You might not consider yourself a creative person anymore, but you almost certainly were at one point. Among childhood’s many blessings is the freedom to play and create; art class, recess, and music lessons offer outlets for unbridled imagination and expressiveness. But somewhere along the way, play and creation become uncool, something only little kids do, according to Cas Holman, a toy designer and author of Playful: How Play Shifts Our Thinking, Inspires Connection, and Sparks Creativity. So we stop. We focus on activities we excel in or could make us money instead of ones we enjoy simply for the sake of doing them.
As grown-up responsibilities mount, what limited free time remains might not be dedicated to creative pursuits but to rest, entertainment, doomscrolling. But for all the overwhelm in the world, you might have an itch for a more tactile, creative outlet — one that takes you away from the news, screens, and chaos, and puts you in touch with your more playful side.
Not only are these activities enjoyable, but infusing more creativity into your free time might also make you more creative in other domains, too. The unstructured and exploratory thinking fostered by a hobby can bleed into other areas of your life, says Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, a senior research scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas Into Action. Indulging in that creative curiosity at work, for instance, might breed breakthroughs there, too.
Even if you think the creative part of you is long dormant, it’s possible to foster your more imaginative side. “That play instinct is still there,” Holman says. “We all became who we are through play, and we can still connect to that play from childhood. But also, there is a play inside of us that has evolved with us and will look and feel different than the play did when we were children.” If you’ve been wanting to start some sort of creative practice but have felt stymied, here are three simple tips to help you get started and sustain your new habits.
1. Tap into your history and interests
Perhaps the greatest threat to any new or reignited creative habit is waning motivation. At the onset of a new venture, motivation is high, but it tapers over time. But doing something you genuinely like (or used to like) makes it more likely you’ll stick with it. “Whatever makes something more fun for you tends to make you more motivated to keep doing it,” says Katy Milkman, Wharton professor and author of How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. “The broad thing we can say from research is, is it fun and alluring, and does it have a hook for you personally? That’s different for every person.”
It can be helpful to remember how you used to play as a kid and try to replicate those feelings, if not the exact scenarios, in adulthood, Holman says. Maybe you sang in your school choir growing up. You don’t need to go as far as joining a local a cappella group, but you could make it a point to sing unabashedly in the shower, car, or at karaoke.
Pay attention to the feelings of joy or pleasure, Pringle says. By doing so, you can collect more evidence for why creativity and playfulness are worth prioritizing, giving you more of a reason to continue. For example, drawing has been shown to reduce feelings of sadness and anger. “You can notice, ‘This is doing something for me emotionally,’” Pringle says.
Gamifying the activity can make it more likely that you’ll stick with it, especially if this is an activity you enjoy, Milkman says. Whether that’s keeping up your streak on Duolingo, organizing a personal 30-day knitting challenge, or giving yourself a little treat every time you journal, anything that encourages continued behavior helps the habit stick.
When life inevitably gets hectic and you feel short on time, remind yourself that you’re making space for this endeavor because it’s important to you. “Start with that sense of identity,” Pringle says. “We do those things that are important to who we are as a person. If you realize that, then you can start saying, ‘Well, how am I going to make the time?’ But the first step is being rooted in that sense of what is important to you as a human.”
2. Keep it low pressure
Parents or people who work multiple jobs might not have the luxury of unscheduled hours to devote to extensive creative hobbies. But even the most strapped for time can imbue playfulness in the smaller moments. Notice the people around you on your commute or at the grocery store and try to imagine elaborate backstories for them. In the moments after you’ve finished dinner but before you start the dishes, pull out some scrap paper and doodle. “It doesn’t have to have that much pressure,” Holman says. “It’s not about the outcome. It’s about sitting for a moment and doodling and playing with the colors and trying to make some stripes.”
If you are resuming an old hobby from your past, don’t get hung up on technical proficiency, or lack thereof. It can feel demoralizing to pick up your guitar after many years and realize you’re rustier than you remembered. “It can undermine people’s confidence instead of building it,” Pringle says.
Confidence is crucial when maintaining creative hobbies, Pringle continues, and it comes from making progress, which only builds more confidence. So don’t try to talk yourself out of creating just because you’re struggling or your output is less than stellar. While you probably will improve over time, the true benefit comes from the act itself, not the outcome, Holman says. Ask yourself what success actually looks like. Do you need to bake a patisserie-worthy cake or can you throw a bunch of ingredients together and feel satisfied that you actually made something from scratch?
3. Share your creations instead of monetizing them
In today’s hustle culture, many are enticed to turn their hobbies into money-making ventures. Aside from the obvious motivation — to earn more cash — the impulse to monetize hobbies comes from a desire to share your work, Holman says. Instead of opening an Etsy shop and slapping a price tag on your doodles, you could write a note on them and mail them to friends and family to satisfy that urge.
Leveraging hobbies as side hustles can actually hamstring creativity, Pringle says. Creating in order to turn a profit “puts the pressure of productivity on you,” Pringle says. When you’re only thinking about how to make more to sell more, you close yourself off to creative exploration: There’s no room for meandering when money is on the line. “We are not willing to do something just for the heck of it. We are not willing to do something although we don’t know where it’s going to lead,” Pringle says. “All of those things are absolutely necessary for creativity. If you know at every moment what you are doing, you are not doing creative work.”
To invite creativity into your life, you need fewer constraints and rules — not more. Try to free yourself from what you believe you “should” be doing or the “right” way to play.
“Play isn’t a thing to be good at. This isn’t another thing you have to master, another badge,” Holman says. “Play can be in everything you do, and actually will make you feel better about everything else, because you’ll be yourself in it.”
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