The Secret to Creativity
Creativity isn’t productivity. It’s not discipline. It’s not obedience.
It’s a force—mysterious, unpredictable, and deeply sacred.
To create is to enter the collective unconscious, to reach into the infinite and pull something into form. That’s no small thing. That’s not supposed to be easy. That’s not supposed to be clean. That’s not supposed to be quick.
And yet—when we try to force it, when we try to control it, when we make it prove something or follow rules or serve our ego—that’s when it disappears.
Creativity Is Not Meant to Be Controlled
Creative energy doesn’t respond well to control. It’s like a cat—the more you chase it, the more it hides. The more you need it to perform, the more it withholds.
When we try to force our way through a project or demand clarity before we begin, we lose the thread. Because creativity doesn’t announce itself. It arrives when it’s ready. And often, it comes in fragments.
You Know Through Creating
You don’t need to know what you’re making in order to begin.
You learn what it is by making it.
This is called poesis—the act of knowing through creation.
Think of your project like a plant. You don’t have to know what kind it is. You just have to water it. Over time, what it’s meant to become will show itself.
Your only job? Show up. Offer time and attention. Not effort. Not pressure. Just presence.
The Ritual of Showing Up
One of my favorite creative rituals comes from Neil Gaiman. He writes in a gazebo. His rule? He doesn’t have to write—but he can’t do anything else.
Write or do nothing. That’s it.
This creates a sacred threshold. An invitation. Because the mind can’t procrastinate and create at the same time.
So just sit in the chair.
Just be there with your project.
The spark will return.
Don't Share Too Soon
Ideas are most fragile when they’re new.
Talking about them too early gives them a false sense of completion—a token reality that drains their life force. And if you’re sensitive (which most creatives are), even kind feedback can feel like a cold wind against new skin.
Protect your ideas. Let them grow in the dark first. Give them time to root before they bloom.
Work in Fragments. That’s How It Comes.
Creativity doesn’t follow straight lines. It moves like smoke, like dreams, like memory.
Let your projects come to you in pieces.
Write the scene that’s calling you.
Paint the image you see now.
Don’t wait to have the whole picture. It rarely comes all at once. You are assembling a sacred puzzle—one intuitive fragment at a time.
Take the Pressure Off
The more we care about a project, the more we’re likely to sabotage it.
Not because we don’t love it—but because we love it too much.
And that love turns into fear.
Fear of failure.
Fear of not being good enough.
Fear of letting it die.
Ironically, the less pressure you put on a project, the more likely you are to finish it.
So take it off the pedestal.
Let it be a thing you're doing—not the thing that defines your worth.
You’re Not the Creator—You’re the Vessel
Ideas are sentient. They roam the collective unconscious looking for someone ready to midwife them into form.
If someone else “steals” your idea, it means the idea found someone else who was more prepared to receive it. That’s not failure. That’s timing.
So forgive yourself.
Step out of the way.
Stop tying your ego to your art.
You are not the source. You’re the bridge. You’re the doula. Your work is not about you—it’s about what wants to be born through you.
Honor the Season You’re In
Your creativity has cycles.
You have cycles.
Your projects have cycles.
Sometimes the wall you’ve hit means the season has changed.
Put that project down. Pick up another. Go walk outside. Come back when the energy returns. This isn’t giving up—it’s gardening.
You’re not a machine. You’re an artist.
You don’t need to write every day.
You don’t need to finish on a timeline.
You need to listen. To your body. Your rhythms. Your work. The season you’re in.
Your Homework
Go make bad art.
On purpose.
Make something messy.
Make something that doesn’t “work.”
Let it be flawed. Let it be fun. Let it be free.
Because when you take the pressure away, creativity can finally breathe.
