Scheduled Creativity

Not long ago, a young musician I know was experiencing a bout of ‘creative block’ – sort of like writers block, but a more broad spectrum affliction.  When he had time to sit down and write a song, or play his guitar, or whatever, the ideas just wouldn’t flow.  He asked me for advice.

I make my living (meager as it is) by being creative.  This was my dream as a child, and though the reality turned out to be completely different from how I envisioned it years ago, I am extremely fortunate to have reached this unlikely goal.  Very few of the kids who say they want to be firemen when they grow up turn out to be firemen.  I think the reason I accomplished this is 10% luck, 20% talent, and 70% stubbornness.  Next month will mark my 10 year anniversary of not having a ‘real’ job.

The downside of being creative for a living is having to be creative for a living.  Any day that I’m not productive equals a day sometime in the future that I won’t have any money coming in.  The frustrating flip side of that coin is that anything I create today won’t put food on the table for months and often years from when I create it.  Because of this I don’t have the luxury of ‘creative block’ – I have to work.  But it also has to be good.

Over the years I’ve noticed there are a handful of things that seem to have an immediate, positive impact on the flow of creative juices.  They are:

• Quiet exercise (no music or crowded places, preferrably outside)
• Sustained healthy eating (especially avoiding sugar)
• Watching movies (they don’t even have to be that good to spark an idea)
• Daily reading (for me, well-written novels are where it’s at)
• Thoughtful observation of the world around me (being aware of my environment and asking ‘why?’ and ‘what if?)

Unfortunately the first two are a constant struggle for me to maintain.  The third and fourth are quite enjoyable, but time consuming.  Luckily the fifth one comes naturally.  But when I’m able to strike a balance between all of these things, the music, words, and ideas flow freely from my mind.  You’ll notice that there isn’t anything directly musical on that list.  I’ll address that some other time…