What’s Your Creative Habit?
Want to write a memoir or novel but can’t seem to get
started? Want to create a memorable painting or performance
but you’re too busy to work on it? It can be frustrating
when your creative fire just never seems to get lit.
Fire Up with Creative Habits
To ignite a daily fire in the fireplace requires that you
bring in the wood and place it in the hearth, then strike a
match to set it ablaze. In the same way, to ignite your
creative fire you must have certain habits and rituals that
will fire up your enthusiasm and energy, allowing you to
plunge into the joys and mess of creating an artistic work.
In her book The Creative Habit, the famed choreographer
Twyla Tharp says emphatically that creativity has much less
to do with talent or genius than with hard work. Tharp, who
is in her late sixties, illustrates by saying she gets up
every day at 5:30 a.m. and heads to the gym for a two-hour
workout with her trainer. She says that, because of this
kind of dedicated habit associated with her creative work,
she is able to feel confident when she has just five weeks
to create a new dance for a major performance venue. She
has prepared her body and her mind well, beginning with a
daily ritual.
It’s the ritual of calling the cab that actually gets her
in motion, she says. The well-established routine of making
the call gets her past the resistance that might arise
about being too tired or otherwise reluctant to put herself
through the hard routine at the gym.
Set Up Habits and Rituals That Inspire You
So, what are the daily or frequent habits and rituals that
activate your creative productivity? Here are five examples
of habits you can borrow from successful artists, along
with rituals to set the stage for each habit:
Habit #1: Be observant and make a record of what you
observe.
Ritual: Carry a notebook and pen or pencil with you
everywhere you go to do a quick sketch, jot observations,
or make a note of dialogue you overhear.
Habit #2: Study the work of artists you admire.
Ritual: Keep a set of books by your reading table or
bedside and spend 15 minutes or more reading before going
to bed. Or check out the arts calendar each Sunday and
select a show to attend.
Habit #3: Practice, practice, practice what you want to get
better at.
Ritual: Set a specific time to practice each day or on
certain days. If you begin with a specific activity such as
sitting in a certain place or turning on a certain light,
you set up the habit to take on a life of its own.
Habit #4: Take time for solitude to give your muse a chance
to play and have its say.
Ritual: Have a pen by your bedside and pick it up as soon
as you wake, using it to record your creative ideas before
you engage with other people (even before your coffee).
Your muse will soon get in the habit of showing up for the
appointed time. Or plan a weekend a month when you retreat
to your bedroom or a quiet getaway place, and always start
the weekend with a set activity such as lighting a candle.
Habit #5: Celebrate your successes. You may need
encouraging memories to offset the many disappointing times
you may experience.
Ritual: Create a screensaver of an art piece of yours that
you’re happy with, or display a testimonial quote from an
admirer.
Being creative is most satisfying when it moves from an
idea in the mind into the actual creation of an artistic
work. That happens more easily and more often if you have
habits and rituals that light your creative fire. When
starting or renewing a creative habit, build in a ritual to
start you off each time you do the activity. Be sure to do
the ritual every day for at least 30 days to make it stick.
That ritual, faithfully practiced, will become like a book
of matches you can count on set off that creative spark.
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Learn about free teleseminars by Pat Samples on inspired
living, body wisdom, and creative aging at
http://www.patsamples.com . Her new book, The Secret Wisdom
of a Woman’s Body: Freeing Yourself To Live Passionately
and Age Fearlessly, has been called by AARP’s magazine
“what our generation wants to read.”
