Habits for Creating

A number of my blogs have been about the habits [behaviours] that creative people exhibit. Other writers have also written about habits in relation to creativity.

Julia Cameron of The Artists Way talks about the “creative grid,” that web of routine and practice that can protect artists from chaos, drama and subconscious resistance to their work.

Carol Lloyd, in her creative-career-making book “Creating a Life Worth Living”, encourages readers to practice The Daily Activity, which she describes as 15 minutes everyday spent in a solitary, process-oriented activity that “creates an empty space where your creativity can reassert itself.”

“What do most Nobel Laureates, innovative entrepreneurs, artists and performers, well-adjusted children, happy couples and families, and the most successfully adapted mammals have in common? They play enthusiastically throughout their lives.
What common denominator is shared by mass murderers, abused children, burnt-out employees, depressed mothers, caged animals, and chronically worried students? Play is rarely or never a part of their lives.” This from Stuart Brown of the Institute of Play

And on the importance of play as a habit . . “Play reaches the habits most needed for creative and intellectual growth”. according to psychologist Bruno Bettlehiem.

So if you want to be more creative you need to answer the two questions that follow and plan to do something about it!

•What do you do on a daily / weekly / monthly basis that supports your creativity? Need more of this.
•What do you do on a daily / weekly / monthly basis that undermines your creativity? Need less of this.

If you want a Habits for Creating Worksheet then let me know.