5 Ways To Improve Your Creative Process
How can you up your creative game? Well, every creative has a completely different way of entering their zone of genius and getting in the flow! There’s no right or wrong way. And the fun part is there’s a gazillion ways to approach your creative process. Here are some ways you can stay inspired and keep your creativity flowing!
To improve your creative process, you must first be able to identify it. What works? What doesn’t? Having this awareness will undoubtedly help you produce your best work yet!
Make a Pre-Creative Ritual.
Do you have any pre-creative rituals or routines that help you jumpstart your process? Identify a few things that help set the mood. Maybe you need to journal, meditate, or say affirmations to prepare yourself mentally. Maybe you’re someone who needs to get your blood flow going, so exercising or stretching prior to creating may be necessary. Maybe you need to light a candle before you start writing or burn some sage!
The preparation stage is key. No matter what your process looks like, everyone needs to get centered before starting. Think about what you need for your process. Do you need specific tools, materials or technology? Do you need a specific environment or set up? What are the things that help put you in a creative zone? Whatever it is, these rituals should get you feeling inspired and ready to perform your best work.
2. Allow Yourself to Get Inspired.
It’s too easy to think we must be productive at all times. The truth is, sometimes we need to live a little in order to get our next big idea! Allow time and space to get inspired. Read a book, watch a documentary, check out a museum. Surround yourself with content that sparks new ideas. This is how you can let your thoughts and ideas flow, and take some time to sit on them. Enjoying this process will give you time for your ideas to flourish and come to life.
Maybe part of your process is working on other projects while you let this idea cook. You may come back to the idea with a fresh outlook that was better than the one you had before, and, in turn, the outcome may be better than you originally expected. No matter how this period looks and plays out, it’s a necessary part of any creative process, as it helps you slow down and build clarity so you can figure out exactly what direction you want to go in.
3. Let it Flow
Once you’re in your creative flow, you’ll KNOW. This is when your ideas start coming together and you can see the big picture and outcome. You’ll know you’ve hit this stage in your creative process when you feel that burst of inspiration or feel that “aha!” moment!
Being in flow should feel like fun. It should feel exciting, like everything is coming to you with ease. Follow your curiosity with a sense of playfulness! When creativity is pouring out of you, then LET. IT. FLOW. Have fun exploring your ideas when you’re in this state of consciousness and take note of everything around you that’s helping you so you can recreate it next time! In your own way, you’ll begin to create an environment, a structure and various details specific to you that help you get into that flow!
4. Evaluate What’s Working and What’s Not
The evaluation phase can be tricky, but soooo worth it. This is where you review and reflect on everything that’s working for you and what’s not. For example, is there a sweet spot in the day where you create your best work? Is everything you create before 9 am in the morning freaking brilliant? And suddenly everything you do after 4pm is complete trash? If mornings are your jam, keep doing more of that!
Should you be evaluating a project you’re currently working on…the biggest question you should be asking yourself is ARE YOU LOVING IT? Because if there’s something you’re not loving about it, then that’s a pretty great indicator that you need to go back and rework some things. Ask yourself at this stage whether this work meets your creative standard. If not, try going back to beat it, OR try a new idea all together. Being honest with yourself will help push your work to new heights.
5. Implement.
Now that you’ve done your homework, implement all the goodies you’ve learned about yourself. Put everything you’ve identified in the previous steps and sprinkle them all throughout your creative process. Practice and keep experimenting! If you’ve done your reflection and found ways to make exceptional art, then you’ve made it to the final step! This is when you truly CREATE.
I’m sure you already know this… but your creative process may take you hours, days, or months. From preparing to brainstorming to actually creating, there’s a lot that goes into this process. No matter what your creative process looks like, you’ll notice that you probably have hints of each of these stages in your process - you most likely just haven’t labeled them.
Every stage will look different for different people. All creatives work in their own way at their own capacities. The practices that work for you, may not work for someone else. That’s why it’s important to follow your own process. But, following this flow of steps will help to figure out what your best creative process looks like and what you need to be efficient and powerful!
