Increase Creativity A-Z - B Is For Balance – How To Use Your Creativity In ALL Areas Of Your Life

Sometimes a head-down-no-distractions-don't-even-come-up-for-air-for-eight-hours creative marathon can produce fantastic results. We can get deeply into the flow of a creative project, really get our teeth into it and make some wonderful progress.

But if we did this all the time, it wouldn't be so helpful. Or practical. Or sociable.

Unless you live in a shack in the middle of the woods, miles from the nearest living soul and have no financial, family or other commitments, this kind of creative behaviour day after day is just not sustainable.

If the description above describes you exactly and this lifestyle works beautifully for you, that's fantastic! Long may it continue...

But for those of us with the rest of our lives and obligations to fit in around our creative projects (or vice versa), we need an approach that is more realistic and flexible.

And we need balance. Balance between each of the connected elements of our lives that are important to us.

What we often do is separate our creative work - the time and energy we spend on creating in the ways we most enjoy – from everything else in our lives.

This then causes friction, a situation of "My Creative Life" Vs "Everything Else In My Life" and "I'm either creative or not creative." This approach isn't the most beneficial to either your creative work, or all the other important areas of your life.

So what's the solution?

Is there a better way to approach this conflict between creative time and non-creative time, and to achieve a happy balance?

The secret is to realise that as a creative person, this creativity influences your whole life. Being creative is an inherent part of your personality. It's not like a set of dentures which you remove after mealtimes and when you sleep.

Your creativity is there all the time, embedded in you as deeply and indisputably as there is blood running through your veins.

Once you accept this and put it into use, the conflict between creative and non-creative in your life simply won't exist.

The easiest way to do this in practice is just to trust your creativity and ask. Ask yourself "How can I use my creativity in (state an area of your life)?"

Do this for each area of your life, trust that you will come up with plenty of solutions that'll help you and then start putting some of them into use.

To recap, you can use your creativity in all areas of your life to achieve a more balanced and happy life overall.

Recognise that your creativity is ever present and there to help you in any way you need.

You've just got to ask it.

Creativity Killers - How A Clown In Your Kitchen Kills Your Creativity

Imagine you had a clown in your kitchen.

Bright red nose, painted face, huge floppy shoes, baggy trousers, the full outfit. Just sitting there right on your worktop in between your kettle and your toaster.

The first time you saw him, no doubt you'd get quite a shock.

What's this clown doing in my kitchen??! Unless you live next door to a circus, it's unlikely you've had a clown in your kitchen all that often before...

The next time you go in your kitchen, he's still there. You still jump a little, but it's not as big a shock as the first time.

A few weeks pass and by this time, you're getting used to Bobo being there.

Sometimes you even make him a cup of tea and engage him in polite conversation. "LOVE those shoes. Do they come in any sizes smaller than a 30 Extra Extra Wide?"

Months down the line though, you don't even notice him anymore.

He's blended into the background, become part of what you expect to see in your kitchen when you make your breakfast every morning.

Friends come round for dinner. Friends you don't see very often.

"Hey there's a clown in your kitchen!" they shout in surprise.

"Oh yeh," you reply. "We don't really notice him anymore, he's part of the furniture".

So how does having a clown in your kitchen drain your creativity?

Remember when the clown first appeared? What a shock it was? Then how over time, the impact of him being in your kitchen got less and less until months later you barely noticed him.

It's the same with the kind of negative, destructive thinking that slowly kills your creativity, often without you even realising.

The thoughts start off kind of obvious.

Just as you settle down to begin a new project, they appear in your mind:

"Why are you even bothering to start? You know this'll end in failure, you'll mess it up just like you do all the other projects. Stop kidding yourself, you haven't got any creative talents anyway."

If you were with a friend who was just starting a new creative project and they this said this out loud, how would you react?

It's unlikely you'd let it pass without comment, and without reassuring them that they have LOADS of creative talents and they DON'T mess up everything they start, and then produce the evidence to prove it.

Why is it ok to turn a deaf ear when you say the same to yourself?

Because they're just clowns in your kitchen.

They've been around so long, and been heard so many times, that you don't notice them anymore.

But this is the precise reason WHY they're so dangerous.

Although it SEEMS you don't notice them on the surface, deeper in your subconscious you're absorbing every negative comment, every disparaging word.

And this adds negative pressure and makes it more and more difficult for you to create.

So what's the solution? How DO you get the clown out of your kitchen?

Step one, you have to recognise the negative thoughts as they appear.

Step two is turning them around, replacing them with something more positive.

Here's an example:

Negative thought: Why are you even bothering to start this project? You know it'll end in failure.

Positive Turnaround: The only way to truly fail is not to begin in the first place. Each time I get a result I don't expect, I can learn from it. Then I'm in a better, more informed position to take the next step.

This won't be easy at first, it takes patience and practice.

Make the commitment to start right now. Each time you have a negative, critical thought, stop it, write it down, and turn it around into one more positive. The more you do it the easier it'll become.

Stick with it and the positive rewards for your creativity in all aspects can be quite profound, and more dramatic than you could have imagined.