Welcome to the very first edition of Creative Liberation, an e-newsletter dedicated to exploring the creative process and ways to make creativity more effortless. Creative Liberation is an outgrowth of my blog, Creative Liberty.

A few years ago, I began a focused study of how artists and other innovators engaged their creativity and what scientific research had to say about creativity. What I learned convinced me both that creativity is our birthright as humans (that is, everyone is born with the capacity to be creative throughout their lives) and that there are many things we can do to make our creative potential less difficult to access when we need and want it. To my way of thinking, becoming more creative is not so much a “do-more, be-more” sort of  endeavor as it is a matter of removing those obstacles in our lives and circumstances that get in the way of implementing the creative projects and ideas that bubble up within us on an ongoing basis.

Creative Liberty and this e-newsletter grow from my quarter-century of work in “creative” professions (writing/editing, media production), as well as my lifelong love and participation in creative pursuits ranging from music to photography.

This month, we take a look at the role of habit-building and its relationship to creativity, a reflection on a report on factors influencing corporate innovation, and some links to posts on the Creative Liberty blog you might have missed, and some other cool links intended to stimulate your thought processes.

Enjoy! If you have suggestions, reactions, etc., for the e-newsletter, please e-mail them to lizmassey68@hotmail.com.

 

Make it a habit

Chances are, if you’re subscribed to this newsletter or are reading it in the archives, you’re interested in being creative more often, to a greater degree or with less effort. While each person’s path to creative meaning making is unique, some rules apply across the board. One of the most basic is that those who are the most consistently creative have made exercising their creative muscles a daily habit.

Researchers such Wendy Wood at Duke University and others have determined that about 45 percent of what people do on a given day is habitual. This can be good or bad—we can be locked by habit into smoking or drinking too much, or we can find it relatively easy to healthy things such as floss or write in a journal, because we’ve made it a habit.

So what’s the easiest way to sow the seeds of productive creative habits? According to studies of habit formation, four factors cue us to practice a habit:

• Location/time of day
• Certain series of actions.
• Particular mood(s)
• Company of certain people

 Last summer, the New York Times reported on the quest of public health advocate Dr. Val Curtis to encourage citizens of Ghana to make washing up with soap after using the toilet a habit using the habit-formation research findings to frame the messaging. The effort was a success; by 2007, Ghanaians surveyed by members of Curtis’s team reported a 13 percent increase in the use of soap after the toilet. Another measure showed even greater impact: reported soap use before eating went up 41 percent.

Artists and innovators can use the findings on habit formation to anchor their creative habits more securely into their daily schedule. Here are a few suggestions on how to utilize each one.

Suggestions to create habit “anchors”

Location/time:  What creative activities could you build in to your wake-up routine or bedtime routine? Your lunch hour? Could you tweak your end-of-work “decompression time” to include something creative (sketching instead of a cocktail, for example)?

Series of actions: You may already have something you do immediately before you dive into your creative work—practicing yoga before you dance or doodling before doing more formal sketching. If not, can you think of activities that typically make you want to rush off to the keyboard, easel or dance studio? Do them daily!

 Mood(s): Many of our “bad” habits develop to moderate our uncomfortable moods. Practicing our art when we feel lousy, rather just when we feel at the top of our game, may reinforce the feeling that creating will make us feel better. And there’s plenty of evidence that self-expression can be healing!

Company of certain persons: Much has been written about the influence of accountability in building a habit. Exercising with a buddy often works, so why not creating with one, as well? Take a class together, call a jam session, start an online group to meet new people and share your work with each other. You can also involve your family if they’re willing—one advantage to this set of friends is that they are typically always near you!

 The question to you…

How have you formed your most successful creative habits? E-mail me at lizmassey68@hotmail.com and I will share the results in next month’s edition!

A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

Excellent summary of ways to present information visually.

 100 Most Creative People in Business

Fast Company magazine said it looked for “dazzling new thinkers, rising stars, and boldface names … whose creativity addresses a larger issue” in compiling this list of luminaries.

---

The other stuff...

Forward this email to a friend

Unsubscribe / Change Profile

 Creative Liberation, Vol. 1, No. 1, June 2009, All Rights Reserved.