Making creating a daily habit

“Building a body of work (or a life) is all about the slow accumulation of a day’s worth of effort over time.” –Austin Kleon

Some years ago, I started a habit of journaling daily and I’ve done a pretty good, but not perfect, job of sticking to it. That little bit of time every day has given me so many gifts. As I’m writing I realize new things about myself, I learn to apply lessons that I’m learning in life, I think of new blog posts that will hopefully benefit you all, and more. It’s been amazing.

So, I’ve been trying to put the same practice into effect when it comes to creating. I’m trying to daily create something- write part of a poem, take or edit or post a photograph, write a blog post, create some graphics, etc… Anything creative. I believe that creativity feeds on creativity, meaning the more creativity you put out, the more you get back. I don’t think you just run out. This is why people often give writers the advice to just write something. Get something on the paper. Don’t worry about it being perfect, first drafts never are. Just get your thoughts out and then polish them later. There is something about the act of thinking creatively and producing something, that gets those cliché creative juices flowing and, like magic, more creativity follows.

So don’t let the vastness of your goals hinder you from working on a little something today. Just do something creative today, no matter how small, and then again tomorrow and again the next day. Don’t be discouraged, it adds up. You don’t have to do it all today. Like Elisabeth Elliot said in her famous poem- Do the next thing.