How being structured makes you creative.

10-Minute Artist Lecture on Structuring Creativity

Hi, I’m Adam. Every Thursday I send a free newsletter called ‘10-Minute Artist Lecture’ where I share one idea to help you build your creative practice.

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What is it about daily practices that inspire creativity?

Desperation is the mother of all invention

• Austin Kleon fills a spread of his diary every day, it doesn’t matter what he fills it with the point is to fill it.

• Seth Godin has written a daily blog of whatever comes to his mind every day since 2009

• Dickie Bush
  sets aside 90 minutes to write daily.

Here’s the secret - these daily practices or projects are not the place where creativity is generated.

The secret lies in these daily practices or projects: they don't generate creativity, but rather serve as the catalyst.

They become your deadlines, and having a deadline ignites your creativity, a truth you've experienced firsthand. The anticipation of meeting your deadline transforms you into an idea-hungry curator.

Suddenly, every aspect of your life becomes a wellspring of inspiration for your art.

You begin to notice an abundance of ideas.

Your attention sharpens.

You uncover more connections.

Embracing a daily project provides you with a fresh perspective on the world.

Knowing that you have dedicated time to nurture your ideas infuses them with a newfound depth. These quality ideas, in turn, enrich your creative sessions immensely.

You can’t force ideas

But you can create a space for them to bubble up.

The easiest way to do this is to take a walk. Or some similar activity. Leave the AirPods at home, and even the phone if you can.

Use the walk to teach yourself how to notice ideas.

Assignment:

Schedule in daily sessions to work on your ideas.

Schedule a walk or walks into your week, walk unplugged, and count the number of ideas that bubble up.

Here are some ideas for collecting your ideas, choose one to use this week.

1. Take a photo

2. Carry a notebook

3. Carry a notecard (Anne Lamott’s Method)

4. Use the Notes app

5. Take Voice Memos

6. Repeat the idea out loud (The GaryVee’s Method)

7. Just let them stew in your head (Stephen King’s Method)

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Lets Chat:

In the comments, have your say then encourage someone else. I encourage us to ask questions and have a discussion around the idea of how having a structured time to work on your ideas, increases the quality of the ideas you have overall.

1. Do you have a story of how having a deadline makes you creative?

2. Did you manage to do a 10-minute Artist Session last week?

3. How do you feel about making the 10-minute Artist Session a daily ritual?

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1. A book I illustrated is out today! I think it should be required reading for 10-year-olds.

2. Next Monday we’re having our first “IlloGuild Live” event. We’ll be discussing Critique groups and the idea of collaboration vs. competition as an artist