The Power of Habitual Creativity: Nurturing Your Artistic Side
If you're like most people, you probably have a habit or two that you stick to without even thinking. Your breakfast routine is one of these habits. You might not think about it much, but it's an ingrained part of your day-to-day life and helps set the tone for the rest of your day. In fact, finding ways to incorporate creativity into your everyday life can lead to a more balanced and fulfilling life overall!
The Power of Habitual Creativity: Nurturing Your Artistic Side introduces creative living as the keystone habit for happiness. By becoming more creative, you unlock your full potential. We'll show you how to incorporate creativity into all areas of your life, from work to recreational activities. Not only do we offer suggestions for daily action, but we also discuss the importance of having a creative mindset, so that you can find new ways to thrive as an artist and as an individual.
We'll cover a lot here—from the link between recreation and creativity to unlocking your creative potential. Throughout the article there are lots of exercises and prompts that will help guide you on an artistic journey that ends with a more fulfilling life! The first step is taking control over your own creativity by creating a habit for yourself.
We'll start by talking about the creative mindset, and the importance of being open-minded when approaching a new project or activity. We'll also look at a few things that can take you out of your creative mindset and how to bounce back from these setbacks. We'll then move on to the keys to habitual creativity, including creativity in your work and in your play. After that, we'll have some exercises for fostering a habit for creativity!
The Creative Mindset
Setbacks are part of any creative journey. You might come up with an amazing project or idea, but it won't turn out as expected or you might hit a block in the middle of it. These things will happen, but it's important that you don't let them prevent you from creating. The creative mindset is all about being open-minded and trying again.
When you approach a project with an open mind, you're more likely to be creative. That doesn't mean that you need to always jump back into work after a setback or that your ideas are always wonderful. In fact, the opposite is usually true! Instead, think of it as an opportunity for growth and learning. Every lesson and every setback serves as motivation for your development as an artist!
One of the many benefits of having an open mind and accepting failure is improved creative output. By being open to different ideas, you'll start to see new solutions and ideas come to mind. While you're developing these ideas, this is one of the best ways to discover creative concepts that can lead your art into new directions.
An open-minded mindset also allows you to create with new perspectives, which helps you develop your creative thinking skills. Being less judgmental and more open might lead you to think outside of the box or even out of your comfort zone. The creativity that results from these experiences can be truly remarkable!
Practice Makes Perfect
The idea of perfect doesn't really exist in any art form; even the highest level of mastery in sports and performing arts requires years of work and dedication. While you are learning and practicing, it's important to build up your skills over time. Without this practice, you'll never reach your full potential!
Building up these skills takes time and commitment, so practice is essential to developing a habit for creativity. In all areas of art, from music to painting to writing and more, it's important to dedicate your time and effort into building up the foundation of your skills. The better you get at these basic skills, the easier it will be to create truly remarkable work!
In order to build these skills it's important that you take incremental steps forward in each area of creativity. Daily exercises will help you progress by testing out new ideas as well as improving existing ones. We'll start with the basics, like basic music practice.
Daily Music Practice
There are many benefits of daily music practice, including building your skills and developing new ideas. We all know that learning a new instrument is difficult, but there are some pieces of advice from musicians that can help improve your work:
"Play as many different styles as possible." – Dewayne Jackson, jazz guitarist "Whenever I'm writing a solo I find it really helpful to play guitar in other styles. I think it helps you find weird new things that you'd never think of trying." – Adam Horovitz, drummer/rapper "Every day learn and practice what you do best; the rest go on. You have to chip away at it until it becomes easy." – John Abercrombie, guitarist
By incorporating different genres of music into your daily practice you'll develop your skills and continue to find new ways to expand your creativity and improve your work.
Daily Exercise: Listen to a Different Genre Each Day
One of the best ways to naturally develop creative skills is by allowing yourself to experiment with different ideas and techniques. Every time you try something new, whether it's a genre or a sound, you will be able to learn something new about yourself as an artist. By listening to a different genre each day, you'll be able to develop these skills and slowly improve no matter what style you're creating in!
Listening to music isn't your only option for daily practice! You can also write your own music, practice your instrument, or draw/paint your own artwork. These activities can help you develop a more personal and honest creative process that will result in a better work. Improving on exercises with small adjustments is an important part of the learning process. Finding new ways to improve on old ideas or techniques could lead to your next masterpiece.
Be aware of the skills you're trying to build and how you can improve them by experimenting with these activities! By practicing more often, you'll be able to identify what works for you and what doesn't. You might even discover a new passion or talent along the way!
Break It Down
Daily practice is great, but it's not very efficient! While practicing every day is better than skipping practice all together, this isn't usually the best way to develop your skills. It's often better to take a long-term approach that lets you focus on specific goals and get more done.
Conclusion
Fostering a habit for creativity is more difficult than simply setting aside time or having the right resources. It means that you have to change the way that you're thinking about your art. Instead of approaching it as passive entertainment, you'll want to have an active engagement with the creation process and see yourself as a creative individual. The process of creating is not unlike laying the foundation for a building or preparing your mind for a healthy diet and exercise program.