Creativity

You’ve heard of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In a nutshell, as humans, our basic needs are: Physiological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem and Self-Actualization.

Parisian pastries aren’t on the list, but we like them anyway, especially on Valentine’s Day.

Creative people, those who are making things – books, businesses, design, art – have additional needs. Recognizing these needs and making sure they are met are essential to applied creativity.

When we don’t acknowledge our needs, we’re allowing life to dictate our experience. Knowing your needs and being willing to take action to make sure they are met will make the already challenging work of creating much easier.

Over ten years of coaching and almost twice that time creating things myself, I’ve identified ten needs creative people have. But unlike Maslow, I don’t prioritize them. Each person will have their own hierarchy for these needs and will also have their own needs to add.

Here they are:

1.    Need for creative space, as Virginia Woolf called a ‘room of one’s own’. Depending on what you’re creating, you may not need as big a space as you think you do. Write or draw out your ideal space and then assess how you have elements of that in place now.

2.    Need for creative peers. When you’re on the leading edge of creativity, you need other creative people who understand the risks you’re taking and who encourage them. We need creative peers to talk, share, spark insights and ideas and to encourage us. Commit to connecting with people who ‘get’ you more often. This is one of the most common reasons people hire me, because I ‘get’ them and what they are trying to do.

3.    Need for creative fuel. In her book The Artist’s Way Julia Cameron calls this need ‘filling the well’. I get so inspired when I am out in the world seeing what other people are doing. A favorite source of inspiration for me is museum shops.

The Tate Modern shop blew me away and gave me an idea for my work that I love. You can draw inspiration from books, magazines, blogs art galleries, and other well filling activities. Wherever you get it, get it often.

4.    Need for imaginative space. This is different than physical space. It’s the time we need for noodling, doodling, wandering, and gathering thoughts. While it appears to be the antithesis of productivity, it’s actually vital to a productive creative cycle. Don’t pack every moment full of activity.

5.    Need for the body to be expressed. We’re out in the ethers most of the time, us artists. We need to remember to take good care of our bodies by walking, dancing, practicing yoga, playing tennis, or whatever moves you regularly. I receive so many of my ideas when I am exercising. Get moving on your terms, but get moving.

6.    Need for your creative edge. Solving problems, pushing boundaries, developing something new is at the heart of the creative process. Rather than despair about how difficult it is to write a really good article, embrace the challenge of your craft.
While you’re at it, embrace the challenge of your creative industry. For instance, publishing a book traditionally seems nearly impossible these days. Take that challenge on by either figuring out the publishing game or self-publishing. Relish the creative edge – you need it.

7.    Need for ample amounts of faith and belief. When we’re making something from nothing, we need to be able to rely on faith and belief in ourselves and our work. Without this we can operate from despair and give up before our work is complete. Tap into your belief that you are on the right track, and do it often.

8.    Need to have our work responded to. Whether it’s ego or a deep desire to share your creative work, most of us need for our work to be seen and received by others. This will vary for each person, some wanting just close friends to see our work, others wanting a wider audience.
Just be sure to get feedback from the right people at the right time.

9.    Need for certainty. Ironically, one of the needs for artists is the ability to live in uncertainty. Traveling the creative path can make you feel lost most of the time. That’s why certainty in other areas of life: home, relationships, income, can help you have a sense of being held while you soar.
Have some rootedness so you can be ‘out there’ as much as you need to.

10.     Need for time. This seems to be the need that people struggle with the most. If you never get any time alone to work on your art, your life will be filled with other people’s ideas and thoughts.

Make choices that allow time for your art. The laundry, your e-mail, your garden will all be there an hour later, after you have spent time with your art.

Again, I did not prioritize these. While I believe we all share these needs, everyone will have their own sense of the needs’ hierarchy.

In a comment below, tell us which needs have priority over the others, and add a need you have that I haven’t mentioned.

To go further, make a list of your needs and assess how well those needs are being met right now.

Brainstorm one thing you could do to work toward having those needs met, and then do it.
And then go get a pastry! 😉

The end of the year provides us with the perfect opportunity to assess our progress over the past months. Why not do this with a focus on your creativity? Take some time to look at where you have been. This will help you to acknowledge the progress you have made. Taking this step is incredibly empowering.

Whether you have done all that you wanted or not, your actions can show you where your commitment is, what got in the way if you didn’t write as much as you wanted to.

Be kind as you look at what you have given to your creative life. This is not an opportunity to beat yourself up for what you have not done. Take into account the other obligations you have committed yourself to. Be honest about where you could have done something differently, given your circumstances. Be grateful for what you did do.

Use the following questions to guide your inquiry, and jot your answers down in your notebook.

• What are the major accomplishments of your creative year?
• What are the minor accomplishments?
• What happened that you didn’t expect?
• What are you most proud of?
• What did it take to have this kind of progress?
• What have you learned?
• What was missing from your creative life this year?

Now that you have a sense of where you have been, next Monday I’ll share ideas on how to set powerful intentions for next year.

It’s always scary to leap into the new, which is why I always suggest looking for role models. Those who have gone before give us inspiration, provide a map of courage, and prove to us that it can be done. My biggest Creative Ancestor is Sylvia Beach, the subject of my novel.

Sylvia went to Paris in 1917 and opened a bookstore with a $3,000 check from her mother. She kept the bookstore alive until 1942, when the Nazi Occupation of Paris forced her to close her doors. Sylvia devoted herself to helping writers, selling their work, hosting readings at her store, and connecting people when they came to Paris to live the writer’s life. Her friend Ernest Hemingway said that she had ‘a God-given gift for friendship.”

You can see why I draw inspiration from Sylvia – her courage to move to France and become a businesswoman (and that was not a common thing at that time!), her ability to form a community of people who loved literature, and her sense of service to help others.

Creative Ancestors can be dead or living. A few of my living Creative  Ancestors include: Ani DiFranco, Julia Cameron, and Natalie Goldberg. These are creative women who do their work well and inspire others.

Who are your Creative Leap Ancestors and why do they inspire you? Inspire others by sharing them in a comment below.

Psst…
Your journey takes you beyond your expectations.

Brian Clark, of Copyblogger, issued a challenge: Write a headline that is sexy a la Cosmo magazine – something that grabs the reader by the collar and makes her stop at the checkout counter and pick up the magazine to see how she can titillate her man in bed all night long. Here’s my headline that relates to what I know about the creative process.


When faced with a roaring tiger, you run, right? But these excuses don’t offer enough reason to not create. [Read more…] about Ten Paper Tigers Scaring You Away from Your Creative Ideas

The phone rings. The laundry pleads to be stuffed, cycled, dried and folded. Chaos reigns in the kitchen, e-mails queue for attention. Our lives are at once mundane and undeniably seductive at the same time. When we sit down to write at home, suddenly everything that marks our existence as tedious becomes compelling. Writing at home can seem tantamount to training for the Olympics past age nineteen.

Yet carving out time to write at home is possible. You can even design a home writing retreat. This weekend, I have staved off all other obligations and have Friday and Saturday free. I look forward to delving into my novel revision with hours of uninterrupted time. How to make sure I don’t veer into work mode. I’ve developed a strategy for an at home writing retreat.

Tune in tomorrow for eleven  ways that you, too, can carve out space for uninterrupted writing bliss. (Psst…this works for all artists, not just writers!)

The best way to make adventure for yourself is to make your art, write your works and build a business. We help you do that here! One:One coaching, group coaching and writing workshops in Paris all lead you to live your life as a creative adventure. I’m Cynthia Morris and I’ve been coaching creatives since 1999. I write books and make art and live life as a creative adventure; I want that for you, too!

I love the word ‘adventure’ and encourage others to embrace life as an adventure. This comes from the Helen Keller quotation, “Life is a daring adventure or it is nothing at all.” If a deaf and blind woman can consider life an adventure, then those of us with full use of our faculties can certainly embrace life as an adventure.

Researching this word in my writer’s thesaurus, I found the following words associated with adventure.

1. thrill
2. stimulation
3. risk
4. danger
5. daredevil
6. intrepid
7. unshrinking
8. unafraid
9. dauntless
10. exciting
11. bold
12. fearless
13. brave

How many of them apply to you and your life?

Have you ever done a performance, mounted an art show, given a speech, taught a class, or any other scenario where you are in front of a group, doing your thing? If so, chances are the performance gremlin has shown up right afterward, ready to tear you apart.

This mean-spirited or judgmental part of yourself may pounce on your efforts with words like:

• You blew it!
• They hated it.
• Why did you say that?
• No one bought anything – see, I told you…
• Don’t ever do that again!

Sound familiar? This voice lures many of us to shrink down and play small in life. It’s exactly counter to that part of us that wants to soar, that wants to express our deepest self, that wants to go out there and share our work with the world.

Yet doing so can seem risky. When we put ourselves in front of others, we risk judgment. We risk flubbing up. We risk exposing the naked truth that we are not yet perfect.

But these risks are no reason to stop ourselves from launching our work into the world. Many of my clients are putting themselves out there, and I do too, with my tours to France, my workshops and my speeches. I’ve developed a simple tool that will take the sting out of that post-show gremlin that seems to want to criticize us until we huddle in a dark, safe spot in the corner.

I call this the Post-Show Debrief, and you can use it after any kind of show or public thing that you put out there. Schedule time the day after or even that same day to take yourself somewhere pleasant. You may want to go to a park, a café, your creative zone, a wine bar, whatever works for you. Bring a notebook and write your answers to these questions:

• What worked? What went well?
• What can you acknowledge about your efforts?
• What would you add or change for the next time?
• What have you learned?
• How will you celebrate your efforts?

Feel free to add your own questions and write as much as you want in your Post-Show Debrief. Notice that the only question that invites a smidgen of criticism is the one where you ask what would you change or add. Framing it this way allows for growth, but not a critical attack. The voice that wants to criticize gets to add its opinion but in a constructive way.

Use the Post-Show Debrief to continue to grow and hone your skills. Tell the bouncer at the show that your critic isn’t allowed backstage.

What methods do you use to keep your critic at bay? Share them with us here!

Yippee! It’s Thursday again. Time for another Thursday Thirteen. And it just happens to be the 13th of the month. Woo-ooo. Here’s advice on getting over yourself and getting to the page.

Want to write but feel the weight of writer’s block? Use any or all of these ways to get your fingers in gear and your words on the page.

1. Look at things in increments, or cycles. For instance, for the next three months (or the rest of this season) I will focus on one element of my writing, for instance: writing as much as I can, learning as much as I can, research etc, etc. Setting an overall intention for a few months or weeks can help to prioritize your decisions for that time period.

2. Find and commit to a writing buddy. Meet once a week at a neutral location and spend at least 3/4 of the time writing. Watch out for chatting your writing time away.

3. What’s it about? Get clear on your motivations for writing. Having a foundation can be helpful to remind you why you are writing.

4. Schedule time to get the writing done. You are creating a new habit and will need persistence and discipline to stay on track. Whether you have large blocks of time or tiny pockets in which to write, use them.

5. Put aside the books on writing and just write. Do not confuse reading about writing with writing.

6. Set attainable goals with deadlines. Do not think you need to accomplish the entire project in one goal. Chunk it down by working in stages. Be sure to celebrate or reward yourself when you achieve these small goals.

7. Enroll your community in your writing. Let your friends, family and loved ones know why this is important to you. Ask for what you need in terms of time, space, respect for your creative life. You may be surprised at what you can get when you simply ask for support.

8. Call in help from your source. Ask God, the Universe, whatever your spiritual source for support. Don’t think you are alone.

9. Make your writing life your own. Take all the suggestions and advice you have heard and tailor them to suit your own needs and style. Be persistent and don’t let one unsuccessful attempt at someone else’s method stop you from writing.

10. Read really good writing. Inspire yourself with others’ magnificent words.

11. Do whatever it takes to enjoy the process.

12. Cease believing in that voice that tells you not to write. What seems like a giant boulder in the road is really a paper curtain. Just blow past it.

13. Sign up for my Creative Leap Program, offered in the month of September (2007) only. What a deal: three coaching sessions for half my normal rate. That’ll move the block out of the way.