The Accidental Creative

I started this morning by sipping a cup of coffee over my Kindle, reading The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry.

The book plays around with the idea of these 3 main qualities people in creative businesses need to have to establish a rhythm that supports their creative process.

Basically, to optimally and creatively function, creative people need to be:

BRILLIANT + HEALTHY + PROLIFIC

Being all three, we can produce great creative work consistently, in a sustainable way.

However, Henry said that most creatives are characterized by 2 strong qualities + 1 weak quality, providing them with a creativity loophole to fill in.

Which one is your creativity loophole, that needs improvement?

Loophole 1.

You are PROLIFIC + BRILLIANT

– but not HEALTHY

You are having great ideas all the time, flooded by creative juices, you submit your works on time, even you can stretch yourself to work for more than 15 hours a day. But what will happen?

Exactly.

After a while, you’ll experience a terrible burnout. It sucks your energy, it makes you stressed out. You’re risking your long-term creativity for short-term productivity.

Loophole 2.

You are HEALTHY + BRILLIANT

– but not PROLIFIC

You have great ideas and your creative juice is flowing, you feel as if you’re having a great work-life balance, you are not stressed out nor burned out, but you just can’t seem to do the things you have always wanted to do or finish the things you have started.

This makes you an unreliable creative.

You produce works only when you feel like it, instead of producing good work consistently. Or you are spending too much time procrastinating, questioning, doubting, and the ship just never sails.

(This is my loophole!)

Loophole 3.

You are HEALTHY + PROLIFIC

– but not BRILLIANT

You feel as if you’re having a great work-life balance, you are not stressed out nor burned out, and you submit all works on time, you finish what you start, you do the things you need to do, but you are not producing things you can really be proud of.

It isn’t something that stands out, not of really good quality. It is just a tad unimpressive and mediocre. It feels like you’re having the energy to do what you need to do instead of what you can really do.

It is easy for people to forget or replace us when they are not impressed with our work.

So, which one is your creative loophole?

hanny

If you made it this, far, please say 'hi'. It really means a lot to me! :)

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Hi. I'm HANNY
I am an Indonesian writer/artist/illustrator and stationery web shop owner (Cafe Analog) based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I love facilitating writing/creative workshops and retreats, especially when they are tied to self-exploration and self-expression. In Indonesian, 'beradadisini' means being here. So, here I am, documenting life—one word at a time.

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