Don’t look for Creativity. Start Creating and You Will Get Creative
How to generate ideas without breaking a sweat.
There’s one mistake we all make. We think what we need is creativity or an idea when what we need is to begin even without any.
The trick is to stop looking for ideas. Just as Austin Kleon said, the first step to exceptional is to stop trying.
Start creating and you get creative.
If you start by looking for creativity before you start, you won’t find it. In art, we don’t look for creativity. It finds us.
Have you asked why some of the best ideas come when you’re not thinking about having any? The best ideas rarely come when your mind is actively searching for them. Ideas don’t come on demand. They’re not commodities. They are not things you can buy. They’re gifts. And as with every gift, they come when the source (Muse) chooses. Not when you want them to.
So if you are waiting for an idea to show up before you start writing, composing, or painting, you may wait for a long time before one finally shows up. And you can’t build a career on that. You need a more dependable system to build a successful career.
If you want to have a career in art, you need a system for generating ideas that you can count on. That is something more sure than leaving it to chance.
Your articles on Medium have the life span of a newspaper
Let’s take writing on Medium, for instance. If you want to make a reasonable amount of money writing, it’s not enough to be a good writer. You have to create articles frequently.
Skill + Consistency = Success
Your articles on Medium have a newspapers’ life span. It’s most relevant in the first week you publish it. Afterward, it’s not as evergreen no matter how well you wrote it. The traffic will peak and wane. Except you start using the time you need to start writing another one to promote it.
To retain relevance, and profitable, you have to keep coming up with a new story on a regular basis. If you don’t you’ll lose. Slowly but eventually. Unless you do something about it.
How to generate fresh ideas without breaking a sweat
Here’s what you should do to keep coming up with fresh ideas: Start creating. And fresh ideas will keep coming.
Creativity is not genetic or something you’re born with. It comes on you usually in the middle of creating something. It aims to render help when you’re trying to make something either with words, sounds, or colors.
As a writer, you don’t have to complain anymore when you stare at the blank page and you have nothing to write about. Instead, try to make up stories in your head and let the emotion trigger your mind to go on the journey.
And then, take your pen and start commenting on the scenes. Pick some lessons and scribble them on the blank page before you. And before you know what’s happening, ideas will begin to pop up. And some of those ideas will answer the need of your target audience. Turn it into a post and publish it.
Look out for feedback and then use them to make the next one better.
I made a drama in my head yesterday: and it went like this:
“What if every article you write adds to the member of years you have to live?… What will you do for the next 7 days and why?”.
I smiled and picked my pen and started writing about what I would do.
It was a mix of fun and creativity. Creativity and ideas are the rewards of creating. Have fun creating.
Make up an odd drama in your head and see if it works for you. If it does, shoot me the drama in the comments.
If you’re a new writer on to Medium, check this out:
A Private Letter to New Medium Writers.
If you’re considering giving up on Medium, check this out:
Just 2 More Things Before You Quit Medium.
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