A Guide to Unleashing Your Creative Mind
Recently, at a monthly dinner with my girl gang, who btw is the best group of bad-ass babes ever, a friend asked me about how I get into the creative mindset. For context, this group of ladies and I met in a professional setting.
But, our careers and lives have since gone in varied directions. These dinners are a fun way to catch-up, offer support on one another’s life challenges, and share whatever we’re into, books, podcasts, events. In this case, the creative mindset question was directed towards me because, out of the group, I’m the one who has probably departed furthest from the traditional career path (a story for another time) and into creative pursuits like my handmade jewelry business Element + Mineral. The question got me thinking. What does a “creative mindset” even really mean? I mean, I know that this mindset is a very real place that I have to get into to create, and I’ve heard others talk about it, yet it is such a nebulous term. It also seems unique and personal to the individual. So, like any modern individual, I decided to quite literally take matters into my own hands and pulled out my phone to look up the actual definition. Yup.
So, according to dictionary.com, the first definition listed said “having the quality or power of creating.” But, since I was taught that you can’t use the word that’s being defined within the definition (uh wtf dictionary.com?), I found a better and more specific definition they provided. It said “resulting from originality of thought, expression.” Coupling that with the definition for mindset is “an attitude, disposition, or mood.” followed by “an intention or inclination.”, the phrase effectively means a mood that intends to provoke original thoughts and expression.
And it was that word “mood” that really resonated with me. That’s exactly what it is. There really is a certain mood I have to get into. And getting into it is not always easy in everyday life. I may have many ideas floating around in the back of my mind constantly, but for me to actively retrieve those ideas and create, well, it requires a very specific mental space and environment. Deconstructing my process, it turns out there are a few things that consistently need to happen for me to get into the “zone.” And very interestingly, I found that my process was actually in alignment with many studies and accounts of this magical mood. We all say it in different ways, but I think the steps are very similar. So, for anybody looking to turn on their creative thinking caps, here’s what works best for me.
Step 1: Be A Kid Again
What I mean by this is to get into the mind of 5-yr-old you, 9-yr-old you, 13- yr-old you. What I don’t mean is getting whacky and forgetting responsibilities. Though I highly encourage that too :). The goal here is to tap into your original self and identify trends, beliefs, things you naturally gravitate towards. Understanding these trends can help to uncover creative outlets that truly suit you.
You may be thinking, well, I already know what that outlet is. I’m a “blogger” (or insert whatever your thing is here). Or, you may be thinking about how you already remember wanting to be a singer, artist, football player or whatever as a kid. But, the problem with this thinking is that we are often focused on the end result without really understanding what we really want. Being the x, y, or z is the end result of a long process of something else. And if you want to be x, y, or z, you better love that long process of the “something else” that it took to get there.
If you’re not familiar with Mark Manson’s writing, I highly encourage you to check it out. This article “Why some dreams should not be pursued” in the paragraph starting with “Sometimes wanting something is better than having it” has really stuck with me over the past several years. He comes to the realization that he didn’t actually want to fulfill his lifelong fantasy of being a famous musician. The reason? He hated the long practices, going to gigs, hustling, being on the road, the actual long, hard work that it takes to become a famous musician. My childhood fantasy of wanting to be famous was completely dispelled as I grew up and came to the realization that I’m actually a weirdly private person. I wouldn’t want to do awkward photo shoots where you’re practically naked in front of a crew of people, interviews where your every word gets scrutinized and twisted, or have people fawning over or tearing down my appearance. And I certainly did not want to give up my personal space and have people all up in my business. And let’s face it, I probably couldn’t handle all the rejection that comes with trying to become famous.
It’s really liberating to come to these conclusions, but you’re also left wondering what it is that you should be doing. And that’s when being a kid again is the key. Remembering what you were like as a kid allows you to take a step back, re-calibrate, indulge in childhood whimsy, unlock your curiosity, and ultimately understand who you are and what drives you. These are the keys to the creative gateway.
So, take a minute to reflect on the moments where you naturally got “lost” in play. Lay in the grass on a warm sunny day or go for a walk in nature. Go somewhere where you can calm your mind. And start remembering. What did you naturally create or do on a whim without any obligations or external pressures? What were your values as a kid? What tasks did you dread? What activities did you love so much that you “lost time?”
For me, some of those things were coloring, painting, building Lego towns, building forts inside and outside, decorating and rearranging my bedroom, or making VHS music videos with my little sister as my muse. Yeah, I’m talking coffee tables for stages and runways, outfit changes, sheets and lighting for set design, I mean the whole thing. I would kill to get a copy of those VHS tapes. But, I digress.
The point is, of these types of things I’d got lost in, you may notice that none of these things is jewelry making. They do, however, all have something in common. They are all activities that relied on building/creating something that is visual. And that’s what it is. I’m very visually attuned even if I didn’t realize it. What I wasn’t? I was not the “star”. I was never the kid acting in plays (under my own volition) or seeking the limelight. So…though I fantasized about celebrity actor status as a kid, I really was unwilling to take on the activities it would require to propel you into that world. I did, however, get asked to draw the 3rd-grade class page for our yearbook. I easily excelled and loved disappearing into drafting and woodshop class electives. These things were relatively “easy”, enjoyable, and I naturally gravitated towards it.
For you, it might be music, playing on the piano, making noise. Or, playing with your easy bake oven and helping mom in the kitchen. Maybe it was getting lost in books and words. Whatever it is, remember those things. Revel in it. Remember the feelings and ultimately see if you can uncover any trends for yourself.
Step 2: Get Bored….Like Really Bored
I’m serious. In today’s modern world, especially if you’ve got a full-time job, kids, and day-to-day responsibilities, time is limited. Our minds are focused on getting from one thing to the next on a long list of never-ending tasks. Not to mention the barrage of communication channels across multiple devices going off like crazy the minute you wake-up. Notifications, emails, slack messages, FB messages, DMs, texts, calls. Gah, it’s enough to drive any sane person mad. There’s certainly no room for the mental space to be creative in this environment.
So I guess what I’m saying is that if in step 1, we focus on what it’s like to be a kid again and remember our favorite things, step 2 is about examining the circumstances that enabled us to be that kid. If we can understand what gets our imaginative mind going, we can find ways to replicate an adult version for getting into a creative mindset. And I’m going to make this step easy and provide a sweeping generalization here. I’m guessing most of us will find that there were 2 key things that enabled our play. 1) An excess of time and 2) an unoccupied and uninterrupted amount of time.
In my case, whether I was killing the hours till my mom could get me from daycare, or traveling long distances on overnight trains rides (in India visiting family) with nothing to do and nowhere to go, or hanging out in the summer months with no school, no homework, no pre-planned activities while the parents were at work, these were the times I could afford to get lost in my thoughts. I had the luxury of excess downtime. These hours without any pre-planned activities were so long that my mind had moved past the relaxed, unwound, and vegetative state and into the twiddling my thumbs, mind wandering, bored out of my damn mind stage. That’s the level of boredom I’m talking about.
In addition to the excess of time, I think it’s important to call out, these were times with no distractions. I maybe had a book or a box of crayons, but there was no internet, iPhone, Netflix to fill up that downtime. Even if you have excess time, filling the time with these types of activities keeps the mind busy and engaged. The plethora of options and non-stop consumption occupies the mental space that we actually need to be empty. It needs to be free enough to let our minds wander. I’ve since come to find that there are plenty of studies and articles on this topic like this one reported in Time and this one by Wired. So, there’s that.
Okay, so how is this practical or even applicable in today’s modern world? How do you get that bored? Should we all throw away our iPhones and move to the desert? Well, no. Though, that does sound kind of awesome. It’s going to be different for everyone.
For me, I consciously made some lifestyle changes to open up more time and space. Those small changes evolved into bigger changes and even wound up changing my career path eventually. And I understand that this may not be everyone’s goal. I also recognize the unique circumstances I had that afforded me to take some of these liberties. That said, I think it can happen for the busiest of people if done in small shifts. In fact, that is how my jewelry business manifested. I never set out to start making jewelry or even starting a business. Like at all. I worked full-time, was always dead tired at the end of the day, and chronically mentally stressed out. This coupled with some life circumstances that acted as a catalyst, I realized I needed to reduce the noise in my life. I started shifting my personal time. Instead of dinners and drinks, I stayed in. I turned off the TV. That one was huge. Sometimes even music can be a distraction for me because I start to enjoy it and become mentally engaged. I’ll even hide my iPhone, so I’m not constantly checking it.
And it was in these moments where one thing led to the next. It went from being really weirded out by the silence. As someone who lives alone, I often keep the tv or music on as a way to feel less “alone”? But, in canceling the “noise”, I had time to sit and think and get bored enough. It was this boredom that led me to simply wanting to fix a broken necklace which turned into wondering how to construct a necklace and into tinkering with jewelry wire and a crystal, to finally creating my own necklaces. This opened time and space for me to realize I wanted to enroll in workshops and classes. The time and space allowed me to practice, experiment freely, and create more and more. I may have even called in “sick” to work a few times to afford me uninterrupted time 😉 All of these small steps are what eventually led me down the path to starting an Etsy store. And as my skills evolved, I started to get custom requests, commissioned work. And then I started to take the business more seriously. It was at this point, that I started making bigger shifts in my life to accommodate these interests. And I’m not suggesting you follow my exact steps, but the point was to illustrate how one or two innocuous thoughts in times of boredom can propel the creative brain. If you can think of small shifts that work for you, then you can open up pockets of time for a creative space. And that’s actually the perfect starting point anyway.
Step 3: Just Do
It’s as simple as that. Just start. Well, what if I don’t have the supplies? space? the skill? Forget all that. Whatever medium you have chosen, just start with whatever you do have. If you want to write, start writing phrases, ideas, or creating an outline in your iPhone notes or the back of receipts. If you want to illustrate, just pick an object and doodle it on the back of a piece of junk mail. Start fussing around in the kitchen with whatever pots and ingredients you do have. The key is to start getting the creative juices flowing and move from a state of inertia into action. Kinda like starting a new exercise routine.
Step 4: Commit
As you start to get into the groove and start wanting to try more, do more, and expand, then you’re ready for the commitment step. Commitment means committing to making time. Committing to financial investment in the resources, tools, stuff you need to get to the next level. Committing to finding a physical space in which to do. This is a step where many people drop off. It’s a difficult hurdle to get past. It’s also kind of an indicator of whether or not you really enjoy the thing you are pursuing. If you’re forcing yourself, not getting lost in the thing and it’s bringing more frustration than pleasure, you probably won’t be as excited about investing major dollars into resources. But, the good thing about the step 4 is that it’s an opportunity for you to decide if you need to re-evaluate (in which case, step 1: play in the dirt and be a kid again). And don’t feel bad if you decide to start over. This is all a part of the process. And it’s all good because you haven’t invested yourself, so if you change your mind and try something else, you haven’t lost anything. If anything, you’ve gained some experience and it’s leading you to something new.
Another challenge could be limitations like not having a spare room, or not enough funds to get equipment, etc. When it’s something like that, similar to step 2’s making time to be bored, it’s important to start small. For example, I turned the dining table that I rarely used into a make-shift jewelers bench. I put a cloth on it to not ruin it. I didn’t have (and still do not have) the proper sawing set-up. But, I made it work. I still use workaround solutions because I don’t have all the tools I would love to have. You could find a shared studio or workspace. This is often a good option because you get access to equipment and space with less financial investment. You could go to the library or a coffee-shop to escape your daily life and make room for writing, etc. Any small step forward is better than nothing. Small changes eventually lead to bigger shifts and move you past the state of inertia.
Step 5: Get Messy
Okay, so now that you’ve got the time, space, the stuff and you’ve actually started doing, the next thing is to get used to being messy. Like for real. If you’re a writer, you’re probably going to have tabs upon tabs upon tabs open in your browser as you do research, create drafts, start new drafts, start over, and procrastinate. If you’re a painter, or in my case jewelry maker, having easy access to all the tools and resources is key. Especially, if you have to leave something unfinished and come back to it later. You want to easily pick up where you left off. Organized chaos, the method to your madness, whatever you want to call it – it will look like a mess to your mom and be annoying as hell to look at when you want to have a clear space, but it’s a very methodical and practical mess. As supported by this Elite Daily article. The reality is that when you are actually making, stopping to go mix the right shade of violet or hunt around for the proper bit for my Foredom drill, is disruptive to your train of thought. You start to lose focus and momentum. The stop and go nature can eventually lead to a loss in motivation which is exactly what you want to avoid. So, as you’re getting started, just remember to be like that tv show and “Bless this Mess”.
Step 6: Break all the Rules
Break. All. The. Rules. I can’t stress this enough. Being creative, as we now know, results in an original thought or expression. Creativity never happened by following the rules. I bring this point up because sometimes people get stuck thinking that because they don’t know how to draw a house the “right way”, that they can’t draw. Like you are somehow not allowed to draw. The problem in that thinking is that you are imagining how you think that house should look and creating limits is the exact opposite of freedom of expression. For example, if you live in a brown house and your little kid scribbles a brown blob and calls it a house, does it mean it’s not the house? That kid had a very specific intent and even picked the right color. The output created is perfectly valid, albeit a very abstract representation of the house. Everyone. Can. Draw.
If you’re being attacked and you don’t see a designated weapon like a gun, are you just going to stand there and be like “oh well, no weapons, I can’t defend myself?” Course not. Your crazed mind is going to grasp for any object like a bat, a rock, that unicorn statue on the mantel, anything that will accomplish the goal of fighting off your attacker. That is creativity. And I know, I know, knitting a scarf isn’t as high stakes as being attacked, but the point is to not take everything at face value.
A more concrete example that I have with jewelry making is the concept of bezeling and stone setting. There are tried and true methods and a certain type of visual aesthetic with silversmithing and setting cabochon stones. When I started, the jewelry ideas in my brain did not involve faceted stones or a shaped stone with edges that I could easily create bezels around. I wanted to use rough stones. My goal was to show the beauty of a raw stone with minimal metal encasing. I had to improvise and come up with new ways of taking a learned skill set and modify it. Does that mean that my piece isn’t real jewelry? Nope. (Though I’m sure some haters out there may beg to differ ha.) The point is that instead of letting the fabrication methods drive the creative output, go with your creative vision and figure out the “how” afterward.
Step 7: Abandon Ego
Outside of step 4, the commitment phase, I think this step is the hardest part to unleashing the creative mindset. This is the part where you have to get out of your own head. There are so many things that will be out of your control, so bear in mind these few things.
You will f up. You will f up over and over and over again. You may think you look like a fool or probably actually do look like a fool, but you can’t escape it. Failing and trying again is part of the creative process. It’s also an extremely vulnerable position. Whether it’s a returned, broken jewelry item, a design someone hates, it’s going to happen. But, if you expect it, you can prepare for it and you won’t be caught off guard. You will lick your wounds, maybe (probably) feel like an asshat for 5 minutes, but, then you will be able to pick yourself up and try again. (I struggle with this everyday….remember the comment I made about being a weirdly private person? Yeah, putting a creative thing out there that doesn’t work or that people judge is like my personal nightmare).
People are weird, so you cannot rely on external validation. As you start making, you’ll start to wonder if people see the vision you intended. Is your manifestation a complete joke? Are you totally out there? Then you’ll start to seek validation from friends, family, strangers, the internet. And guess what? You won’t get it. Or at least, not in the way you expect. It could be crickets from close friends. Maybe your family won’t get “it”. And that’s when imposter syndrome slowly creeps in. I’ve had this conversation many times with other artists. For some reason, once you start creating, there are some people that completely ignore that entire side of you and don’t acknowledge any of your work – maybe they don’t get it or don’t respect it. Who knows. Meanwhile, there might be random strangers that commend your work and encourage you to jack up your prices. There might be somebody who you thought disliked your work and all of a sudden they order something. People are weird. You probably won’t get the pat on the shoulder that you want when you want it. But, hey its character building, right?
Copycats. And last but not least, just when you think your work is ignored, you’re worthless, and you suck, you’ll find that your idea gets stolen. Prepare for it. Whether it’s your photography style, your unique designs, your business name, your social media posts, your actual work, people will find inspiration from your work. And it’s a two-way street. You will find inspiration from others. The problem is with the downright copy-cat style-biters. Either way, when you are starting, unless you have proactively mentally, legally, and financially prepared to protect yourself to fight it, you’re going to have to swallow your ego on this one… yeah, it sucks.
At the end of the day, the point is, when you are starting out, don’t take yourself too seriously. You are doing this to have an outlet to relax, to unwind and have fun. So, forget everybody else. At least you’re the one having fun and trying new things right?
Step 8: Get Weird.
Part of creativity is letting go and unleashing your wild mind into its rawest, purest, most authentic form. If you’ve successfully abandoned the ego in step 7, then you’re ready to go with the flow. Get weird. Dig into your brain and let it take you wherever it goes. The more you harness that vision and the more energy you put towards it, the more you believe in it, and the more other people start to believe it, see it, and buy into it.
Step 9: Can’t Stop. Won’t Stop. Don’t Stop.
And last, but not least, take that weird and just keep going. If you have set-backs it’s okay to take breaks or stop for a while. But, don’t forget to get back up and keep going. The more you do, the easier it gets and the more progress you will make. I mean.. in a million years, I never thought that making cute DIY wire-wrap crystal necklaces for myself would turn into making full fledge precious metal, precious gemstone jewelry. You never know where things will lead you, so it’s important to keep going. Anyway, I know it’s easier said than done. I have to tell myself to keep going Every. Single. Day.
In Conclusion….
If you’ve made it this far and completed these 9 steps, I think it’s safe to say that you are officially harnessing that magical creative mindset of yours. Now, let go of that imposter syndrome!
Feedback?
Agree or disagree? Have your own tips that help you get into the creative mindset? I’d love to hear what works for you! Please leave us comments and share your thoughts!
