.
Having a limited set of tools forces you to be creative; it really
challenges you to use what you have to produce the desired results. As a
result, you’ll get incredibly good with that small set of tools and refine your
use of them to a point you can do anything you like with them. You’ll be far
sharper than someone who merely dabbles with a larger set of tools. Learn how
to be resourceful.
- If
you're a painter, limit yourself to one medium and just the primary
colors. If you're a drawer, limit yourself to pencil drawings. Especially
in the beginning, excelling at the most basic kind of expression will help
you be creative once you have more tools at your disposal.
- If
you're a movie-maker, limit yourself to black and white film. If you're a
photographer, do the same. Don't think that creativity always means the
same thing as options; it often doesn't. Creativity creates options, not
feeds off them.
- If
you're a writer, practice writing with only the words a 6th grader might
understand, even if you're writing about concepts that adults find
difficult to wrap their minds around. If you're a playwright, try to get
by without using props in either your script or in your performances. See
what happens!
2. Don’t listen to feedback
Keep following your own path. The problem with asking for feedback is invariably the feedback will be given infused with that person’s
preconceived notions of what the outcome should be. Others will unconsciously
push you in a direction that they see as best. This is done with good
intentions; however, it actually hurts your creativity. Now this is different
from sharing your work — by all means share, but listening to feedback is not a
good decision if you want to truly find your own path of creative
self-expression. Once you're finished with your creative work, whatever it may
be, then you can listen to feedback. Just don't let criticism
(even the constructive type) stifle your
creativity during the creative process.
- Keep in
mind that people will generally display resistance to your idea, because
good ideas change the existing dynamic, and people, for the
most part, like things the way they are. When you present
something that challenges the status quo, many people (friends, relatives,
co-workers) will feel threatened.
- But
don't be afraid, however, to criticize yourself. Actually, be harder on
yourself than everyone else is. Always ask yourself, how could I
have done this better?and what would I have done differently
in a perfect world? Accept that you are not perfect, and that
your striving to be as good as possible is the fruit of self-expression.
If you can't find fault with your own work, you're probably not trying
hard enough.
3. Having a routine may
not actually be a bad thing
Routines are positive if they reinforce a healthy, creative mindset;
they're negative if they destroy that. While breaking your routine once in a
while to force new ways of thinking is good, what if
growing/learning/experiencing new things was built into your routine as a
given? The people who get stuck on a monotonous path and speak negatively about
routine have probably not developed a routine that puts them on a path of
internal growth. The key is to discover creative rituals that put you in a
more creative mindset.
- Many
writers not only have a minimum number of words they must write each day,
but they also have almost superstitious requirements for their writing
conditions. The 18th century German writer Friedrich Schiller, for
example, kept rotten apples at his desk and soaked his feet in a tub of
ice water while he wrote!
- Don't
be afraid to seize control of your environment and make it work for you.
Ray Bradbury wrote the book-burning story Fahrenheit 451 by leaving his
house and writing in a library. Stephen King insists on utter silence
while writing, while Harlan Ellison listens to high-volume classical
music.
- Set
aside a block of time each day to foster your creativity. Kick the session
off with a creative exercise or ritual that triggers a flexible state of
mind. Whether it's meditating, freewriting, listening to a particular
song, or rubbing your lucky rock — do whatever gets you "in the
zone" and set a daily goal (e.g. one sketch per day, 1000 words a
day, an invention or song a day).
- Think
like an adult, act like a kid. Adults who are trying to be creative face a
lot of creative roadblocks along the way: there are rules about what's
allowed and what isn't, how we're supposed to behave and not behave. Those
rules are there for a reason (we're not saying they're bad), but they can
inhibit your creativity. Instead, use all the natural intelligence you've
gained as an adult and where possible, act like a kid. Children have a
natural creativity that's constantly reinventing itself, partly because
they're learning about the world and partly because they don't know that
they're not supposed to do certain things. Don't be afraid to responsibly
break rules. Tap into that playfulness that's inside of us all, and go
explore that jungle gym that is the world.
4. Let go of perfectionism
Your natural output, drained of concern for creating something that's
exactly right, will always produce creative results. There are limitless paths
to achieve creative success; there are so many shades of gray. Imperfection is
human, and sometimes the most creative artists leave mistakes unfixed on
purpose. Nature itself is beautifully imperfect. Many try to be so perfect that
they scrub away what made their work special in the first place. In a world
saturated by overproduced, unnaturally perfect, and clean, the unpolished is
the most creative and in many cases most inspirational.
- Work on
the "bad" ideas. Even if you are only coming up with what you
feel are "bad" ideas, you are still being creative, so develop
them, and they could turn into a great solution! Focus on improving your
"bad" ideas more than perfecting your "good" ones.
- Don't
tie your self-worth to your creative output. Your value as a human is
defined by so many many other things: how you treat other people, how you
treat yourself, how much love you have for the world, your willingness to
be selfless, your ability to do the hard things. We could go on and on for
a whole article, and creative expression is something
that matters. But it's not the only thing that matters. If you fail at
your creative endeavors, try not to let it affect your self-esteem. Try to
use it as an opportunity to get better.
- Put
yourself into situations where you know you will fail. This one seems a
bit counter-intuitive, but it's important. Lots of perfectionists are
afraid of failing, and therefore only do the things they know they are
good at. Don't succumb to this mindset. Creativity is like dating: If you
never strike out at least some of the time, you're not trying hard enough.
So let go of your ego, be prepared to fail (but don't expect it), and jump
into new and challenging situations. You're never going to be creative if
you never take a leap.
5. Ignore trends
If you want to be truly
creative, you absolutely must ignore trends. Block them out — pay zero
attention to them. Trends are the polar opposite of creativity. In many forms
of art (especially music) a majority of artists are following whatever the hot
trends are. Then there is the other, smaller group of artists that are pursuing
their own path and not really paying attention to external trends in their art
of choice. There is certainly more money, fame and instant notoriety for following trends, but most of what is
popular is hardly creative. If you want to make something truly unique, trends
are irrelevant. Looking inside yourself is where you will discover a greater
wealth of creativity than available in any hot trend. Here are some more
suggestions for insulating yourself from trends:
- Don't watch TV, don’t listen to the radio,
and remove the vapid elements of popular culture from your life. These
things aren’t bad for you in moderation, but they are great at normalizing
your thoughts with the rest of society, and they don't foster true
creativity. Realize everything that you experience, every piece of content
you consume plays a role in shaping your personality, even if it's at a
subconscious level. You are in many ways a product of your experiences.
Your creative output can be thought of as you interpretation of external
stimuli. The bad part about this is that you're at the mercy of certain
outside forces. The good part about this is you get to control much of
what comes at you.
- Don’t
try and fit into a genre. Actively trying to fit your art or work into a
genre is severely limiting and could be a detriment to its quality. Don’t
try and write for a genre; don’t try to follow trends within a genre. In
fact, as much as possible, don’t even consider genre when working. Putting
your work in a genre is a necessary evil for people trying to find work,
and you might have to do this. But it shouldn’t be something that crosses
your mind when trying to work. People who are truly creative invent their
own genre.
- Spend some time alone, You don't have to be
anti-social, but many people find their creativity really starts to open
up when they are removed from others and able to have quiet focus for
their creative work. Use a little bit of alone-time to brainstorm about
your art. Spend the time right before you go to sleep — and right after
you wake up — to journal some of your ideas. Many artists find that they
are at their creative peaks right after they wake up in the morning.
- At the
same time, be collaborative. Lots of artists find that working with
someone else pushes the limits of what they thought was possible. Whether
it's Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Woody Allen and Diane Keaton,
or Duke Ellington and all of Jazz, collaboration is an essential part of
creation. Find someone who you can share ideas with. Challenge them to do
something wild and unexpected, involving you in the process. Hopefully,
your creativity will be unleashed.
6. Ignore the past
Want to be really creative or original? Ignore or forget the past; ignore
what the world has created up until this point. Sometimes considering the past
will make you place a sort of unconscious time stamp on a style. That’s the
opposite of creativity and originality. Create things from within yourself that
don’t draw inspiration from what has come previously or even consider it, and
you’ll be on a path to creative output. In a creative state of mind, time
doesn't exist — a few hours can feel like seconds, a moment can seem to last
for hours, and you're completely immersed in the present. Learn how to live in the moment
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