How I learned to fuel my creativity into multiple outlets

“Creativity is a combinatorial force: it’s our ability to tap into our ‘inner’ pool of resources – knowledge, insight, information, inspiration and all the fragments populating our minds – that we’ve accumulated over the years just by being present and alive and awake to the world and to combine them in extraordinary new ways.” — Maria Popova, Brainpickings

“Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness: ecstasy.” – Rollo May, The Courage to Create

“A product is creative when it is (a) novel and (b) appropriate. A novel product is original not predictable. The bigger the concept, and the more the product stimulates further work and ideas, the more the product is creative.”—Sternberg & Lubart, Defying the Crowd

A 2012 Adobe study on creativity shows 8 in 10 people feel that unlocking creativity is critical to economic growth and nearly two-thirds of respondents feel creativity is valuable to society, yet a striking minority – only 1 in 4 people – believe they are living up to their own creative potential.

Creativity encompasses the ability to discover new and original ideas, connections, and solutions to problems. It’s a part of our drive as humans—fostering resilience, sparking joy, and providing opportunities for self-actualization.

An act of creativity can be grand and inspiring, such as crafting a beautiful painting or designing an innovative company. But an idea need not be artistic or world-changing to count as creative. Life requires daily acts of ingenuity and novel workarounds; in this sense, almost everyone possesses some amount of creativity.

I wish more people talked about struggles they come across in their creative process!

Even though I have so many ideas, I have a hard time creating and finishing them.

When I start working on an idea, I go through the same thing every time. I’ll have to get over my perfectionism and try to accept if something does not turn out perfect. I will go through a bit of disappointment because of that imperfectness. And finally, I’ll either not finish it or just not be satisfied and lose a bit of motivation to start something new.

I know what works for me and what does not. When I actively look for inspiration, it often overwhelms me with ideas and makes it harder to choose or focus on one.

Once I recognized that repetitive cycle, I tried to find things that encourage my consistency and fuel my creativity into multiple outlets. Now I am satisfied with everything I draw, write, animate, and edit.

I underestimated how motivating sharing small projects would be. Social media gave me a bit of a platform to connect with people. See their art and feedback, which motivates me to bring my ideas to life.

Fueling creativity and settling on one idea

Depending on when you feel most creative, I’d argue that there is always a strong emotion you’re feeling in that moment. Instead of coming up with an idea or looking for inspiration, go back to the strongest emotion you’re feeling and combine it with an object. To create something out of that prompt, you will have to find similarities between the two.

Building on small ideas

Instead of moving on to something else, try to build on your ideas.

It will depend on what your outlets are. I enjoy drawing and storytelling, so if I were to complete a character design, I could think of a story for that character and turn that into a comic. Then turn that into a script for a short film, maybe write music to go along with the concept.

That’s how I would build on my ideas and turn them into larger projects that fulfill multiple outlets.