How to be creative in two ridiculously easy steps
I used to go cliff jumping as a kid. The rough-hewn cliffs towered around six to ten feet high, but to a teen standing at the top, peeking over the edge to see the water, it felt like standing on the precipice of a huge mountain. The only way to get over the fear and jump was to move back a few feet and get a running start. It was thrilling and terrifying all at the same time.
Have you ever felt paralyzed by fear, uncertainty, nerves, or confusion? Whenever we’re asked to step outside our comfort zone, it can feel like standing on the edge of a cliff.
Creating is a constant exploration of the ins and outs of a person’s comfort zone. It can be a scary thing to start, which means we make excuses to avoid it.
Once you take that running leap by making a mark on a page, it can release a stream of relief.
Creativity can help heal trauma, allow you to express your emotions, dig into a new side of yourself, help you discover who you are and allow you to play again.
The hardest part of starting a creative practice is the first step. You may have heard of Newton’s First Law of Productivity that states that an object in motion stays in motion while an object at rest stays at rest.
It can also be explained as the jump from zero to one.
Nancy Hillis and Bruce Sawhill explain this concept in their book called the Adjacent Possible. It’s a mathematical fact that the distance between zero and one is larger than any other distance between numbers.
“Infinity is a strange beast with non-intuitive properties, but we can illuminate our assertion about zero to one by doing what mathematicians call a mapping—drawing a line between any number on the zero to one interval to a matching “partner” number on the one to infinity interval.
We do this by dividing the small number into one, which gives us a number greater than one. The closer we get to zero, the further out the partner gets.
You have infinity in the palm of your hand so long as you START.
Zero represents infinite possibility but not reality until you begin.”
When you think about it, it makes sense. How many times have you wanted to go to the gym to workout and then when the time comes you talk yourself out of it? We may rationally know we’ll feel better after a workout, but the momentum to get there is difficult to overcome.
This happens with creating as well. It can feel more challenging to get started or to continue a practice when the momentum isn’t there.
Creating a ritual to start can help you remove barriers and allow you to begin.
This is how.
1. Prepare a space for your creativity.
It can be your kitchen table, the corner of your bedroom, a desk, or a room. This space is only for your creative practice. You will keep your supplies here and ready for use. You may have a candle to burn or a speaker to play music. Whatever your ritual entails, it’s unique to you and will give you the momentum you need to begin
My ritual includes lighting a volcano candle and putting on some music.
2. Just start
Make a scribbly mark with a pencil on your blank page. Why? It erases the scary blank page. Let it be messy and erratic. It’s just pencil and it doesn’t matter what it looks like. Get a cheap notebook or sketchbook and some pencils. That’s all you need to begin.
We’re not looking for finished drawings, we’re here to enjoy the process. You don’t have to be an artist to enjoy a creative outlet. Being artistic is a career path that takes thousands of hours of learning and painting to hone a skill. Being creative is an outlet available to everyone.
5 minutes a day is all you need.
With your paper and pencils out in your creative space, you’re ready to sit and scribble for a few minutes each day. Set an alarm if you need to and let your pencil flow around the page with no judgment.
When you’re ready to explore beyond a pencil and paper, check out this video on how to create a gentle creative practice.
Supplies for a simple creative practice
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Canson XL Watercolor Sketchbook or a stack of plain copy paper
