5 New habits to cultivate for your creative journey.
By Jeannine McGlade & Andrew Pek | Posted 9/15/10 | Updated 10/5/20
Imagine yourself drawing inspiration and fresh insights from the world around you everyday. Imagine you, your family, friends and work colleagues surrounded by creativity, ideas and endless possibilities. Imagine your intentions become a reality easily and effortlessly.
Now's the time to infuse our lives with some specific habits that will stimulate that creative part of ourselves and in essence, help us to achieve our intentions and goals. Whether it's weight loss, mastering a new skill, or just getting out of bed not feeling exhausted, the habits we'll review will help you draw that inspiration and give you the creative spark to keep at it.
These habits are not only easy to implement, but fun. And, research shows that if you are having fun with a new skill or task, you will get it done more effectively. Here they are: cultivating, scouting, playing, venturing and harvesting.
These five habits make up what we call the creative genius. This creative genius is that part of each and every one of us who is stimulated full of excitement, energy and ideas. It is the part of each one of us that is possibilities oriented, has a can-do attitude and a way of being that communicates to the world around us that anything is possible. When we adopt this attitude, we consistently explore ourselves and our environment, bring creative energy into our work, our interactions with others and our lives in general. And at the beginning of a new year, there is no better time to renew your commitment to and infuse some creative spark into your new year's goals.
So let's take a closer look at what each of these success habits are, and how you can embed them into your goals, plans and activities.
Pause for a moment and think about the places and spaces you frequent how do you feel when you are there? What does it do for your energy and creativity? How is the vibe? And are you in tune with it?
Cultivating the right environment is the first essential habit in order to lead a more stimulated life. That practice of cultivating is about developing and experiencing places and spaces that will help you develop a creative state of mind an inspired way of being where all things are possible. So here are some practical things you can do immediately to jump start your creative genius:
To attract new sparks in your life those moments where you get the seedling of an idea, feel excitement and passion for the possibilities, and propel your creative energy forward we need to get out and about and make new discoveries. All too often we (and the rest of the world) operate on autopilot. We go through the motions of life and aren't present in the moment as we go about our day.
Scouting forms the backbone of our creative anatomy. What is important about this practice is keeping your eyes wide open and immersing yourself in the experience at hand. Scouting is the time for total "ob-sorp-vation." That is observing, being absorbed in and recording what it is that you see, hear, and read not analyzing what those observations may mean. It is all about taking in different stimuli and seeing what sparks happen for you. Here are some quick ideas to start your scouting today:
The results of applying your creativity to generate fresh ideas can be very serious. However, the process you use does not need to be. You can still get results if you inject play into the process to spark creative ideas and action. In organizations, few would consider that play is a legitimate way to spur business results. However, we do see play as serious business.
Stimulating your creative genius and living a life of possibilities, needs a steady diet of fun, expression and imagination. Carl Jung once said, "The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity." This play instinct is something we can all tap into. To add a little more fun and play into your life and your work, try these ideas:
Individuals who embody the venturing practice are risk takers, courageous and adventuresome. These individuals appreciate that during our creative journey there may be real or perceived risks and that making the leap with a creative idea takes courage and faith in ourselves and a passion for our pursuits
In our lives and in our work though frenetic at times, we hope and expect things to be clear, orderly and in control. The trouble is, clarity and order are not often the case especially when we are cultivating a creative mindset. It can be just the opposite and may call for behaviors that feel uncomfortable and risky at times.
Venturing is about plunging in, experimenting with and pursuing your ideas with both feet. To stimulate a more creative life and to generate ideas that have the potential for breakthrough success, here are some things you can do to adopt a "venturing" habit and thoughtful risk-taking attitude:
Harvesting where you bring your creative ideas to life is a continuous loop of creativity. It is about making sure you make your ideas real and celebrate the success of all of your creative venture, even the ones that may not necessarily turn out as you first imagined.
To boost your creative output we recommend three rituals to partake in on a regular basis:
So, there you have it five habits that will help you infuse creative energy into your life. And, who knows, maybe come up with a new idea that you weren't expecting.
©2010 Jeannine McGlade & Andrew Pek. All rights reserved.
Jeannine McGlade and Andrew Pek are authors, speakers, trainers, and thought leaders in making innovation and creativity a habit. more