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In this lesson, we discuss the habits that best support the creative habit for creators of all kinds.
Here they are:
- Meditation. Just sit on your couch for a couple minutes a day, and notice what’s happening in the present moment. Notice your mind getting pulled from the present moment, and then return. This is important because you start to notice the urge to run away from the creative task (see Item 3 below).
- Clear everything away. Clear distractions, and just have your writing tool (or other creating tool) in front of you.
- Notice the urge to run away. As you sit down to create, just notice the urge to go to social media, email, etc. Just notice the urge, but don’t follow it. Stay with it.
- Starting. The starting habit is really important — just get started.
- Morning pages. Sitting down and dumping your mind’s current content by writing out three pages longhand. This can not only clear your head but give you ideas for creation, and make you conscious of what’s going on.
- Taking breaks. Get up from creating, stretch, drink some water, taking a look at the big picture of your day, and then returning.
- Create before you get into email. Don’t dive into email and social media — make it a habit to do the creating first, rather than putting it off.
- Noticing when you’ve gotten caught up. Notice when you’ve gotten distracted. Refocus yourself.
- Being able to share your work with others. Share with a friend, online, a writer’s group, an accountability group. It supports the creative process because you put it out, get feedback, encouragement, and get over the idea that it needs to be perfect. You find yourself accountable to others as well, which is helpful.
- Exercise or solitude. Exercise gets your body moving and your blood flowing, which helps stimulate your mind. Solitude is helpful because it gets you away from distractions, allows you to process what’s in your head, come up with ideas, think through your writing or other creating.
So these are the most helpful habits for creators, in my experience. You don’t have to implement them all at once, but you might feel encouraged if you’re already doing some, and you might find some ideas here to try out.
Exercise
Consider which of these habits you’re already doing, and which ones you might try out during this course. Implement one this week!
Discuss which ones you’re already doing and which you want to try in Slack.