Creativity and lessons learned

In order to do better -
Just do something else.

I just wanted to share some insights I've been able to pinpoint recently about my own creative process. 

I've learnt that creativity in one medium flows more readily when I make the effort to carve out time to play in another. Keeping in mind that I frame almost everything in my life as ‘creativity’ in one form or another (even parenting, although that’s a bit of a stretch  :)  ). 

For example, I might be stuck writing the marketing plan for Aneo, and because I've been busy working on it for weeks on end, I've neglected my art journaling. 

Sometimes its hard to gain the perspective I need, but I’m getting better at stopping myself when I’m clearly floundering and going nowhere, and turning my attention to creating with a different part of my brain. 

A few hours lost in paint and paper usually results in a completely different mindset when I return to the dreaded task that seemed insurmountable earlier that day. And I like writing - even for work - so it’s not a work vs. play issue, it’s simply firing a different set of creative neurons for a little while so the other side of my brain can take a coffee break. 

The reverse is true as well – sometimes I lose my mojo and can’t make art, so I write for a few nights and let the muse return when it’s ready.

It seems so simple now that I've written it down like this. But it really has taken me the best part of thirty years to figure out that  this is exactly what I need to overcome a creative block: just do something else. 

By Leonie Waldron