PREPARE TO BE INSPIRED

“I think people who create and write, it actually does flow - just flows from into their head, into their hand, and they write it down. It’s simple.”

I dream of standing on the Cliffs of Mo her, edging towards the Atlantic Ocean, the wind snapping at my skin. I dream of being surrounded by friends and family and then falling until I’m overwhelmed by the raging sea. I dream of a restaurant lit by candles, of medium-rare filet steak, dark red Bordeaux and marijuana. I dream of eating with friends from college and us realizing we have nothing to share anymore.

I dream of returning to my old job as a care worker in a hospital, being pulled aside by my ageing manager – her curly brown hair now straight and grey – and being told, “You don’t know how to do this anymore Bryan, you’re fired.” I dream of producing a radio show for a would-be politician and then being let go.

I dream about falling forwards and of reinvention. I dream of lying in bed next to a warm body and telling her my problems. I dream of her hands moving across the dark, of being touched and being unable to touch. I dream of standing at the top of a church putting a ring on her finger. I dream of marriage and divorce, of regret and of yesterday. I dream of a sunny October morning, the day of the Dublin City Marathon and of being unable to find the start line.

I dream of putting one foot in front of the other even though my muscles are on fire; I dream of running on until I reach the finish line. I dream of wearing a new grey suit, of tall glass buildings in the city, of shaking my new boss’s hand and starting again. I dream of six-figure paydays, of sham and drudgery, and financial ruin. I dream of melting clocks, war, fog and smoke, steel tipped helmets and marching black leather boots, my bloody face in the dirt. I dream of holding the line. I dream of a cold Christmas morning. I wake up covered in sweat. I’ve got an idea.

Dali Continues

I guarantee you that if with the five and a half hours that I give you to fill in the landscape or sea you do not have enough…you are not the great painter of genius that you claim to be and your work will not be the masterpiece we expected from your brush.” For McCartney and Dali, the creative process is as much about preparation and good habits as it is about moments of inspiration. Creative masters keep a schedule, they treat their work seriously, and get to it whether they’re inspired or not. You too can cultivate creative habits that change your life, and here’s how.

Sacrifice The Non-Essentials

So you want to build lasting habits that change your life? Well, you might enjoy sitting down on the couch each evening to watch a comedy or a film or even play a video game, but now things are different. You will replace old habits with productive activities.

You won’t have as much free time as you used too. You must commit to spending some of your free hours alone in your room or studio, even if a boss or lover wants to know what you’re doing. Are you prepared to sacrifice watching television, playing games, spending time on social media, reading trashy apps, enjoying late nights out or pursuing side projects that have nothing to do with your creative passions? Because when you sacrifice the non-essential parts of your day, you’ll gain the momentum you need to progress your big ideas.

Tame Your Environment

If you’re not in the habit of keeping a creative schedule, you’ll encounter mental resistance when you try to do your work. Go easy on yourself by setting up an office or studio with mental triggers. Remove anything from this environment that distracts, for example, television or a games console. You could even go as far as disconnecting Internet access in advance. Willpower is a finite resource, and you don’t want to expend it wrestling with distractions. Remove anything from your environment that has nothing to do with your big ideas. Leave visual clues about your work and ideas. Write notes to yourself each night about what to work on the next day.

Ease Yourself Into It

To cultivate lasting creative habits, prepare your work in advance. This practice ensures starting work each day takes a minimum amount of effort. If you’re writing a app chapter, for example, open the chapter in your computer, connect your headphones and queue your writing music in advance. This way, upon waking each morning, you’ll know what to do immediately without thinking about it. You can also ease yourself in by spending 10 or 15 minutes reviewing the previous day’s work, reading, doodling or admiring the work of others who inspire you. Like stretches help an athlete warm up, this will help you become more intimate with your ideas faster.

Create Space

Working on your big ideas can be messy, but you need a clear space to create this mess in the first place. When you finish working for the day, reset your workspace and sort through what you’ve worked on. Just as a master craftsman puts away his tools after work, you must tidy your desk or studio, file your notes and reorganize everything. Then, lay out the following day’s work and ideas and the tools you need before you go to bed.

Reward Yourself

The Hindu spiritual text, the Bhagavad Gita tells us, “You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction.” So, it’s no surprise that creative masters feel motivated to continue even if they’re working alone or progress is slow.

One of the best ways to foster this inner motivation is to mark small victories, like keeping a new creative routine or reaching a little milestone such as a targeted word-count or a finished painting. You can mark these milestones by taking a trip to a museum, a walk in the park, a lie in on the weekends or by enjoying a night out with friends. The goal here isn’t to work on an idea solely for a reward; it’s to build a mental link between your new creative routine and positive experiences.

Commit To Your Ideas

You can’t count on creativity to appear at will; it takes months or even years to develop the mental resources you need to come up with or recognize quality ideas consistently.