In this video, I talk about the pressure of making our creative work “be” something, and how it can hinder our enjoyment and ultimately, the quality of our creations.
I share my own experiences with writing and offer tips on how to give yourself permission to explore ideas away from your laptop before sitting down to write, as well as how to put yourself in the right emotional state to improve your creative output.
Video Transcript
So I actually took a couple of days off doing these videos and I'm going to be real with you. I really missed it!
Like, they've definitely become a bit of a staple for me in the morning to actually almost release all this pressure that's in my brain and release these ideas out into the world so that I can then get on with my day.
So yeah, that's why I'm doing this video. I'm carrying on with it to a certain extent, although I'm still definitely trying to figure out what I want this to be. But what I will say is that I know the that pressure of needing this work to do and be something is definitely what's then stopped me from just having fun with it and just being creativity.
Because suddenly there's this expectation about what this means and what this is going to do for me in the world, as opposed to really just enjoying the process. So I definitely think in this I'd let my mind kind of run away with me a little bit and get a little bit too caught up in the details and whatnot, as opposed to being like, Look, I'm doing this because I want to share.
I'm doing this because it feels good and natural for me. And hey, look, some people seem to be enjoying them too, so isn't that enough? Like is not what you want from this. So yeah, that's why I am carrying on today. I'm just gonna say this by now. That sounds obvious. You want to talk about today? This is inspired by a couple of conversations I've been having recently about the act of writing things down.
The act of transferring your thoughts to paper in a way that makes sense, because I know it's something that a lot of people in my world struggle with. And I finally just wanted to clarify that I do enjoy writing. I've always been obsessed with reading, always loved writing. As a kid, I would write stupid little stories. I say stupid little stories.
My mom actually kept a couple of them, but I was like, You know what? I can use to do that? So I've never really had trouble with writing her essay. However, I do acknowledge that for a lot of us, I think there's been so much conditioning around how we should write about trying to appear professional and trying to appear maybe impressive in our writing, that it can actually really stunt us in our natural way of communicating because we think it needs to be a certain way.
Now, where I say that I enjoy writing for me when I'm in the process of literally typing something up. All I would say I'm doing is documenting my thoughts, so I'm not really obsess over the actual output in that first iteration. It's very much just about giving myself a question and just like how I would be on a walk thinking about what the answer might be when I write.
I am also just doing the same. I just happened to be also translating that to paper at the same time. But usually when I come to write, I already have considered the question and already have a semi clear idea of what it is I want to get on the page. And so I think a lot of people can struggle because they think like, okay, I'm going to write my website copy, but they haven't really thought about what that might say or what they might put on their website prior to that point.
And so they're almost coming to the blank page cold. You're creatively not juiced up and ready to be like, No, I kind of know where I want to take this. So I think with this act of creation and if you are in a position where you're like, Look, I need to get something on paper, I would give yourself permission to first explore the idea away from your laptop, away from the page.
And if you're like, Oh my God, this is genius, you can just do a voice note in your notes app. You can tap it on your phone if you're out and about. But I think the act of creation so much is about putting yourself in a creative state first instead of trying to just like, create something magical when you yourself are feeling very stressed, like there's always going to be a disconnect and a dissonance there because how you are trying to put yourself on the page is not how you're existing in that moment.
So I would really recommend with any form of creation you think about, okay, yeah, what do I actually want this to say? What's the the essence of what I'm trying to communicate? But also, if you're trying to write something that is uplifting or you're trying to write something that is exciting for people, I would put yourself in a mood where you are excited about something or you feel uplifted.
And I know this probably sounds pretty obvious when I'm saying it, but I'm consistently surprised when I speak to people and they've been trying to just power through and just get something done. And they're from this place of really trying to push something for something. And there's so much in their head about, Oh God, it should sound like this.
It should sound like this. And honestly, just giving yourself permission to drop all that, get yourself in the right emotional state first, has the potential to make a huge difference to your output. This is a pretty short and sweet one really, but inactivity for you that you could do as well as identify the tasks which make you feel sad and emotions that makes you feel a certain way.
So for me, I know to feel excited and inspired and full of like, Oh yes, I can't wait to share this. Like that emotion of like bursting with enthusiasm. I know what actions I can do to help myself be in that state. So that going for a walk, listening to music. I've got a playlist on Spotify as well.
It's literally called Ascension, and that is packed full of the songs, which I cannot help but sing along to. That is a real go to for me. I want my headphones on, put on like full volume and just walk around and within like a couple of minutes I can't help but start engaging with that emotion. On the flipside of that as well, I know inspiration for me sometimes doesn't feel this pumping energy.
It can feel like this real calm, centered, connected place. And so if I know I'm already in a bit of a frantic energy and I actually need to bring myself down, I'll go and do yoga, I'll sit and meditate. I'll have a cup of tea for a little while and just breathe and let myself calm. And then once again, once I'm in the right state, I can then approach that act of creation from a much better and more productive place.
So a question for you to walk away with. What are the activities that you can do that help put you in a more creative state? Write them down, Have them as a list somewhere. If you don't know them off the top of your head so that when you're in the states, you don't have to then figure out you can that you're like, Oh, thanks past me, I can just go over to my list.
Cool. I'm going to go do some of these things. Just an invitation for you. If you want to take the thoughts and ideas in this video into your own life as well.
