The Power of the Creative Practice

First published on February 17, 2021

There is no new wisdom. That sentence is so true that I have heard it said to me by several different people. But old wisdom can be shared with new flavours, with your flavour. And maybe the time it is shared with your flavour will be the time that it really lands with someone, that it arrives at the perfect moment in the perfect way, to change the course of the future for the better. Towards what is good, true and beautiful.

I have noticed, over five years or so of speaking to clients and friends about the work of Steven Pressfield, that my own flavour has crept further and further into the way I share Pressfield's wisdom (which, of course, was never really his in the first place). One of my favourite parts of The War of Art is a sentence that doesn't exist in the book (now that it is rewritten with my flavour) but which is completely based on an insight that Pressfield wrote about. That is: inspiration is always around us, but it's only when we make a start that we let it in.

That, of course, is the power of creativity: allowing inspiration into the universe, into our lives, by starting to create. By taking the first step, like Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade, and trusting that the bridge will appear to take us across the chasm. And, as we do that, we feel inspiration, that unique rush of possibility that comes from the sense that we can make something, and that our muse is working through us.

Creativity is a spiritual act, connecting us into that state of flow, that state of otherness, that state of inspiration. And a creative practice is a spiritual practice, opening ourselves regularly to that sense of purpose and inspiration that can guide us in our work. As your To Do List gets longer and your inbox gets fuller, remember that. There are few things that you can do that will be more nourishing for you than practising creativity, whether that is writing, painting or singing, or those less-talked-about creative pursuits, like entrepreneurship or simply changing something.

I had to remember that, this morning. Because it has been four weeks since I last sat down to write. And each time we break a habit or pause a practice we are faced with that most important of questions: do we recommit?

I was glad, today, as I considered this writing practice while washing up, to have just read one of Robert Holden's tips from Authentic Success about pursuing and understanding what inspires us. And creativity inspires me, without a doubt. My own, yes, but also the amazing, diverse creations of the modern world.

As Seth Godin says, the gatekeepers are gone. Never has it been easier for us to reach an audience with our creativity, whether that is a film we have made, an Etsy shop selling our beautiful creations, or an article on LinkedIn. And that matters, because, if we share our inspiration, however (un)original and however it arrives, maybe that will be the moment that we change the course of the world for someone. And it matters because sharing our art is part of what makes it art. Not only allowing inspiration in by starting, but standing in the world alongside our inspiration. That takes courage, and courage transforms us.

So, what will you create?