Tiny Creative Acts fill the Well and Prime the Pump for Your Projects
Morning: Playing with paper clips
I was interviewed last week about how Tiny Creative Acts can juice up your life and business. It was a blast–I encouraged my listeners to play with paper clips and make shapes out of strips of paper and I invited them to share their Tiny Creative Acts on the Creative Life Spark face-book page, and many people did!
After the interview, I continued on with my day– a coaching client (fun!) and a bunch of scheduling and long, detailed emails (not so fun). Nothing too extraordinary there. Later that afternoon, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself myself pulling out a textile project–a jean jacket that I’d started (but hadn’t picked up) for months.
I didn’t do anything earth-shattering to my jean jacket–I just spent about 30 minutes getting the ribbons cut, pinned and ready to attach, so I’d have plenty of easy “hand-work” to keep me busy on my upcoming flight to Italy. Then I put it all away and went back to finishing emails, making dinner, and wrangling kids. Nice– but not exactly a creative bonanza.
Afternoon: Satin Stiching on my jean jacket
Later that evening, with computer closed, dishes washed, and kids in bed (ahh…finally!) I once again found myself pulling out my jean jacket… This time I also started pulling out fabric, colors, and remembering the big, ambitious vision I had had for the back of my jacket–complete with 3-dimensional wings and funkily-appliqued lettering (SPARK, of course)!
Now, I was really having fun! I could feel the creative juices kicking in. Notably, my Inner Critic was nowhere to be found because I was just “messing around”–laying out pieces, rearranging them, pinning them down “just for now”– not doing anything “serious” at all! Finally, I hung the jacket–riddled with pins–where I could see it. The more I looked at it, the more I liked it.
Evening: my project gets ambitious!
It wasn’t until I gleefully shared my progress with my assistant Sara the next day that I realized what had happened. My Tiny Creative Acts in the morning had, as promised, juiced up my life! That little creative boost to my creative “metabolism” opened the door for me to make effortless progress on a beloved (and previously neglected) personal project during the little pockets of time in the my day that I would have otherwise frittered away some other way.
Playing with paper clips in the morning had invisibly led me to satin stitches–and more in the evening! Which brings me to the heart of this post:
Never underestimate the power of a Tiny Creative Act.
What do you notice about your creative process, progress and productivity when you slip Tiny Creative Acts into your day? I’d love to hear! Please share your thoughts in a comment below: