These Habits Prevent You from Reaching Your Creative Potential
A lot of modern-day jobs involve the creative process, such as design, marketing, copywriting, and so on. But, creative thinking in our day-to-day life can be a difficult goal to achieve, particularly when we don’t feel creative at all. There are several ways to stay creative, but just as there are methods to help you, there are also certain habits that can hinder your creative potential. Pay attention to these patterns so that you can change or avoid them at your job as well.
You think you need the latest technology
As a digital creative, you have a series of tools, from the computer you use in your work to the programs you have installed. All of them are necessary to carry out your projects. However, there will always be a better program or more powerful computer than the one you currently have. Sometimes, you have no choice but to conform and do the best you can with the tools you have at your disposal. Despite what you may think, these tools do not affect creativity. Creativity has to do with your own thinking and ways you generate new and fresh ideas. Worrying about the software you don’t have has nothing to do with creativity and ultimately, it’s just an excuse to avoid being as creative as you can.
While it is true that top-quality tools will allow you to do a better job, the most important thing is that you have a great idea first. Even though you may not have the latest technology, you’ll still find ways to put your ideas in digital format if you really want to.
You allow distractions to be part of a daily routine
Everyone gets distracted but you must also learn how to fight those more tempting distractions. It’s easy to get distracted by having an Internet connection and social media channels at your fingertips. You can check your profiles, see what your friends post, search videos on YouTube, play an online game, etc.
Dealing with these distractions on a daily basis can be a challenge, but you must be able to do it. There is nothing wrong with spending a few minutes checking social media or watching videos on YouTube, but the problem occurs when you cannot control the time you spend on each platform. In the end, what was intended to be a short break of 15 minutes becomes an extended session of social media time that ate up too much of your time. The distractions are there within our reach, so you must be careful. Choose when it’s appropriate to distract yourself as part of a break and control the time you spend on each platform.
You have a routine that is not favorable for you
Everyone has their own creative process. You may find yourself with more energy in the morning and it may be the perfect time to unleash your creativity. Or, on the contrary, you may start to feel those creative juices flowing as night begins to fall. Each person follows a different routine that works for them. It’s all up to you to discover what kind of routine works well for you. And it is very important that you manage to analyze what other changes tend to make you more creative, be it the time of day, the type of music you listen to, etc.
It’s essential that you’re very honest with yourself if you want to eliminate those habits that do not allow you to enhance your creativity.
You are in constant search for perfection
No one’s perfect. No matter how much knowledge you may possess, there are always new things to learn. In many cases, the search for perfection can demotivate you. You may trick yourself into thinking that a task you cannot complete perfectly is not worth doing at all.
The search for perfection itself is not that bad as it can help you improve in many ways. But it turns into a problem when you become obsessed with it and lose sight of your abilities. In the end, this can turn into a right blow to your self-esteem and lead to the feeling of frustration which is far from anything motivational and creative.
Instead of going on a quest for perfection, seek ways to improve every day. You can achieve this by putting your skills into practice and learning new things.
You constantly compare your work with the work of others
Admiring the work of fellow creatives is a good idea. Thanks to the Internet, you can explore the work of talented people from around the globe. These can be used as references for your own projects, they can be a great source of inspiration and motivate you to improve every day. Although this all has its positive aspects, you may start to compare yourself to others a bit too much. Suddenly, you’re never satisfied with your own work and when looking at other people’s projects you only see things that you haven’t achieved. These kinds of thoughts can seriously block your creativity.
Remember that each person advances at their own pace and you cannot define your value by comparing yourself to others. They have their achievements and you have yours. Use that admiration you feel for other creatives as your main motivation, recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and think about how you can improve them.
There are different methods to incorporate creativity into your daily routine. It’s a task that takes time and is more effective the more you know yourself. But just as there are these techniques, there are also certain thoughts or habits that can get in the way of your creative process. The ones listed above are the most common so if you recognize them, try hard to break away from them. That way, you can make use of all your creative potential.
