3 tips for following your creative rituals

Many people follow rituals before doing creative work. What are your rituals? How can you use them as a springboard for being creative - then translate these into concrete results? Let’s explore how you can follow these steps in the future.

* You can clarify your rituals for being creative.

Different people have different rituals for preparing to do good work. Imagine you are facilitating a workshop. Having already rehearsed the topics to cover, you may get to the venue an hour before the start, drink a cup of coffee, re-arrange the seating, write the appropriate flip charts and do whatever is necessary to get yourself into the right mood. Other people have their own rituals. One footballer explained:

“I follow a set process when taking a penalty. After the penalty is awarded, I find the ball quickly, walk away to a quiet spot and bounce the ball a couple of times. Everybody else may be protesting or jostling, but I go into my own world. Looking at the goal, I decide where I want to place the ball. Finally, when the commotion has subsided, I put the ball on the penalty spot. Taking three steps back, I then breathe slowly. Looking at the referee, I wait for the signal. Concentrating on the ball, I hit it into the chosen spot. I have never been afraid of taking spot kicks and remember those I have scored, rather than those I have missed. I enjoy the whole process of taking penalties.”

Let’s explore your rituals. First, describe one of the creative activities that you enjoy. Second, describe the rituals you go through to set yourself up for success. Be as specific as possible. Try completing the following sentences.

The creative activity I enjoy pursuing is:

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The specific rituals I follow before doing this creative activity are:

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* You can create the opportunity for being creative.

“Previously I was afraid of using rituals as a replacement for being creative – like somebody who buys a tracksuit but never goes running,” said one person. “But then I realised what was happening. I was not giving myself chance to flourish. Looking back on my life, I had often performed good work after setting aside a block of time to tackle a specific project. I need time to clear my head, relax and then concentrate fully on the task. Bearing in mind my successful pattern, I stopped beating myself up and, instead, built-in time to tackle a special project. It worked.”

How can you give yourself the chance to be creative? Try completing the following sentences.

The specific things I can do to give myself the opportunity for being creative are:

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* You can follow your rituals for being creative.

What activity do you want to pursue? You may want to write an article, refurbish a house, run a workshop, host a dinner party, climb a mountain or whatever. Once you have settled on your ‘project’, you may go through the following stages. a) Relax. Give yourself the opportunity to ‘open-up’, explore and settle-on on what you want to produce. b) Rituals. Look ahead, make your plan and rehearse. Follow your chosen rituals. c) Results. Do whatever is necessary to deliver the required results. Try completing the following sentences.

The specific creativity activity I want to pursue is:

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The specific rituals I can follow to be creative are:

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“Creativity is something that happens, you cannot plan it,” say some people. Certainly ‘Ah yes,” moments can stimulate breakthroughs, but creativity is a muscle. Exercising it calls for planning, preparation and then achieving peak performance. You can find many more exercises on this theme in the book The Strengths Way, which can be found here:

TheStrengthsWay