Directives for Creativity

As I mentioned in the piece on The Artist’s Way, I’ve opened up many new pathways to creativity.

While working through the book, I issued myself a few directives to go all-in on this creative journey:

1. Practice out in the open. Be OK with failing in public

2. Create & Play

3. Fill up the vessel - any vessel - with creativity

1. Practice out in the open. Be OK with failing in public

When I started The Artist’s Way, everything I was producing was private. I was writing everyday in my Morning Pages, but those musings never saw the light of day. So, as I progressed on my path of creative recovery, I reached a state where I knew the next, most necessary step was for me to start sharing publicly again.

This was really difficult at first. I’d just faced an experience that shattered my self-confidence. So, to expose myself to public ridicule felt like a bridge too far. After eventually rehabbing my self-esteem, I was afraid that any unsupportive criticism would cause me to revert to a place of shame & insecurity. But, in seeing this resistance for what it was - self-limiting fear - I decided to run toward it. “Run towards the resistance” is one of my favorite calls to action (attributed to Scooter Braun on this podcast).

So, when I was ready, before I was ready, I jumped in and started sharing again. All at once, at the end of August, I re-launched this newsletter and started posting on Instagram. For me, at first, it wasn’t about seeking praise. Rather, it was a critical step in my creative recovery because I had to work through this fear of judgment from other people. I needed to be OK with failing out in the open. For as long as I avoided this exposure, I knew I’d be hiding in between the cover pages of my journal.

Being instructed to fail gave me a lot of latitude with which to explore. I didn’t expect success from the start.

2. Create & Play

I align with the belief:

(Note: the definition of "God" that I subscribe to is NOT an old white dude, who looks like a mix of Zeus & Santa Clause, staring down at us from a throne in the clouds)

I’ve experienced this ~spiritual electricity~, this inspired force firsthand. Dropping into that flowy creative state is akin to being in communion with the Creator. When I’m in it, I don’t want to be anywhere else (which is my current definition of “alignment”). 

So, for as long as I'm experiencing this explosive creativity, I've made it a priority to Create daily.

I added “& Play” to the directive as a safeguard against the expectation-setting, A+ perfectionist who lives in me. The part of me who wants to make everything a competition that needs to be won. The part of me who refuses to move forward until every lil blemish is wiped away.

• Re-reading a writing piece 100x to ensure there ain't no typoz.

• Refusing to draw anything because my stick figures don’t measure up to Picasso’s.

• Remaining on the sidelines of the dance floor because someone told me back in middle school (& high school & college & at that one wedding) that I “have no moves.”

The “& Play” reminds me that the purpose of all of this is to have a good time doing it. If the creative work just feels like a 9-to-5 obligation, then it’s not worth doing in the first place. I wanted to remind myself to take the bold, bold step of daring to enjoy it.

3. Fill up the vessel - any vessel - with creativity

The potential to be creative exists everywhere.

• Sending a text to a friend to pre-commit to a lunch date

• Replying to an email from my landlord about rent

• Recording a video to my grandma expressing gratitude

This started with writing in my Morning Pages. From there, it evolved into filling up vessels… anywhere I could find them.

In a conversation with a stranger, I stopped sticking to the script of “So, how bout this weather?” I’d use it as an opportunity to be creative, to expand beyond the frontier of what I used to consider “normal”.

• In that scheduling text to a friend, I’d push myself to improvise a joke off the last thing they said

• In that email to my broker, I’d practice being poetic in the words that I chose

• In that video to my grandma, I’d extend beyond the everyday “Thank you” to sharing genuinely what she meant to me, whether it be her unconditional love, love of travel, or love of family

Rather than just saying or doing what was expected, I pushed myself to authentically express myself. I decided to stop operating on autopilot.

Over the summer, my family probably got annoyed with me as I wrote on the refrigerator whiteboard every morning. But, turns out, my Inner Artist was practicing for the public unveiling of The Lightboard.

My friends got a lil concerned when I wrote them letters at the end of a standard weekend trip. But, again, it was my Inner Artist’s way of progressing from private journaling -> sharing my creativity with my trusted inner circle.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, sending voice memos to friends was a way of practicing monologues, which has helped me tremendously as I started shooting some unscripted videos for the Love News Network.

Beginning earlier this year, I started captioning my runs on Strava with something other than the default, “Afternoon Run”. These became practice reps for layering on written commentary to pictures & videos for Instagram stories.

Stories helped me practice for posts. Posts became practice for videos.

Everything is progressive...

Everything is connected…

At the beginning, I was afraid of how people might judge me. Now, I don’t feel any resistance when I post an exceptionally silly or grotesque video.

Jamming on Morning Pages every morning has helped me get over the fear of the blinking cursor or the empty page. I’ve done 3 pages everyday ~almost everyday~ for the past 4 months. So, whether I’m writing a script or a summary, I have the evidence to know that, if I just sit down and start, then something will arrive on the page by the end of the session (even if its quality is questionable).

Morning Pages led me back to this newsletter.

Instagram expanded to TikTok.

What’s now will set me up for What’s next.

I have some ideas of what that might be, while, at the same time, I have no clue what’s to come.

I can set my direction, but I won’t pretend to be in control of the future.

In any case, I wouldn’t want to be… since half the fun is piecing together the puzzle along the way.

All I mean to say is that this wasn’t an overnight phenomenon. I didn’t wake up one morning and decide to be creative. I did wake up one morning and set my creative directives. But, since then, the creativity’s been born from a daily practice of slow & steady productivity.

As a beginner, it was just a matter of getting going. Filling up the vessels with creativity whenever & wherever helped me build the muscle and move through the fear.

As I conclude this piece, I’m writing it in the middle of my iPhone note that’s labeled “To-Do List”. I was reviewing my to-dos for the week when this idea came to me. So, I just used the digital space I had available to start writing. I didn’t wait for the right conditions. I didn’t get too cute with it. I just dropped in.

The text of this piece was written in 1 sittin’. I don’t say that to brag. I say it to display that creativity is a muscle that gets developed… with repetition… just like everything else.

You wouldn’t expect big biceps if you never do curls. So, why expect to magically become creative if you don’t fill up your vessels?

Create creative directives that work for you.

But, more than anything, just start creating.

Your Inner Artist is waiting to greet you.