Want a cure for the craze around the News, Friend?
The uncertainty. The insecurity. The fragility of life. Woooowa lately!!
Then Create. As much and as intensely as you can.
Create something out of nothing, and also create your own change.
The interesting part? Even if we would wake up with notifications of glorious news, sunny skies and peaceful rainbows, this would still be the thing to do.
If you want to create with everything you’ve got without holding back, to find fulfillment rather than frustration, to give birth to unmistakeable creations, to inspire others and expand yourself in the process, then you need to crack your creativity code; to identify your most potent initial spark and turn it into something extraordinary. To get to the heart of your unique way of what to create and how.
Other names used for it: Your Voice, Your creative genius, Your Inner Creativity Code (in oppose to just get crafty), and at some instances, your Self-Magic.
So, let’s crack it!
1. Claim your title
There is an artist in each of us, but you also need to claim this title for yourself. What’s your doing-name??? Set your domain and give your self the permission to create officially and freely. That can be in any field you choose, from painting, dancing, cooking to how you organize your finances or how you climb a mountain.
All the advice like “practice makes perfect”, “fake it till you make it”, apply here. Name your doing, dear.
So, What do you call Your Artist?
2. Look at Your Art-Life-Map
Your art making is not just about your art, not just about the end product. Your art making is also your personal and spiritual journey. Accept it as your lens to see the world from, your own mirror and your communication device; your connector and healer.
Inspect your body of work for clues, additional inspiration, and further self understanding as it reflects the changes and impressions inside of you, with no filter. Make it a habit to revisit your creations and achievements so that you will not loose sight of your creative order.
Looking at your art-life-map, what is one “location” that you keep coming back to? How can that affect your “next step?
3. Follow Your Attraction Like Mad
When you feel an interest, follow it. Explore it. Don’t assume you know where it will take you, or whether it’s a good idea to follow it. Make it a strategy to follow your passion, your pleasure, your free flow and fun factor. When one of these show up, allow the distraction, abandon everything else, and go for it! (This is how this post was written. It was a complete distraction).
What feels good to follow right now? Give it a trust drive!
4. Reach The Point of No Return
One of my favorite quotes is by Franz Kafka: “Beyond a certain point there is no return. This point has to be reached”. That means invest, till you are fully committed. Do till you can’t stop doing. Engage till you can’t look the other way. Lure yourself till you are loyal to your creativity.
Sometimes you don’t know where that point exactly is. To find out, get the momentum going.
Look back: Can you define one or more “points of no return” for you? What was your involvement and the feeling around that? What it took to get there? Now, name a future point and fly there.
5. Don’t Stop Unless You’re Surprised
Always seek that unexpected spark that comes unexpected and unannounced. The only way to make it come, is by continuing to create, till it comes! When it does, you will know.
For this process, make good friends with Mistakes, as they may lead you to your upgraded signature style. Make also good friends with Randomness. Embrace it as a highly strategic path to surprises!
How can you “get mistaken”? What random play can you incorporate in your creative process?
6. Make a First
No matter what you do, create at least one thing or project where you have full creative control, with no particular time and money budget, and that you are following your initial intentions as faithfully as possible. This will have a quality unseen in commercial projects, and will be as precious as your first love (if not your first love). A “First” demonstrates genius with no prior experience.
How can you tell it was your First? When it will be over you will say: “I am so glad I did this the way I did it, but never again!”
Look at your First or someone else’s. What qualities do you identify and would like to bring or keep bringing into your future work? Define your new standards.
7. Commit and Exhaust It
Dive into a theme, a specific practice, a medium and seize the moment. Niche it, exhaust it, hit the iron when it’s hot and nail it before you move on to the next.
As a creator you will not always be able, or interested, to create the same way. Picasso had one Blue Period! Each creative phase is like a separate cycle of innovation and originality. Once you exhaust it, it is not easy to get back to (this is the best sign that you made the most of it!) So when you are in the moment, leave no stone unturned, give it your all and milk the magic–because tomorrow you will be called to play with different tools and create in a different way.
Are you committing to and exhausting your “thing”? What other steps do you need to take to get there?
8. Embrace Your Extreme State as Your Natural State
Art is not “taking action”, but not being able to stop taking action. Art is not something you need to do, but something you can’t not do. Allow the all consumed feeling, the never found balance, and increased mental activity even at off hours. Give this cycle what it takes but don’t get attached to your efforts neither to your results. Stay on top of your title, your commitment of doing and of course your excitement for surprises!
The creative process is not about “fulfilled expectations”. Your art will transform. You will transform. This is the deal you signed up for… And if you are reading this, you don’t have a choice, do you?
Describe your own “Artist’s State”. What does that look like? How can you embrace it even more?
