avatarZach Klebaner

Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of embracing the creative process, focusing on spontaneity and joy, to enable true creativity and produce meaningful work.

Abstract

The article "How To Embrace The Process And Enable Your Creativity" argues that creators should prioritize the process of creation over the outcome. It suggests that security and legitimacy are illusions that distract from the present, where true creativity lies. The process is described as the moment-to-moment reality of existence, far more significant than the outcomes, as it is where one spends their time and energy. A good process is seen as essential for a fulfilling creative life and career, requiring careful experimentation and research to reach one's full potential. The article advises that a process should be mindfully crafted, including activities that delight and inspire, and should serve to elevate even mundane tasks to a higher creative purpose. It also provides a personal example of a process involving morning routines, limited internet access, and free-form writing to music, which has led to increased productivity and self-discovery.

Opinions

  • Focusing on outcomes can detract from the joy and spontaneity of the creative process.
  • Security in creative endeavors is an illusion that hinders true artistic expression.
  • A well-crafted process is crucial for maintaining a steady output of creative work and for finding beauty in everyday activities.
  • The process should be a source of inspiration and should be tailored to the individual's needs and sources of joy.
  • Every choice and habit contributes to the process and impacts one's ability to create.
  • A process that revolves around creative output can transform even routine activities into sources of inspiration.
  • The specifics of a process are less important than its ability to enable the creator to be their most creative self.
  • A process should combine both ritualistic and spontaneous elements to best facilitate creativity.
  • The purpose of a process is not to impose rigid demands but to provide mindful restraints that encourage higher thought and new perspectives.
  • The author shares their personal process, which includes morning dog walks, coffee, limited internet access, and free writing, as an example that has proven successful for them.

How To Embrace The Process And Enable Your Creativity

Don’t let the outcome distract you.

Photo by Alexander Ant from Pexels

When creating, we tend to focus on the product, or worse yet: the outcome.

This is because we want to feel legitimate. We want to get somewhere solid and secure. But security is an illusion that divides our attention from the present. The search for security is what locks us away from spontaneity.

Spontaneity is the true source of both our joy and creativity.

The process is how we create work that matters. It’s how we open ourselves up to exploration.

When we abandon the idea of getting anywhere specific, we allow ourselves to arrive everywhere.

We become open to delight and learn to embrace the challenges that facilitate discoveries.

Our Process Is Our Everything

The process is far more important than the outcome because the process is what you spend your time doing. Regardless of the outcomes you achieve, none of them matter if you detest the process. The process is where you live.

Outcomes are vacations at best. The process is the moment-to-moment reality of your existence. To have a bad, uninspired process is to have a bad, uninspired life.

Mindfully weaving a web of wondrous processes is how you can learn to see the beauty in everything. It’s how you create work that matters. It’s the difference between creating and awkwardly sludging through it. It’s the key to crafting wild works of wonder and maintaining a steady output.

Without a good process, we are limiting our ability for greatness.

That’s fine if your creativity is a hobby, but if you’re looking to make it your career, you need to shape up your process.

A bad process is easy to slip into, especially for a beginner. Creating a good one is as much of an art as the actual art you’re trafficking in. Whether you’re a poet, a screenwriter, or a musician, you can definitely benefit from having a process.

Your Process Is What Inspires You

Your process is the beauty of your existence. It’s smelling your coffee and watching the rain pitter-patter from the porch. It’s calling your loved ones and taking a nap in the afternoon. It’s enjoying your favorite playlist and staring at the paintings on your walls.

Your process is what you come back to fill the well of your mind with newfound inspiration. It’s the home of your habits, the Heavenly views you construct to direct your spirit to vibrant splendors.

Your process isn’t fixed or universal; it is individual and always in motion. It is evolving to new heights and greater depths.

It requires careful experimentation and research to build a process that allows you to reach your fullest potential.

But one element is essential. Your process should only include the things that delight and inspire you.

Choose Mindfully

Every choice you make is a part of your process.

If you’re up every day at 9 AM, that’s your process.

If you drink three cups of coffee every day, that’s your process.

Walking. Eating junk food. Drinking alcohol. Meditating. Arguing with people over nonsense. These all make up your process.

The accumulation of your decisions over time impacts your ability to create.

You want a process that reminds you of what is important. One that lifts you and inspires you to serve others. A process devoid of inspiration leads to art devoid of art. You need the wings of a beautiful process to fly towards any worthy destination.

Your Process Serves A Singular Purpose

In its’ ultimate iteration, your process would revolve around your creative output. Thus elevating even the most mundane activities to a higher purpose.

Funneling everything that you do back to your creativity is a great way to ensure an electric output. This shift of focus makes everything your inspiration.

Playing with your dog, listening to music, or even checking your email can become vibrant essentials in directing your creative efforts.

The actual contents of your process do not matter. What matters is that they enable you to be the most creative version of yourself.

With the process, pleasure is king. Your process should leave you ecstatic. You should walk out of it transformed by awe.

It doesn’t matter if it’s ritualistic or spontaneous. Some combination of both works best, but that’s for me.

Your process is your own to be shaped.

If You Don’t Have A Clear Process, Borrow Mine

The ecosystem of your choices is yours to direct. You can fill it with whatever you like, so long as it serves you towards embodying light, joy, and a zest for discovery.

The other important thing to note is that your process is your life. It is always changing as new circumstances, people, and opportunities arrive. There’s no reason to be hard on yourself with it. The purpose of a process isn’t to tie you down with inflexible demands.

Rather, the point of a process is to impose mindful restraints that facilitate the greater fluencies of higher thought. A great process enables new ways of seeing the world. Your process is your wings, not your prison.

My Process Is Musical Spontaneity

After walking my dog in the morning, I make a cup of coffee and limit my access to the Internet. I use Cold Turkey Writer to do so.

Locked out of Twitter, I write several thousand words while listening to non-lyrical music.

In this state, I am merely recording the scattered impressions of many ideas. I list various headlines, story ideas, and journal freely about my emotions. I don’t try to direct myself at all. Instead, I allow myself to be guided through a manic mess of loose ideas, typing them all down without judgment.

This generally leads to poetry. I write a poem or six and then reflect on what I have created. After having warmed up my mind, I start crafting blog posts for Medium.

When I defeat the Cold Turkey gods and achieve my word-count (set at 4,000), I am free to roam the wilds of the Internet again. I use this time to read from writers who inspire me and check my messages. I then load my writings for the day onto the Medium editor where I start forming them into completed pieces.

While I don’t follow this to a tee, I try to because I want to avoid distractions to enter flow states.

Since having adopted this strategy, I’ve written more than 12,000 words in three days. I have also gained a variety of new insights into myself. It’s even allowed me to rekindle my joy for music and become more mindful and purposeful throughout the day.

If you’re struggling to create, it’s because you lack a clear process. Reinvent yours to discover your inner genius and create more than you could have ever imagined.

If it could work for me, it could work for you too.

Writing
Creativity
Productivity
Life Lessons
Self Improvement
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