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Before you dismiss the idea of caring for your creativity as vague and squishy, take a moment to recognize a potential consequence of not caring for it: BURNOUT.

You can relentlessly draw ideas from your creativity jar and flame out, or you can adopt a mindset and a few simple practices that will keep your creativity humming over the long haul.

The first set of tools in your creative practice will help you stay focused, confident, and refreshed during the process of generating and evaluating new ideas. They include:

• Cultivating an open frame of mind so you can recognize ideas more readily. We’ll practice this with the “Bad Gifts” prompt.
• Strategically collect and store inspiration so you’ll actually use it. We’ll practice this with the “X-RAY” prompt.
• Building your habits to work within creativity’s natural rhythm. We’ll practice this with the “Recess List” prompt.

How I learned about creative burnout

In 2020, I created a new wallpaper design inspired by different chart types for 100 (mostly) consecutive days. I started this project to keep my hands busy at night. When COVID-19 hit, I started waking up with panic attacks and decided I had to do something else other than doomscroll in the evening. Most of the wallpapers were just alright, some were ugly little ducklings, and only a handful I proudly added to my portfolio.

Despite this seemingly low success rate, the project felt like a wild success. First, it brought attention to my work, which led to new freelance projects. Second, it taught me a big lesson:

⚡Creativity has its own rhythm.

Here’s what happened. Around day 50 of the project, I was sure that I’d cracked the creative code: I would find inputs, do some remixing, and get some cool outputs. I had optimized the creation process so that I could churn out something new every single day. I was a creative machine!

However, on day 80, burnout crept into my creative machine, grinding the gears to a halt. My mind felt like a giant brick wall. No ideas could come in, and ideas were definitely not coming out.

I had not unlocked the secret to creativity. I’d become a machine at generating creative ideas, but my machine didn’t have a care and maintenance plan, so it inevitably broke down.

Creativity is a journey to find new paths, which means there will inevitably be dead-ends and roadblocks. There’s no quick and efficient path to success. That’s why being creative in the long run requires rest and patience. You’ll have hot streaks, but you’ll also have roadblocks. That’s creativity’s natural ebb and flow.

Todd Henry, the author of Daily Creative, wrote, “You can’t treat your creative process (or your team’s) like a machine, or you will get machine-like results: highly predictable and no more than asked. You must embrace creativity’s rhythmic nature.”¹² If you want a perfect circle 1,000 times over, then leave it to the machine. If you want something occasionally spectacular, then you’ll need to embrace creativity’s human rhythm.

⚡By recognizing and supporting the ups and downs of your creativity, you can get the most out of it and avoid burning out.

To do this, we’ll explore three concepts in the next three topics: openness, inspiration, and habits.

Now, click on the “Expand your mental boundaries with the “Bad Gifts” prompt” topic below!

Citations

• 12. Henry, Todd (2022). Daily Creative. Sourcebooks.