Be honest. How many of us are afraid of trying new things? We go to the restaurant and order the same food every time. I have a friend who has eaten the same meal for lunch for the last three months. She even tells me that she admires the fact that I intentionally try out new things for lunch – but she still doesn’t do that for herself.
How many of us go out of our way to try new things? I find myself getting stuck in ruts all of the time.
Establishing a creative habit is a good thing. Knowing what works and how to get yourself in the creative mindset is a skill that most professionals have managed to develop into something they do easily. Of course, after years of doing the same thing, its easy to suddenly find yourself utterly unstimulated by what you’re doing.
The process of changing this can be painful. Learning a new style, a new tool or technique, can take week or months to master, and you feel like you’ve regressed in every area of your life. You even feel like you’re not even as good at your primary thing anymore.
Take a Break, and Try Something New
One of my musical heroes, Neil Peart from the band Rush, took a break from touring in the mid-90s. He felt like his drumming wasn’t growing any more. To understand how significant this is, you have to know that Neil Peart is considered the best drummer in the world. He’s won Modern Drummer magazine’s Best Rock Drummer award 9 times. He’s won hundreds of other awards for his drumming, and is cited as an inspiration by nearly every contemporary drummer.
But still, he felt like he wasn’t growing anymore. So what did he do? He took lessons – from Freddy Gruber, a well-known Jazz drummer. Peart changed the way he holds his sticks (from rock style to jazz style) for the Test for Echo album in 1999 – after 30+ years of professional drumming.
I figure if Neil Peart, drumming legend, can change his style, I can make some changes as well. From that point, I’ve made it a conscious decision to develop the habit of trying new things. Right now I want to share with you how I developed this habit.
Ask Questions
Anyone who spends time with me knows that when I meet new people or encounter new situations, I ask a LOT of questions. Coaching clients get pelted with questions. People I meet on the airplane (yes I’m that guy) and people I haven’t seen for years get asked tons of questions. I once spent 90 minutes asking a Federal Reserve employee questions about monetary policy (she was a captive audience on a plane).
You get a lot from asking questions. People love to talk about themselves and their work. Even if they’re not artists, you can learn something to apply to your work or your life.
Make Lists
I use Evernote, Wunderlist and a Moleskin notebook. I have my phone and my notebook with me all of the time. I take notes at my computer with Evernote. When I’m away from the keyboard, I write things down in my Moleskin, and when there’s an action item, I put it into Wunderlist. I keep lists of my favorite restaurants, restaurants to try, places to travel, business ideas, marketing ideas, and tons of other stuff. Lists are super helpful, and when I need a break from what I’m currently doing, I’ll refer to my lists as a creative prompt.
Take a Break
When I need creative stimulation, I take a break from things that take up my time. For the past month I’ve been in rehearsal for another show, and I haven’t been blogging. Long time readers know that I like to hide away when I’m creating. That usually means that instead of writing a blog post I think of, I end up writing it down in Wunderlist and the working on it later, like this post. 😉
Ruminate
People who don’t know me well think I make snap judgements. I’ll suddenly decide to invest a few hundreds dollars in a course, or suddenly decide to travel to New York, or suddenly decide to ask my wife to marry me. Those who know me well know that I will ask a lot of questions about something that I am considering, then stop asking questions. They know that at this point, I’m usually letting my sub-conscious take over and mull what I’ve learned. My experience has been that when I’m ready to make a decision, it will just pop into my brain at the most inopportune time. I’ll be in the shower, or I’ll wake up at 3 AM with an answer. To outsiders, it looks like a eureka moment, but its really the result of a long process.
Follow Your Inner Voice
Whether you believe in God, the Holy Spirit, the inner child, or something else, everyone has an inner voice that tells them when its time to try something and when its time to avoid it. Ignoring this inner voice is the fastest way to kill your creativity and make yourself unhappy. Listen to that voice. Cultivate and develop your sensitivity to it – because eventually, when you’re a success and everyone around you has an opinion on what you should do, this voice is what will keep you on track.
Join me in a new adventure?
I’ll end with a story and an invitation.
I’ve been pondering Google Plus for some time. Playing with it and deciding whether to really make a push. When Google Plus passed Twitter for number of monthly active users, I knew it was time to do something. Then I took a look at Google Plus and realized that my personal profile had more followers than my Facebook account. Then I thought:
Ok. Well played Google. Let’s do this.
So – here’s the invitation. Join us at The Abundant Artist Community on Google Plus. I just started the Community last week and there’s already 60+ members.
As a bonus, we’re going to hold a Google Plus Hangout On Air on Monday, April 15. Assuming it goes well, we’re going to start doing these on a regular basis.
Don’t know what any of this means? Come check it out and try something new!
Thanks Cory… I actually enjoy trying new things; my problem is I attemp to learn too many options at once, which can lead to overwhelm. I’m looking forward to the hangout and learning more about google plus. Thanks for setting this up.
Thanks for commenting Lori! It’s always good to hear from you. I’m excited you’re part of the G+ community, I think you’ll add a lot to the discussion (indeed, you already have).
love your emails, Cory!
Too much trial of new things leads to a great amount of procrastination… at least for me.
Ironically, my wallpaper says “Do one thing every day that scares you.” — Eleanor Roosevelt. If I did, I would probably never finally get down to work.
Cory, I agree that we need to stop and challenge ourselves to learn new things regularly – as artists and as small business owners. Lately, I’ve learned that my biggest barrier to this is an internal belief that tells me I can’t do things differently. And when this happens, I’m trying to consciously change this thought from an “I can’t” to “I can but I need to learn…” And then concentrate on one small action each day that challenges that belief.
I’m hoping that once I get on a roll with that, my creative juices will just keep flowing!