How To Avoid Choking Your Creativity

How many ways are you actually choking your creativity without realizing? Here are 5 of the most dangerous ways we limit how and what we create, and how to avoid them:

1. You don’t have a daily creativity habit. The key to any consistent creativity is to commit time each and every day to creating. The more erratic your creative habits are, the more difficult it is to find your creative flow and create what you’re truly capable of.

   Start by setting just 15 minutes aside each day to create. Make it at the same time each day. You want this creativity habit to come as easily to you as eating, breathing and sleeping. Once the basic habit is in place, gradually expand the time from 15 minutes to 20, 30, 60 and beyond.

2. You’ve closed down your senses. Each of us uses our 5 senses to experience the world around us. It’s easy to take them for granted, though, and forget how much stimulation there is around us at any one time.

   By focusing on each of your senses in turn and fully appreciating all around you, you find you instantly stimulate your creativity. Every piece of art we enjoy stimulates our senses in a number of ways. So it follows we can strive to be fully in touch with each of our own senses as creative artist ourselves.

3. You don’t experiment and play. When you create, do you always follow exactly the same procedures and rituals? It’s true that there are many creative habits we can put to use to help us be more creative. But if you’re feeling more like a factory line robot than a unique creative artist, maybe it’s time for a little play?

   There are infinite ways you can play and experiment more with your creativity. Begin by changing just one or two elements of your creative process, maybe where you create or the number of materials you use, and see what happens.

4. You don’t capture your good ideas. How often have you had a good idea, thought you’ll remember it and develop later, only to forget it moments later? This happens many times a day, even many times an hour. If you forget each and every idea, it feels like you’ve never even had them in the first place.

   Capture your ideas as soon as they come using an Ideas Journal. This is simply a small notebook you carry around with you. You’ll soon realize that the more ideas you capture, the more will naturally flow to you.

5. You don’t have a support network. Do you sometimes feel so isolated that you wonder if anyone even knows if you’re creating, let alone cares what you’re creating? These kind of feelings can obviously be very demoralizing.

   These days, though, there’s more support available than ever for creative artists in every field imaginable. Spend some time researching creative groups and communities, both locally and online. The boost you receive from being a part of a thriving creative community is immeasurable.

In which of these ways are you choking YOUR creativity? What action can you take from today to start to loosen that stranglehold and let your creativity breathe a little more easily again?