Become a better Creative by Creating more often.
It's definitely not easy to throw an idea out there to the mercy of public opinion, which is why we often as creatives always try to dig deeper and deeper for a better one. And while that may be beneficial when it comes to producing more original ideas, sometimes it comes at the expense of not producing anything at all.
Over the years I've unlocked a couple things that have personally helped me overcome any anxiety related with creating, here's five of them:
Write it down.
Cool ideas, big ideas, small ideas, weird ideas ... ideas, they come to us all the time. Sometimes we think to ourselves "ah yes, ha! that's a good one" and we just move on, and the idea disappears into the void. The key to creating more is to keep track of what you want to create. The first step to any idea coming to life, is taking it out of your head and manifesting it into the physical world, and the simplest way to do that is writing it down. As time goes on, and you establish a habit of documenting your thoughts, you'll find that there's a direct correlation between writing ideas down, and the likelihood of them coming to life.
Just do it.
Don't let yourself be paralyzed by ideas. Sometimes ideas in the formation stage may not seem worthy of manifesting at all. But, sometimes it's the action of creating that could mould a mediocre idea into an amazing one.
Start Small.
Creative work doesn't always have to be about life changing big ideas. Small ideas and projects have equal merit as well. Create mini projects for yourself. Maybe it's a cool postcard for your city, a bookmark, a poster, design your own socks, a series of iphone wallpapers, make a T-shirt, experiment with essential oils and make your own scent, do a daily doodle, challenge yourself to write a mini article a day.
Ignore (most of) the critics.
Everyone has an opinion, but not all opinions matter. In your quest to gain creative momentum to grow those creative muscles, you're going to have to be able to focus and discern between the two. Establish a small circle of respected peers and mentors. And as you create and output more and more often, bounce ideas off of them, engage in discussions that aim to increase the quality of your output and tune out the rest of the noise.
Don't limit yourself.
The more we can be courageous with the act of creating itself, while balancing the the quality of the ideas we think of, the more overtime the quality of our creations and ideas will equally become better. Simply put, by being consistent and adamant on creating more often, you will certainly become a better creative.
To wrap things up, below are a couple things that I've created throughout the years, from remixing movie posters, to designing my own clothes, writing tongue and cheek articles to creating cards meant to inspire. Now go create something!
