How To Sustain A Lifetime Of Creativity

Don’t you just love the feeling that comes with releasing your art for the world to see?

Maybe you just published a blog post, or wrote a book, or released an album. It’s wonderful to ride the wave of compliments as they come cascading over your life.

You’ve arrived…

Or so you thought.

Truth be told: the buzz surrounding your art will fade quickly. At one moment your fans are cheering. A minute later they’re asking, “What’s next?”

If you create, or call yourself an artist, there’s a reality you need to get comfortable with.

You never arrive.

If you talked to JK Rowling or Phil Keaggy or Seth Godin, I’m sure they’d tell you they have much to learn. If ever on their creative journey they “arrived”, we wouldn’t have their massive catalog of great art.

I’m going to be honest. I’ve been struggling in my creativity recently. During 2011, I blogged every day and hardly felt any writer’s block. Why the switch?

Because I’ve gotten away from a few disciplines that helped me sustain creativity for the long haul.

5 Tips For Sustaining Creativity Over A Long Period Of Time

Here they are:

1. Don’t Fall in Love With Feedback

The glory of today’s accomplishment will be met with a blank slate tomorrow. And you have to do something about it. Fall in love with your art, not the reaction.

Extraordinary artists love art. They love creating. They don’t mind the haters. They’re not making it for them anyway.

If you want to sustain your creativity, end your love affair with “reactions” and get back to work.

2. Take Frequent Breaks

No one can create nonstop. If you do, not only will your art suck, but all the life will be sucked from you. You need adequate rest in order to be creative.

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz in their fantastic book, “The Power of Full Engagement” say:

“Cultures that encourage people to seek intermittent renewal not only inspire greater commitment, but also more productivity.”

Sometimes the best thing you can do is give up – to rest. If you want to feel more committed to your art and be more productive, the answer is not constant creating. Rest and rest often.

3. Stress Yourself Out

Another key point in “The Power of Full Engagement” is the idea that the only way to be fully engaged in life is to subject yourself to periodic bursts of stress and rest.

Want to take your creativity to a new level? Take advice from Star Trek and boldly go where no man has gone before. Do something that you’ve never tried.

Write and finish a song in a day. Draft 20 blog posts in an hour. Push yourself past your mental limits and see what happens.

4. Keep Yourself Interesting

Nothing kills creativity more than boredom. If you are bored with your life, your creative output will suffer. But here’s the kicker. Your boredom can’t be blamed on external circumstances.

It’s your responsibility to remain interesting. How do you do this?

Try new things. Read new books. Listen to new music. Cook new food. Exercise in a unique way. Talk to a stranger. In a nutshell, do something different. And while you’re at it, read Julien Smith’s FREE book “The Flinch“.

Interesting people create interesting art. Boring people create boring art.

5. Learn Something New Every Day

If asked the question, “what did you learn today?”, you should never be silent.

In every conversation, learn something new about yourself. Learn something new about life.

If you think a homeless man has nothing to teach you, you’re killing yourself. If you think a newborn has nothing to teach you, you’re killing yourself. If you think a mentally handicapped paraplegic has nothing to teach you, you’re killing yourself. If you think your dog has nothing to teach you, well, you get the point.

Be a relentless learner.

But you don’t have to listen to me. I’m a 27 year old who hasn’t been creating for a lifetime.

Still, I don’t want you to race through your life with excuses and look back with regret. Even if you’ve never created anything due to fear, start something today.

Build the habits now that will make you a lifelong creative.

Question: How do you sustain your creativity over long periods of time? What tips have you discovered? You can leave a comment by clicking here.