The Creative Well

We all have a creative well.  When we pursue artistic work, it seems the well might soon run dry, but the opposite seems to be the case.  

Creativity leads to more creativity.

The late Zig Ziglar was fond of a story about the need to prime the well pump.

It seems a pump will not deliver water if it’s dried out.  Although it’s counterintuitive, a small amount of water has to be poured into the top of the pump, before it can start pulling up the water from deep underground.  

You have to pour water in, to get water out.

Creatively, you have to make something, to get more ideas for things to make.

That doesn’t mean the work becomes “easy,” exactly.  But there is a sense of working with the flow.  Not easy, but easier.

Google defines creativity as,

“The use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.”

When we work with our imaginations, the ideas will continue to come to us.  

During this 30 day project, I’ve been writing one blog post and recording one podcast episode every day.  I want to note that I did not write and record a bunch at once, and then release them one at a time; this is a real-time project.

It seems that, after nearly a month, my creative mind is on notice that I will call upon it again soon, and that I expect it to get its act together and come up with something to write about tomorrow.

For me, writing daily is a new practice.  The trick is to focus on two things:

• More Output

• Less Perfectionism

This approach loosens the floodgates a little.  Now, I allow ideas to trickle through that, under other circumstances, might be swiftly discarded.

“Not unique enough.”

“Nobody wants to hear that story.”

“Too simple.”

“Too much navel-gazing.”

“Boring.”

“Embarrassing.”

But when I focus on increasing my output, I can’t afford to be too picky.  I can’t set the bar too high.  Otherwise, the project would self-destruct.

A so-so idea can be good enough, when my goal is to create more content.  

Once I’ve started, I can always edit, adjust, and make it better.  But I can’t do that until I’ve created a foundation.

More output.  Less perfectionism.  Creative work leads to more creative work.

I enjoy writing about writing, and thinking about thinking, and in doing so, I’ve been able to create a project that’s all about being creative.  

If the time ever comes that I don’t feel creative, or don’t have a flow of ideas to write about, I plan to prime the pump by putting out a bit of content, and then I’ll wait for the creativity to start flowing again.