3/14/2021 0 Comments 5 Tips for Young CreativesI hope you are well during these unprecedented times, dear reader. I must say, this past year or so has been a very interesting journey for me. At the end of February last year, I decided to go backpacking in Western Europe. Unfortunately for I and my friend David, who decided to accompany me for the second leg of the trip, the massively unprecedented worldwide pandemic, COVID-19, was spreading rapidly across Europe. Narrowly avoiding the risk of catching the virus in Europe, we arrived back in Canada in March, and from there, I find myself starting a new job in Montreal less than 30 days later. Furthermore, less than 90 days from that point I would become a citizen of Montreal. 600km from my hometown. All this to say, if anybody understands the implications of having a turbulent lifestyle due to COVID-19, it’s me. So, my fellow creatives here are 5 tips that I have come to understand to be very poignant in maintaining a healthy creative flow: 1. Keep a dedicated sketchbook A sketchbook of any size can be beneficial to individuals who like to share ideas through drawing or even writing. I guess in a formalist sense it sort of feels liberating to use big, blank, beige sheets to write my poems, allowing the text to dance on the page with the images I’ve conjured up. When you do this you immediately start to feel inspired by your work, "maybe this could be my next piece" you wonder. 2. Deliberate planning Do not be conservative with your usage of an agenda. Schedule everything from research, to brainstorming. This will allow you to visualize your commitments and understand how, sequentially, each task is linked and interdependent. The key word here is deliberate- Be sure that what you're scheduling will be productive time during which you can give your full attention. 3. Take risks Mistakes are blessings. They are the primary way we learn, so if you care at all about becoming a master of your craft, you must cherish mistakes and maintain a solution-oriented mindset. Mistakes are an indication that you are progressing. For instance, all throughout my time in Architecture School, I would try think outside the box. Any assignment in which we explored design concepts were another avenue for me to push my limits creatively. It is easy to doubt yourself when you hold this mindset- when you allow your creativity to blossom like so while the majority of your peers seem to be aiming to make the most polished box with a door. So my advice here is hold fast to your dreams and do not allow your curiosity and creativity to falter based on peer pressure. Take risks because mistakes are progress. 4. Make starting work convenient Often, we can get into a cycle of ignoring what needs to be done. It is easy to say: “well I’m going to need an hour to complete task A, and that requires X Y Z” These excuses are all too common and allow us to create a false perception of what needs to be done. Subsequently, all the time feels like the wrong time to get started. I saw an amazing quotation once, it read something like: “Although it may take 30 minutes to finish a given task, it takes 30 seconds to start it”. This is true, and often the hardest part of the entire process is that 30 seconds. So make it one task on your new to-do list from tip #2 to organize your tasks and make it intuitive to start. 5. Trust the Process As a creative it is extremely important to take things in stride. It is imperative that we understand that accolades and successes manifest themselves in very interesting ways. Your path through this journey we call life is less of a straight line, rather it is full of curves, dips, straightaways, as well as plenty of back-tracking. So be sure to enjoy the journey because life can be tough sometimes, but the toughness is what facilitates the good times- they both exist in equilibrium, so value them as such. As young creatives it is an absolute imperative that we begin to understand how our brain works. Once we understand this, we can begin to tailor our workspace and workflow to allow our creativity to blossom. Whether you are a visual artist, a poet, or a break dancer, understanding the way you think and learn can allow you to reach new limits. This is especially so during these times in which many of us have a surplus of time to develop our craft. Building a creative routine is all about deliberation, being deliberate in your mentality, how you schedule your time, and what tools you use will help you become the best you can be. The goal is to make the easiest possible route the one through which you challenge yourself- and the only way to get to this place is just to get started.
~Leave a comment below, I would love to know what other things you guys do to achieve success!~
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