How To Be Creative: 7 Secrets of Creative Flow

Being highly creative is all about finding your natural rhythms, and getting into your creative flow so you create without even thinking about it.

Here then are 7 secrets of creative flow you can start putting into action today:

1. Feed your inspiration. However creative we are, we all need fresh stimulation and new material to inspire us. The best way to get this is to regularly take yourself to new environments, read different books, articles and magazines, listen to a variety of music and so on. Ideas and inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places, so the more eclectic your intake of stimulation, the more potential your creativity has for great new ideas and projects.
2. Keep a healthy balance in the creativity bank. If you have no money in a bank account and keep making purchases, then you get overdrawn and in debt. But if you save regularly, you have a healthy bank balance to draw from and reduce your worries. It’s the same with creativity. If you don’t create for weeks, then expect to be able to produce a new masterpiece in half an hour, it just isn’t going to happen. Create regularly though and this investment keeps your underlying creativity topped up and ready to use.
3. Tune out your inner critic. Your inner critic is always poised and waiting to throw a few obstacles in your path, just as you feel you’re gathering momentum. The reason behind this is actually a positive one – it’s trying to keep you safe and protect you from being hurt and disappointed. Once you realise this, it’s easier to accept that’s simply what your inner critic is there for, and you can say, “Thank you for your concerns, but I’m going to carry on creating anyway.”
4. Always be open to new ideas. Allowing ideas to flow to you freely is a key element to creative flow. You want to welcome ideas with open arms and to be known as a caring host for miles around! The best way to do this is to keep an ideas book with you at all times. As soon as an idea comes to you, jot it down. Then carry on with what you were doing. The more you use your ideas book, the more instinctively new ideas will flow to you. Ideas breed ideas.
5. Form a creative habit. Habits are often only thought of in a negative connotation, as in “we all have bad habits.”  But habits can be incredibly powerful in a positive way, too. The simplest in creating is to create for a minimum amount of time each day, say 15 minutes. The more you do this, the more automatic it becomes. You flow right into creating as easily as you breathe or sleep.
6. Stay focused. We’ve talked about being open to new ideas. To avoid being overloaded and in a state where all you seem to do is worry about which idea to choose, follow this technique. Simply pick the first idea you feel excited about. Then pledge to follow through that idea to a natural conclusion, whether that takes 10 minutes or 10 months. Keep your ideas book close by to jot down new ideas when they come, then return your full focus back to your main creative project.
7. Follow your natural passions. A sure way to sabotage your creative flow is to always take on projects your heart isn’t really in. Maybe it’s something someone else thinks you should be creating, or something you’re creating to gain approval. When you start listening to your true creative passions and creating what’s inside you burning to come out, you’ll hit new levels of creative flow.

Which of these 7 secrets of creative flow will you choose first to start applying in YOUR creative life?