The. Pre-Creativity. Foundation. Is. Everything.
I teach and coach about how important it is to build a foundation for your creativity. In fact, I call what I do ‘pre-creativity’ instead of creativity. What do I mean by that?
Safety first. But foundation before safety.
We have so many sayings about this: Put your mask on before you help others. Walk before you run. Don’t get ahead of yourself.
Granted, Picasso was a total schmuck, but I do love his quote, “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” Learn your creativity rules so you can break them without breaking you.
The Creativity Pyramid
On my home page is a Creativity Pyramid: Safety, Bravery, Aha! All of this sits on top of ‘Foundation’.
Chaos can absolutely spur on creativity. The 3-4 weeks after my house caught on fire (literally) were some of the most creative of my life. When you don’t own shoes, you don’t really care much about the Inner Critic or Imposter Syndrome. In a way, those few weeks were closest I’ve ever been to inner peace. I was seriously in the moment, at every moment.
But chronic chaos? A year of being unhoused? Constant stress and worry? Eh. Not so much.
The myth of the tortured artist
We can thank neuroscience and cognitive psychology for demonstrating empirically that artists don’t need chaos to thrive or create. Drugs don’t make us more creative. We don’t necessarily need to suffer for our art. I mean, we do need to suffer, simply because part of being human is suffering, and it’s our job as artists to figure out how to turn that into art. But, researchers tell us that suffering and art are actually not related at all.
What we do need is to understand what our creative foundations look like. For example: I need a clean desk before I can write, my partner needs a messy one. I need order, he needs chaos. For each of us, they are both our creative foundations — our pre-creativity — that sets the scene where our creativity can thrive or flourish.
How to think about your creative foundation
Okay, here, try this: First, think about what isn’t true or happening when you’ve lost (or are losing) your creative spark. I.e., When your creativity mojo is in the shitter, what’s true? Are you stressed? Feeling a lack of confidence? Did you just move, or have you been in the same place too long? Did break up with someone, or lose a job? Have you not traveled for a while? Are you around people too much? Not enough?
A creative foundation usually starts at the opposite of those things. For example, I lose all creative ability when I’m overwhelmed. I could be overwhelmed by too much going on, or too little. (Too little is often worse. Stress gives me creativity; overwhelm or a lack of energy zaps it away.)
Lists! Start a Creativity Notebook
If you have a journal, start writing in your journal. Or designate a notebook, as long as you’re physically writing (writing out longhand is best to spark creativity).
Something magical happens when we take the time to ponder questions while writing. Try these:
What are ten true statements about my creativity right now?
What do I love doing?
What do I love doing that I’m not doing anymore?
What do I need to do every year, month, week, and day to help me build a foundation to be creative?
When I’m not feeling creative, what are a few things that have helped in the past?
I have my clients or workshop attendees write out what I call their Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly lists to help them get started. Maybe that’ll be my next post.