12 Jan Lots of creative ideas? What about the follow through??

Creativity is beautiful in its simplicity – bringing something new into being is an aspect of our humanness as natural as taking a breath, and perhaps this is why creativity has been found to promote good mental health: it gives us a sense of flow, purpose, meaning. But sometimes our creativity can drive us to distraction too. There are all sorts of reasons for this, but one of them is that the ‘ideas’ part of creativity requires different skills to the ‘follow through and make it happen bit’. So we might be great at coming up with lots of ideas, but then things stall and we can’t seem to turn our ideas into reality. Let’s dive in a little deeper…

The Ideas bit

I think that the ‘coming up with an idea’ bit of creativity, is the part we’re most familiar with: the seemingly random, innovative, quirky, unexplainable, expansive, never-ending, intuitive side. It’s what gives ‘creative types’ their reputation. I think of it as the essence of creativity. But what is it? How does it work? Where do all those ideas really come from? Why do our brains want to create stuff? Why does it sometimes feel that the nudge of creativity won’t leave us alone? And why, at other times, is it so elusive? Well, the answer to all that will depend on who you ask. According to Anna Abraham (The Neuroscience of Creativity) the study of creativity is booming at the moment, and yet it is so hard to define it appropriately, and incredibly difficult to measure. She explains that one of the reasons it is so hard to study is that – “As many of us know through our own experience, we unfortunately cannot automatically elicit a cascade of creative thought with a mere prod. We may be trying to be creative when tasked to do so but this is not the same as being creative.” And that’s part of the problem for us as makers and creators, as artists and writers. Sometimes the ideas flow, inspiration comes seemingly from nowhere, or we create something we had no intention of creating. At other times, perhaps especially when we are trying really hard, it can feel as if our well of creativity has run completely dry. It can be hugely frustrating, and annoyingly mysterious. However, there are some things that we do understand about creativity, and that has to do with the conditions it needs in order to thrive:

Divergent thinking (thinking outside the box, being willing to look beyond the obvious).

Openness to experience & trying new things.

A quiet and, or, stimulating space to think freely (allowing us to access what Carl Jung called the ‘Creative Void’).

A fun, relaxed approach that embraces curiosity, playfulness and experimentation, and is willing to accept overwhelm, uncertainty, and half finished projects as part of the process.

So, if we take a look at these ‘ways of being’, it becomes clear that although we can’t necessarily make ideas come, we can certainly cultivate the conditions in our own lives that will give our creative brains the best chance of kicking into gear. We may need to work quite hard at some of these approaches, and that will be personal to us. What one person finds easy, the next person may well struggle with. But if you’re struggling with feeling uncreative, lacking ideas, then perhaps the trick is to stop trying, to try something new, to give yourself some peace and quiet (with no expectation), and to encourage curiosity or playfulness in yourself.

The making-it-happen bit

But to be a happy, successful creative we need to do more than merge with ideas in the magical wonder of the creative void. We need to nurture those fledgling projects into something full grown and wholly realised. At least, we have to nurture some of our projects in this way. It’s fine to leave some of them where we found them – at the back of our minds, or in a befuddled dream. It’s fine, too, to abandon projects halfway through if we realise it wasn’t the right thing. All writers and artists have left unfinished projects to mulch back down into the creative void: nothing ever wasted, everything food and fuel for another time. Just as death is part of life, it’s part of the creative process too. But those of us who struggle to follow through, to complete, to finish, find ourselves frustrated and unhappy with multiple half-finished projects. And with good reason. There’s a difference between occasionally choosing to leave a piece of work unfinished, and rarely getting beyond the ideas stage.

Two sides of the same coin

The problem here is that seeing our creative ideas through to completion demands some significantly different skills to those required to come up with the ideas in the first place. The first phase can be more about being, than doing. It can happen effortlessly, with no action necessary. It might involve nothing more than sitting on the sofa staring off into the middle distance. Admittedly, leading a creative life that nourishes our creativity involves a lot more than this, but none-the-less it’s possible to have an amazing, ground-breaking idea while doing nothing more than sitting in your pyjamas. But the second stage of creativity – the physically productive stage – involves action, some kind of organisation, maybe a new routine, certainly commitment, tenacity and self-belief. We’re talking specifics, deadlines and resilience. Perhaps we’re thinking this sounds boring – or scary! Maybe we’re telling ourselves that being all about routine and structure and repetition is the opposite of what we need as creative beings. We’re not like that, we lament. That’s not us. But at certain stages of the creative process it needs to be us. Of course, it’s perfectly possible to feel our way, gently, working without a concrete plan, towards our end goal. For some people it works. But for lots of us it doesn’t really work at all. Our creative minds are butterflies; there’s always a new, beautiful flower to tempt us away from finishing the task at hand.

Ignore the chatter

The ‘making-it-happen’ phase still incorporates all those ways of being that we looked at initially: openness, a relaxed approach, quiet and stimulating spaces to work. It’s also essential at the ‘doing’ stage to beware the internal chatter: Oh, this is crap; nothing’s working; why did I ever think this was a good idea; I don’t have what it takes; I can’t finish; it doesn’t make sense anymore; people will think I’m stupid. We’re all familiar with the inner critic and the trick is to recognise the negative inner dialogue as just that. Our internal chatter (basically, made up thoughts) is constant and, actually, completely irrelevant. It says nothing about who we really are, or what it is that we’re creating, and is in no way to be confused with intuition or insight. Seasoned writers and artists still have those annoying voices offering insults as they work. They just know not to take them seriously.

Consciously embracing some kind of structure, in order to get our project finished, doesn’t mean we abandon our flexible, intuitive, expansive nature. It just gives us a better chance of completing stuff. Having made a commitment to finish will help us work through our doubts. Having a deadline we’ve shared with someone else will keep us motivated. Working in a supportive group, or with a coach, towards specific goals with specific timescales will keep us accountable.

Let go of resistance

We might not like to think that structure and routine are part of the creative process, but invariably they are. I’ve heard so many people say, ‘I’m just not disciplined enough,’ or ‘I’m not an organised person,’ or ‘I have plenty of ideas but never find the time to make them happen.’

We tell ourselves all sorts of things that aren’t true. We get used to thinking about ourselves, our circumstances, and our creativity in a certain way. We think we know ourselves, but more often than not we limit ourselves with our supposed ‘knowing’. All of us have untapped potential; all of us are more adaptable than we think we are. Adapting is what humans do best. This isn’t about changing who we are. The modern world is full of messages about how we need to change, to do more, to be better. I’m not talking about that. We don’t need to change. We have everything we need, just as we are. We just need to stop getting in the way! Thinking outside the box, being open to new experiences, having a fun, relaxed approach is part of our creative nature. Let’s use it to our advantage. Is there really anything to stop us deciding that planning can be fun, that discipline might be exciting, that commitments and deadlines might be freeing?

Seriously. What’s to stop us…?