A weekly newsletter to help high achievers reach their potential and make a difference.
Disruption ignites creativity.
Last week, I wrote about my summer creative slump and gave you the first of 5 Ideas to get your creative juices flowing again: Margin. Unfortunately, the link for that post isn't working so I can't share it. Today I will share the second.
#2 - Disruption
For many people, creativity requires a familiar rhythm and routine. I am one of those people. But sometimes your routine can get dull and needs a disruption. Here are two ideas to disrupt things when you’ve fallen into a creative rut.
Fun can be the perfect disruption. Fun is an underrated weapon in your creative arsenal…with a caveat. According to author Catherine Price (The Power of Fun), fun involves three elements:
- Playfulness - having a light-hearted spirit—of not taking yourself too seriously and finding ways to laugh. it’s all about your attitude.
- Connection - the feeling of having a special, shared experience with someone else.
- Flow - the state we’re in when we’re totally engrossed and actively focused on the activity or experience at hand—it’s when we’re in the zone.
So grab a friend, schedule a time, and rid yourself of distractions. Whether it’s a beach day, a long bike ride or hike, coffee, lunch, or dinner at your favorite spot, plan something fun with someone you enjoy and restore your creative energy.
Take a walk (and a notebook). I must look crazy sometimes. I occasionally take long walks on a back road near my house with notebook in hand, stopping at various points along the road to write down creative ideas as they come. You can also use walks to untangle a problem or think deeply about one particular idea.
Friedrich Nietzsche once stated, “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” He was known to walk the same routes every day, one hour in the morning, and three hours every afternoon. By his mid-thirties, he was doing ten hours a day of “hermit’s walking.” It was during these walks that he wrote down the ideas for some of his greatest works.
Thoreau also held walking in high regard. He called it a “noble art.” For him, it had nothing to do with exercise, “but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day.”
Get out of your normal routine and take a walk. Grab a notebook (leave your phone), and noodle on one particular problem or idea you’ve wanted to think about more deeply.
Disrupt
How can you disrupt things this week to spark your creativity? Within the next 24 hours, write down three ideas, pick one, and make a plan.
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