I get overloaded by ideas. Not all the time, but when they start coming there can be an avalanche. It’s exciting at first but then untamed and unfruitful.
Unfortunatley highly inspired thoughts inevitably envoke deep dissatisfaction, when the birth of ideas gets further and further away and they remain just ideas. Ideas bury eachother as they come thick and fast, uncontrollably. I need to tame the avalanche and be more productive….
I’m tired of that. I realised I’ve been sabotaging my creativity all my life. But I’ve decided that’s got to change. I want to see exactly what I could be capable of if I give myself the support I need.
Creative Sabotage
Back to the sabotage…I’ve found there are 10 common ways to sabotage your own creativity (as I learn more about myself this list may get longer):
Creativity Killers
- Being a perfectionist
- Being embarassed by your own work
- Fear of being inadequate
- Worrying about wasting or ruining materials
- Becoming demotivated by seeing amazing work by others
- Rushing things unnecessarily
- Becoming deflated by failed or poor first attempts
- Losing belief in your ideas
- Not keeping creative notes
- Procrastination, procrastination, procrastination
Many items in the list are a result of others, or the root cause, nonetheless I’ve seen them all whittle away at my attempts to do great things.
…away with perfection
I gradually realised that the creative process cannot be a perfect one. You can’t have a notebook full of perfect and complete drawings and it’s not a requirement to develope style and skill. I’d love to have studied art or take a full-time course as I’ve realised that by being in a creative environment you can begin to understand creative processes. I get it now, just as a writer needs to get their ideas out and then try to organise them, there must be an initial phase of just throwing things onto a blank page to develop an idea. Not worrying about how it comes out (we’re kind of encroaching on number 2 now), not worrying whether someone will see it and judge your skills on that. So I get it.
IDEA OVERLOAD
Do you ever get flooded with inspiration and ideas, some interlinking, others parallel, all wanting some of your enthusiasm? How on earth do we manage these without letting them slip away and seem like distant frivolous thoughts?
I’ve gradually come to understand myself, although along with my thoughts overload there are still new lessons and discoveries about myself – how I’m responding to things, what things I notice, what things I remember and what I don’t etc….
I’ve always been a sort of “maker”, some of my earliest memories are of making things out of paper or card or anything that was lying around the house. Trying to make do with what was there. I remember trying to use soap from the bathroom to glue paper, with very poor results (must have been around 6 I guess).
The Sadness of Unfulfilled Ideas
Exciting ideas inevitably envoke deep dissatisfaction. As the birth of those ideas gets further and further away and no start in sight, the thought can become nostalgic.
Journal your ideas
I’m trying out new ways to keep ideas fresh so that when I can sew, I don’t waste time deciding what to start on. Here’s some ways that might also make a difference for you:
- shout out to Google Assistant / Alexa when the idea comes to mind – get her to put it on your sewing ideas list!
- keep a notepad on your phone for ideas on the go (or directly update the same Google/Alexa list)
Stay tuned… I’ll share any life hacks that may help out a fellow maker, mother, person, human or other!