Six steps to develop your own creative process
Click here for the Portuguese version.
💡 How is your creative process?
We all need a creative process to get our ideas out of our head and put into the world, but sometimes that process can be quite complicated.
Although it is normal to search for known creative processes, we do not always find a process with which can be used in all our ideas and projects.
For this very reason that I have always advocated the idea of structuring your own creative process. It is natural that you have your own particular way of doing things, which says more about you and how you work. This is your own creative process, even if you are not aware of it. It is there within you, active and ready-to-go.
Your own creative process is tailor-made, taking into account all your abilities, customs, preferences and values.
To identify it, it is necessary to understand some points that are present in any creative process, that is, every creative process must go through these steps. By identifying these steps, I arrived at my personal creative process, which I will share with you next.
So, I have a challenge for you: discover and structure your own creative process.
Let’s go?
💡 1 — GROUND ZERO
Which is your starting point?
The first step, and couldn’t be another one, is to understand which is your starting point. Where you are, what you already know and have an idea of what is still missing to reach the desired goal.
This first step is the initial framework you need to define the next steps in your creative process.
💡 2 — ABSTRACTION
What fascinates you?
Your personal creative process often meets what you value, like, believe and/or admire. Knowing well which are the elements of your own universe is the second step to structure your creative process.
At this stage, it is important to identify where your inspirations and references come from. For this, ask yourself:
- Which environments do you frequent?
- Which films and series do you watch? Which books do you read?
- Who do you usually talk to?
- What do you normally search on the internet?
A good way to get more information about yourself, in addition to your personal responses, is to ask someone close who knows you well to have an outside perspective.
💡 3 — MINDFULNESS
Which is your reality?
After knowing our starting point as we talked about earlier, we also need to know where we are located in space-time. This is one of the most important points of creativity: the context in which we are inserted (or in which we want to be inserted).
This stage has a lot in common with the previous one; however, while the previous one serves to identify who we have been until today, this step serves to identify who we want to be from now on.
Which references and influences do you want to keep and which ones do you want to leave behind? What new references and influences do you need to become who you want to be going forward?
💡 4 — ATTENTION
What do you pay attention to?
Your attention is your most valuable asset, which is why they are constantly trying to steal it from you. Have you noticed that your attention becomes your experiences, that determine the life you live? That is, you become what you pay attention to.
The big secret is learning to say NO. Select only what is really important to develop your process. So, protect your space and your time, so that you will be able to dedicate yourself to what really matters.
What can you reduce or completely eliminate from your life to focus on what really matters?
💡 5 — NARROW DOWN
Which are your goals?
When it comes to the creative process, one of the most important parts is to be clear about the objectives we intend to achieve. Of course, we don’t always know for sure what the final destination will be, because a lot changes along the way. But the intention must be clear.
Normally we can say that Creativity is born from a NEED. That is, something you identify that you need and/or can change for the better.
Author Austin Kleon has a good solution in case he can’t come up with ideas:
- Identify a popular idea that you despise and would like to destroy.
- Find an old opposite idea everyone’s forgotten and resurrect it.
💡 6 — ACTION!
What do you want to accomplish?
Creativity without action is just an idea. So it is necessary to put everything you thought into practice.
It may seem like an obvious question, but we often start to create something without knowing for sure where we will end up. Although this idea is somewhat romantic in relation to the creative processes, it is important to know what is intended to be carried out to guide all thinking towards that specific objective.
Now with everything ready, just go for the action.
Are you ready? Comment here!
