“When you enter into them, they impel you to get started”

Creativity is a state of mind. And it’s not an easy task to get into it when you have thousand and one things going on in our life and in your work. I believe there are times that you wish you can enter in that state at a snap of your finger.

According to Twyla Tharp, creativity can be made into a habit where you can summon it any time that you want.

In her book ” The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life“, she talked about ritual of preparation where you performed a ritual to prepare yourself to be creative.

The ritual consist of a series of movement which you performed before you go about your daily routine. The ritual can be a walk around the neighbourhood, listening to certain songs, e.t.c. For Twlya, it’s the whole motion of going to gym that set her off to her day of creativity.

On top of the ritual, try the following as well.

Association with Music or Smell

When going through the ritual, associate it with music or smell (not your odour, please). Remember there are times where certain smell or music remind you of some experience in the past. It might be your happy childhood or some painful incident. That’s what you want to create here.

After long period of association, you can use that particular music or smell to trigger your creativity.

Association with Feeling

When you are in your creative zone, what are you feeling? Happiness?, excitement? Inspired? Arousal? Remember that feeling.

When going through the ritual, feel that feeling. Immerse yourself with it.

Visualization

To expedite the whole process, you can visualise the whole process. The ritual. The music or smell. The feeling. Do it as often as you can. Best time will be just before you sleep and right after you wake up.

Even with ritual, it’s not going to be easy to be creative all the time. Dont just focus on process to be creative.
Focus on what you want to be creative about. Focus on your passion.