Creativity can be elusive and complex to describe, and we all have slightly different ideas of exactly what it means to us. However, when we talk of creative people, the images that usually come to mind are those in one of the established creative professions, like a painter, writer or designer. Anyone who is, or desires to be, creative in one of these disciplines, has a way of monitoring their productivity, measuring how much they create, and how much of this they consider worthwhile or good enough. And guess what? Yep, virtually everyone whos creative in this way is unhappy with the amount they create, and the level and quality of creative work they produce! So how much IS enough? And how do we reach a point where were content with what we produce? Of course this varies from person to person. One writer may be content to produce a novel over a period of three years. Another may feel theyre underperforming if they write anything less than a novel every three months. Its likely too that the writer producing the greater volume of work will be more content with the quality of it. The longer we spend on each creative project, the more time we have to build up pressure on ourselves to achieve perfection, and the more we increase the expectation of coming up with some great masterwork that will stand up alongside the work of our heroes and role models. Its the same in other areas of creativity, from the research scientist to the interior designer, the ballet dancer to the basket weaver, the poet to the graphic novelist. Each strives to improve, to evolve, and each has a determined level, of both quality and quantity, that if they fall below, brings frustration and discontent and triggers a cycle of negative thinking. To help us become more at ease with this issue of justifying our creativity, and to be gentler on ourselves as we create, remember these following tips: 1. Creativity comes in many guises As we talked about earlier, when we mention creative people, we usually bring to mind the more obvious creative professions. Maybe too, if were not in one of those professions, we dont consider ourselves genuinely creative or authentic creators? But remember creativity starts with the way we think, and the way we subsequently act, in our day to day lives. The more we practice creativity in everything we do, the more we reinforce the idea that we are creative and then the easier it becomes to have new ideas, and to see things in new ways. 2. The immeasurable value of groundwork creativity A poet may write 50 poems before she comes up with one shes truly happy with. She may berate herself for wasting time on the previous 49 poems, but without writing them, she would not have reached the standard she reached with number 50. There are many ways we can improve ourselves - reading books, taking classes, studying our idols - but ultimately the only way to become better at any creative discipline is simple to do more of it. Experiment, play, find what works for you, what excites you and what motivates to create more. 3. We choose how happy we are with our levels of creativity Whatever you create and however much you create, ultimately, theres only one person you have to satisfy, only one person you have to live with each day and justify your creativity to. And that person is you. Until you choose to make peace with your creativity and choose to be kindly, supportive and understanding with yourself and what you create both in terms of quality and quantity you will always be dissatisfied. Celebrate each tiny act of creativity and remind yourself that with each one you are honouring your creativity and genuinely living a creative life. Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin
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