“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” -Edwin Land
You can greatly improve your creativity by treating it like a sport. Just like you get better at a sport by constantly practicing, so too can you improve your craft by regularly practicing and creating.
When you’re playing a sport, there are no tricks or shortcuts to getting better (steroids don’t count). You don’t wait for some athletic inspiration either. You just get out there everyday and play. You train, you practice, you improve. And you get results much faster.
The same goes for creativity. With writing, music, filmmaking, painting, whatever. To improve, you practice and create every day. You don’t wait for inspiration to strike. You just do it.
Don’t Wait for That Fleeting Inspiration
Most people don’t put creativity and sports on the same level. They think sports are a very concrete activity, where you rely on a technical skill. And to improve, you practice it. But with creativity, it’s more abstract. It’s inspiration-based, it’s fleeting. You have to be in the right zone to create.
Bollocks.
While it might be true that your masterpieces can come from inspiration, you don’t just magically wake up one day—with little to no creation experience—and create it out of nowhere. You have to be at a certain level with your craft. Comfortable with your skills, your muse, your creativity.
So how do you improve your creativity? How do you get to that place of masterpiece-level creation faster? By treating your craft like a sport and practicing and creating regularly.
Practice and Create on a Regular Basis
Show up to create on a regular basis – just like you would with a sport. And dress appropriately too, in whatever clothes you would ideally create in. Just like you wouldn’t show up to a basketball court in pajamas or a skatepark in slippers, don’t be in PJs or other clothes you wouldn’t be in a studio or on set in. The point of this is to be in full assimilation during practice. That way, you improve quicker because you’re completely in the zone.
You work to create, basically. Since most of your creations will be mediocre, by practicing and creating every day, you get the crap out quicker to get to your golden nuggets faster and more often as a result.
If you wanted to get better at skateboarding faster, you wouldn’t wait until inspiration to skate strikes you. You’d get out there everyday and practice your kickflips, grinding, 360s, and other tricks. You skate regularly regardless of if you’re inspired. And you get better a lot quicker. You establish your foundation faster and stronger, and you can do your base tricks in your sleep, allowing you to enjoy skating much more and move onto bigger tricks.
The same thing applies to creativity. If you don’t wait around for inspiration but just get out there and regularly practice and create, you’ll establish your base skills faster and stronger. That lets you easily create and produce higher-lever stuff quicker. You can greatly improve your creativity by treating it like a sport.
I Treat Creativity Like a Sport
I used to wait for inspiration before I made music. I thought I needed to be inspired in order to create. My mindset was that every single time I create, I’m making what will end up being a final product. However, the problem with that was: how could I make an awesome end result when my skills weren’t proficient enough for it?
I needed to practice; I just didn’t know it yet.
Over the years, I became frustrated with my slow progress. Why couldn’t I make music on the level of my favorite artists? I’m waiting for inspiration, then creating, but the product just isn’t sounding as good as I want it. What’s wrong?
Well, as you already figured out, I wasn’t practicing. I didn’t treat creativity like a sport, so I didn’t create nearly often enough to get better faster. I was improving, but the progress was really slow.
One day, I read an interview with an artist who said that he showed up to his studio every day – inspired or not. He just started creating. Most of the time, he ended up with crap, which he pushed aside and kept going. He got better by honing his skills, and he created his golden nuggets faster and more often too.
Lightbulb moment. He was treating creativity like a sport. That made so much sense.
So I started doing the same thing. I set aside time to make music almost every day, and I just started creating. I didn’t think too much about what I was making, I just did it. And boy did I make a lot of mediocre beats. But I ended up getting much faster at creating drums, riffs, and other elements. Tunes were coming together faster. And when I played my new sketches to friends, they told me my beats and melodies were getting a lot better. They were surprised by my sudden rapid improvement.
I was pleased, but I wasn’t surprised. I was treating music-making like a sport.
Now, I always treat creativity like a sport. With both my writing and music-making, I just create as often as possible. Every day, I write, make tunes, or both. I create a lot of mediocre article ideas and tune sketches, but I just toss them aside and keep creating. I get golden (hopefully) articles and tunes faster, and it’s easier and quicker to create.
Improve Creativity by Regularly Practicing and Creating
Not improving at your craft as fast you’d like? Frustrated with hitting creative blocks? Treat creativity like a sport and you can greatly improve it.
Just like with a sport, by regularly practicing and creating, you improve your skills at your craft, and you get the crap out quicker to get to your golden nuggets faster and more often as a result. So greatly improve your creativity by treating it like a sport.
