3 Habits and Conditions for Creating Art

If you are challenged with consistently creating what is meaningful for both you and your audience, then you may want to consider a few habits and conditions that consistently work for many writers, artists, and creatives.

Even if you do not consider yourself to be an artist – you are, because the creative process is personal to you .

That is what makes it art, and that leads us to our first habit.

#1 – Show Up

In his recently published book Turning Pro, author and screenwriter Steven Pressfield notes you have to show up everyday to do your creative work – it has to be a habit. As he points out, if you expect the Muse to show up, you have to show up.

Inspiration tends to show up when the writer shows up. Put another way, the best way to make good things happen is to make a lot of things happen.

If you only show up when you have to, your art is going to be a struggle. I know, because I have tried it both ways and showing up works better, much better. It works with writing, providing exceptional customer service, and getting that promotion or job.

#2 – Have Expectations

Many of us work well under deadlines, which are defined and often self-imposed expectations.

Expectations are more than hope, they are willful intentions that transform desires into reality. Showing up is taking action on the intentions that are motivated by the desires generated from past experiences (memories).

When you show up with the right attitude you are more likely to create experiences and memories that make future expectations that much more real and readily attainable. 

However you approach your art, you must have the confidence that good things will happen.

#3 – Find the Right Environment

This article is being created at 5:54 a.m., just after sunrise on a beautiful, peaceful summer morning – the air is cool, the birds are singing, and trains rolling in the distance. The environment in the early morning hours is that of quiet and peacefulness, which is when I create best.

When the time and place is right you are more likely to create what you didn’t even believe was within you. 

After a few hours of this I’ll move on to a new environment, which is usually a coffee shop. The change in environment not only gives me a mental break, but also allows for shifting to different types of writing and content creation projects.

Many of us get some of our best work done in airplanes when we are free from the usual distractions. In many ways, that coffee shop is my airplane, not exactly a quiet environment, but one in which I can block out distractions with discipline and the help of headphones and Ambiance, an invaluable mobile app for matching the right sound with your environment.

How about you?

Do you approach your work as a practice for which the result is your art?

If so, what are your secrets for reliably doing it well?

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedInTwitterFacebook, and Google+

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