Cultivate your creativity
A few months ago, I left my job and have been taking a little bit of time to figure out what I want to do next. I had the opportunity to relocate across the country, and have spent some time exploring, learning, and taking a breather from the corporate world.
There are parts of being “fun”employed that I really enjoy — waking up whenever I want, being able to explore the new city I’m living in — basically doing the things that I choose to do. But, part of me can feel my creative muscles waning, as I haven’t had a structured outlet forcing me to practice being creative everyday.
Creativity is undoubtedly a muscle you need to maintain. Having been out of the workplace for about two months now, I’ve been searching for ways to keep myself accountable for my craft. I’ve slowly felt the pressure of not exercising my creative muscles enough, and I hope that I’ll be ready to go when I start my next role.
As a designer, I know it’s imperative that I’m constantly flexing my creative muscles so I can ideate and create innovative solutions. But, I strongly believe that creativity is key for both designers and non-designers alike — you don’t have to be in a “creative” role to begin building up your creative muscle. Taking a creative approach to the problems you face everyday can make life more interesting, and also make your solutions feel more fulfilling.
These are a few things I try to do frequently to keep my creative muscles in top shape. Hopefully, you’ll find them useful too, and try them out for yourself!
Work in a medium outside of your usual comfort zone
Growing up, I enjoyed drawing and painting a lot. But as I grew older and started going to college, and eventually working, I quickly pushed these activities off to the side in exchange for things that seemed like they were more productive, relaxing, or fun. I’ve often found myself making excuses like, “I don’t have enough time,” or “I’m too tired when I get home from work,” and then proceed to do mindless things like scrolling through Instagram or Facebook for the rest of the night.
With the extra time I’ve had lately, I’ve tried to rekindle this interest in art by taking up YouTube lessons on calligraphy using Crayola markers. I’ve always followed hand letterers on Instagram, and figured I’d give it a go myself.
There’s a whole sleuth of challenges that come out of working outside of my normal digital mediums of Adobe Creative Suite and Sketch that have pushed me to exercise my creativity in different ways. Drawing by hand is much less forgiving than working in a digital medium — once you’ve put it on paper, there’s no going back. After all, there’s no Command-Z with pen and paper (it’s funny though, sometimes I find myself making the motions to undo while drawing)! And with that, I’ve been forced to improvise more, coming up with creative solutions and going with the flow.
I tend to get more frustrated or feel like my work isn’t that good when I draw things by hand. But when I finally create something that I really like, it feels even more rewarding and fulfilling than when I create something digitally. Pushing yourself to work outside of your usual medium allows yourself to exercise different creative muscles, making you an even more well-rounded creative.
Drawing and painting aren’t your thing? Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be “art” related! Just find something that allows you to express yourself in a medium that’s not what you’re usually working in — things like writing, gardening, and cooking can all be great mediums for this, too.
Get outside!
Even though it may seem like everything happens on our little screens now days, don’t be afraid to take a break and get outside! Being outside in nature can pump up your creative juices in a different way than you’d experience by looking for inspiration online.
One of the things that I really love about being outside is noticing patterns and textures that happen in nature. As a skier, one thing I’ll never get tired of is seeing the way that the fresh snow sparkles in the sun on a bluebird day. There’s something about reconnecting with the things that happen in nature that can get your creative juices going — whether it’s in noticing and trying to replicate patterns you see, or just giving yourself some much needed time to let your mind just wander, being outside will never hurt your creativity.
Even if you’re not around nature or you live in the thick of a city — there’s plenty to see and be inspired by. Sometimes, I enjoy walking around the neighborhood with my phone or camera, snapping photos of things that look interesting. I certainly don’t claim to be a photographer, but I’ve found that observing your immediate surroundings in this way helps you look at things you’re familiar with in a new light. You’ll begin to notice things that you might not have before (like, how long has that building been there?), and you’ll begin to see things in a more critical, observant manner. All of this is key to developing your creative muscle.
Challenge yourself to come up with creative solutions to little problems
I’ve heard a lot of people say that they’re not creative because they don’t have the opportunity to be creative — whether its in their job, or their everyday life. But, I really believe that you can make space for creative moments in your everyday life.
One of the things that I’ve been doing for a while now is challenging myself to be creative while cooking. I try my best to cook dinner frequently during the week — but honestly, I loathe cooking. Because of this, I’ve found that my lack of preparation and laziness to go to the grocery store leaves me with seemingly nothing for dinner.
In these situations, I’ll do my best to whip together something edible from whatever canned goods and frozen foods I have sitting around. Taking inventory of what you have and trying to come up with something that sounds appetizing definitely requires creativity. You’re forced to improvise, compromise, and develop out of the box solutions. Plus, coming up with these little wins definitely helps make a task I don’t enjoy more fulfilling and interesting. I have to say, there’s nothing more satisfying than feeling like you have nothing for dinner, and then pulling something out of your back pocket that you realize actually tastes pretty good.
Cooking’s not the only thing that you can apply this mentality to — you can literally challenge yourself to innovate in any other little task you might face around the house. I’ve also been doing a lot of furniture assembly and fixing up our new apartment and have been challenging myself to be creative in these efforts as well. One of our closet doors actually fell off its track, and I decided that I’d find a way to fix it up myself. I found some mounting putty I had leftover from hanging up some wall decor, and fashioned a makeshift stopper to hold the door in place. Even though they seem small, little moments like these can be enough to keep your creativity strong.
Join a social movement or create a cohort to share your work
Similar to how exercising with a buddy can help you stay accountable, the same thing applies for creative work. There are frequently design challenges or weekly challenges that people around the world work on and share on their social media channels, which can help you find a cadence for being creative and provide you with a community to help hold you accountable. Some of the challenges I’ve heard of recently include things like #100DaysChallenge, #DailyUIChallenge, and #May1Reboot.
Or, if you’re not really wanting to do one of these challenges, still feel free to share your work on social media! Even if it seems uninteresting to you, friends and people around you can really encourage you to stay motivated. I’ve recently tried taking time-lapse videos of things I’m illustrating, or the hand-lettering projects I’m working on, and posting them to my Instagram Stories. Surprisingly, a lot of my friends have commented, and that’s helped me stay motivated to keep trying even if I’m not 100% happy with the outcome. Don’t be afraid to post your stuff, be shameless about it!
Don’t take things too seriously
As you’re creating and developing your muscles, don’t worry if things aren’t completely perfect. I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of holding myself back because I wasn’t completely happy with the end result. In the end, it’s not about being perfect — it’s about developing your process and challenging yourself to enter the mindset of taking a creative approach.
I challenge you, no matter your background, to try something creative — because by being creative, we all will keep pushing ourselves further and forward into the future.
