Written by: Katie Stoddart, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Whether you are a business owner, an artist, a project manager or a CEO, creativity is a skill that you need & use daily. This could be to create content to grow your brand, or to have a creative approach to problem-solving. Creativity is all about connection: connecting ideas, concepts, thoughts, and patterns together. It’s not about creating something out of nothing, but rather creating from what you have at your disposal: thoughts, problems, inspiration…
There is a common misconception that some people are creative, and others are not. This is based on the idea that creativity is linked to drawing or composing songs. We are all creative, but our creativity comes out in different ways: for some, it is indeed through art or music, whereas for others, it is through writing, cooking, or problem-solving.
In this article, I will highlight the five essential steps to mastering creativity: how to have a systematic approach to the creative process.
1. Set the scene
Before you set off on your creative journey, you need to prepare the terrain. This is similar to deciding to go on a trek through the jungle – you don’t just set off, you decide beforehand what you will need as you are walking through the jungle…
How can you best set the scene for your creative work?
Decide what you would like to create – whether it is an article, or brainstorming about a business topic. Once you are clear on the direction of your creative process, you can start to gather all the relevant information.
While you sieve through articles, ideas, and content – your mind will begin to pick up on small creativity seeds. You will find yourself thinking: ‘Maybe I could elaborate a bit more on this idea.’ Or ‘Perhaps I could explore this more in detail’.
The creative process has begun!
If you want to set the scene in an optimal way, you can also tailor your environment to suit your creative style. This could be through putting on loud music, or on the contrary, being in total silence. Or you can lay out many images on your desk… Whatever gets your creativity flowing – you can encourage this during the ‘set the scene’ stage.
2. Absorb & incubate
Now comes the moment to fully absorb all the material you have gathered in the first stage. Everything you have read, listened to, and written down is absorbed.
This stage is often referred to as the incubation stage as you are letting all the content flow through your mind. The subconscious is at work and pulling different ideas together, knitting a complex web of ideas, concepts, and perceptions.
Though you might still not be clear on what it is you are going to create, your mind is progressing on it so have faith that it will figure it out.
At this moment, it’s important not to be too impatient about the results. You are still absorbing all the information and not yet ready to produce a given outcome.
Depending on what you are creating, this incubation phase could last a few minutes or several days or months, and even years. For instance, if you are writing an article (such as this one), you might only need a few minutes of incubation time. On the other hand, if you are writing a novel, you could perhaps benefit from several weeks (or months!) of incubation.
The more complex the endeavour is, the more incubation is needed.
During this stage, you will be constantly revisiting your creative idea. At times, you might feel frustrated that you are not progressing the way you would like to. You are making more progress than you realise, as your idea is being churned over & over by your subconscious. Interestingly enough, control can block this stage. If you become too controlling about creating faster, this could block your incubation phase. In some ways, you are not really in control of how long this stage will last.
Once you have looked through all your facts, data, and ideas, you will feel like you are reaching the end of the incubation as you will have the inclination to turn your idea into reality.
3. The spark
This is where the spark happens. After the incubation, it can be useful to step away from your idea (especially if this is a big ambitious project) and come back at it with fresh eyes. Do something that energises you that is totally unrelated to your project.
Your subconscious has magically done the work, you have finished knitting that complex web of ideas, and your mind has produced one spark.
This is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world! Once more, this spark cannot be forced. It occurs on its own, after having been absorbed in your content for a while, and stepping away from it.
You might have that epiphany in the shower, while walking, when waking up in the morning, in a conversation with a friend… Often it will come to you, in a ‘eureka’ like moment, when you are not thinking about it. Think Newton and the apple – most of our best ideas come when we are rested.
This insight stage is when your idea has crystallised into something you can create!
4. Analysing and checking
Before you leap into action, this fourth stage is a brief one. Double-check that this idea is one that you want to bring to life, that it serves your purpose and that it is achievable.
Perhaps you came up with a great invention but then realise it would cost a lot of time or money, this is the stage where you way up if it is worth exploring any further or not.
This is the same when it comes to that book you could write or that painting you could do…
Check with yourself if this is a project you genuinely want to take on. If not, make sure you are not placing barriers in your way and that you are not blocking your own creativity.
5. Bringing it to life
Now you have reached the stage of bringing your project to life! You know what you want to create, and you have checked that it is worth pursuing.
To bring it to life, here are a few concepts that can support you in turning your idea into a reality:
Be willing to create a lot of junk. Nothing blocks creativity more than perfectionism. If you are not willing to first produce rubbish, then you will never reap that gold. The creative genius only shines after a few failed attempts. So don’t be scared of your first drafts or the first materialisations of your idea. It’s all going in the right direction!
Step away when needed. Though you are no longer between the incubation and the spark phases, you still might need to step away from your project from time to time. This will help you to have a different perspective and might give you further thoughts on how best to develop your idea. It will also prevent you from reaching creative burnout (when you have been creating so much that you feel you can no longer create at all).
Schedule your work. Paradoxically, having a schedule can support you to release your creativity. You will start to know that this is your creation time, and you will be able to produce more creative work than you ever thought was possible. Having limits & constraints has been proven to support creativity. Dr Seuss, for instance, used the power of constraints when writing. “The more a person limits himself, the more resourceful he becomes” (Soren Kierkegaard)
Be compassionate. Too often, we judge our own creation. Perfectionism is one of the greatest enemies of creativity, and self-judgement is another one. By constantly judging our own work, we are preventing ourselves from releasing our inner power, our inner resources and ideas. Being compassionate and letting go of judgement make a huge difference and also make the whole process far more enjoyable!
Continue practising. Whatever you do, stay motived, continue to practise, and let it out. Creativity is a muscle, and it benefits from being used. Through constantly creating, you are not only enhancing your creativity but are also boosting your: resilience, endurance, perseverance, and grit.
Last Thoughts
Life is creativity. We were made to create, whether it is creating ideas or creating connections – creativity flows through our veins. We are at our happiest when we are immersed in creativity. Think about it: everything man-made has been thought of, conceptualised and created. Now, it’s your turn: what will you create next?
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Katie Stoddart, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Katie Stoddart, founder of ‘The Focus Bee’ is an award-winning, international, high-performance coach, speaker and podcast host. Katie supports leaders and business owners to reach & sustain peak performance in their business.
For her weekly podcast ‘The Focus Bee Show’, Katie interviews leading experts in high performance. Passionate about living intentionally; Katie challenges each and every person she works with to re-focus on what matters most. Katie works primarily with entrepreneurs & executives through 1-1 coaching & workshops on: Focus, Leadership & Performance.
