An expansive definition of creativity – and how to get unstuck and start creating

ByLukas

I’ve been thinking and writing and talking an awful lot about creativity lately. Making up for an extended period of being creatively stuck myself!

At the core of getting unstuck was redefining what creation and creativity mean to me. 

Ever since I’ve done that, I’ve started several new projects (including this website, a coffee blog, on top of my language-learning-related projects). I’m also writing a radionovela story for a Spanish language course. And I’m writing drafts for 1-2 new blog posts every day.

More importantly: it doesn’t feel like I’m working so hard. On the contrary: I’m relaxing much more. Everything feels easier. I feel freer, happier, and much more fulfilled.

Getting unstuck and redefining what creativity means can have the same powerful, liberating effect for you, too. And even if you think you don’t need it, creating more might yield incredible benefits in areas where you wouldn’t expect it.

So let’s start by redefining creativity, and then help you get unstuck and start creating more.

My expansive definition of creativity

At the moment, this is what creation (and creativity) means to me. I update this definition a lot, but this is it right now.

To me, creation is giving my perception of the outer world – and how I interpret it in my mind – a way back out. 

Here’s another way of looking at it.

Stimuli from the world around you enter your brain through your senses. They interact with your thoughts, feelings, and past experiences until something new emerges: a creation. A creation that’s uniquely yours, because it emerged from your unique blend of experiences, thoughts, and feelings.

This is my current understanding, which might be similar or different from yours. You don’t have to agree–but doing so might make your life easier, more fulfilled… and yes, more creative. 

Why creating is a natural completion of the “flow of conscious living”

If you’re creating, it means the inputs and experiences that enter your brain flow out again after you’ve interpreted and transformed them. 

If you don’t let them flow out again, you’re blocking yourself halfway through that process. 

Here’s a blocked flow of experience & creation:

Input from the world around you –> interpretation and interaction with your thoughts, feelings, body, past experiences –> BLOCK

That block leads to tension. More and more input builds, and even though you’re interpreting it, processing it, it has no way out… Until you can’t take it anymore, and something inside you overflows and breaks. (This leads to destruction instead of creation. We’ll talk about that in a second.)

On the other hand, if you remove that creation block (and you get unstuck), you’re completing the flow of conscious living.

Here’s an unblocked flow of experience & creating:

Input from the world around you –> interpretation and interaction with your thoughts, feelings, past experiences, your body –> a unique creation emerges.

There are no blocks here, no friction. No buildup of inputs, experiences, thoughts and emotions. It flows through and out. And that’s how it’s supposed to be.

Another metaphor: refraction in a prism

I imagine it as refraction in a prism (I’ll expand on this in a separate article). Warning: this is a metaphor, not a scientific explanation of refraction. I’m sure it’s not correct scientifically; the goal is to illustrate the process of creation.

Rays of light enter a prism and are then bent, changes direction many times. They bounce around, and emerge again on the other side. 

So for you as a living being, sensory input enters your mind, where it starts bouncing around. You interpret it through unique pathways in your brain paved by your previous experiences, thoughts, feelings… 

And by bouncing off each other and interacting, it gets transformed (refraction) and something new emerges. That’s your creation. 

The decision you have to make: will you open your mind to that creation and let it emerge? Or will you prevent it from emerging at all, so it endlessly keeps bouncing around in your head? 

What does a “creation” look like?

I can describe my current understanding of the process. But what emerges as the result of your creative process, I can’t tell. 

But it’s NOT “art” in the sense most people think about it: something you can put in a museum or publish in a book. Although it can be that.

It’s everything that emerges inside you through living your life and (this is vital) that you put back in the world. Good and bad. Pretty or ugly, useful or useless.

You don’t even have to show it to anybody. You don’t even have to look at your creations yourself. You can create because it helps you process certain events. Or because you feel like it. Or for any other reason.

Here’s a random, mundane but valid list of creations:

  • Having conversations with others
  • Listening to someone, then taking what they say to heart
  • Writing an email
  • Performing routine tasks at work
  • Cooking
  • Writing
  • Painting
  • Drawing in the sand.
  • Assembling a machine
  • Anything you create at work
  • Giving someone a hug
  • Calling a friend
  • A small note
  • A sketch
  • A grocery list
  • Delivering a work project
  • Singing
  • Dancing
  • Building something
  • Gardening
  • Playing with your kids
  • ……

Creations are created through action

You might’ve noticed these are all verbs. In other words, you create by taking conscious action to get things out of your head, into the world. 

You can’t create by doing nothing, by getting input and not letting anything come out. Again, if you do that, you’re bound to reach a point where you can’t hold it in anymore, and you uncontrollably create something less desirable. 

The things you create in a situation like that tend to be destructive. Think: an emotional outburst. Anger. Aggression.

So let’s call that creative destruction. I like to avoid that as much as possible. I can imagine you do too.

The path to getting unstuck and start creating

Quick recap. If you take the time every day to process all your experiences by consciously creating something… you’ll notice immediate relief. It’ll feel as if a huge barrier has been removed. Resistance is gone. You’ll better understand your emotions, your feelings, your patterns, and your thought processes. And you’ll be able to create more. Much more.

That’s what “getting unstuck” feels like.

If you have no idea how to start, here are four ways of getting unstuck that have worked for me and many others:

  • Morning Pages (full article/how-to coming soon). Stream of Consciousness writing: the single best tool for getting unstuck, generating ideas, and working through a LOT of other things in your life. And writing the Morning Pages every day counts as creating every day. For best results, write them by hand, not on a computer. Don’t ask me why (I might looks into it, though). (Tip: don’t read them back. And don’t show them to anybody.)
  • Long walks. The solitude, the physical movement, and the connection with your surroundings sparks new insights. This is not in itself creating, but it helps with getting insights, inspiration that can 
  • Meditation. An obvious one. It can take a while before you see the effects of this. It’s much more subtle than morning pages. And it’s no direct “creation”. But it can help you create something
  • Answering ‘journaling prompts’. Same as Morning Pages: journaling, but more “guided”.
    • For example, answer without thinking: “If it didn’t sound so stupid, today I would enjoy doing_________” Anything you answered here, do it today (or this week). I got this one from Julia Cameron (who popularized the Morning Pages). It works because you give yourself permission to do something silly. And sometimes, creating is silly 🙂

Once again: creating is taking action. So do these activities… And then take action. Put something out there. Talk to someone. Create something. Unblock yourself. 

Taking it one step further: from conscious creation to creating value

Once you’re consciously creating every day, you can (but don’t have to) take it a step further. You can learn to guide your creative process towards “creating value”. That means: creating ideas, things, concepts that are considered valuable to others around you. 

Here’s why this is a good thing: that value will inevitably flow back to you in form way or another… be it through friendships, gratitude, experiences… money… or anything else you personally value. 

That way, apart from fulfillment, you could make a living by consciously creating and dedicate your life to what you like creating the most.

If this concept of “creating value for others” triggers something inside you, you’re not alone.

You (like most people, including me) might feel shame, guilt, or insecurity around creating. You might think you aren’t “good enough” to create. Or your creations will never be valuable. You might not trust yourself (more about that here

That’s why I added a “mundane” list of “creations” above: to remove the guilt or fear of shame around creation. To expand the definition to something we all do automatically. Everything is a creation. It’s the most natural way of living your life, and it’ll lead to a lot more satisfaction and fulfillment. 

If you’re interested in taking the path of value creation in your life, I’ll have something for you soon. But first… get unstuck. You won’t be able to create value consistently if you’re stuck 🙂

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    #52 Missing the stars on a clear night

    ByLukas

    Can I see the stars on a clear night? Or is light pollution blurring my vision?

    Can I hear the voices in my mind? Or is noise pollution drowning out the quiet?

    Can I feel the sensations stirring my body? Or are the superstimuli of the modern world numbing out my feelings?

    Where else is overwhelming human-made input making me blind, deaf, numb to the natural world? To the wordless world? To my inner world?

    Where am I missing out on Musenküsse, for lack of silence and empty space?

  • |

    #34 Where else?

    ByLukas

    Regularly asking “Where else?” is one of the simplest ways to become more creative and generate innovative insights.

    Not only does this allow you to connect new insights with existing knowledge and experience, but it also invites you to imagine new use cases.

    • “Where else have I seen this (or something similar) before?”
    • “Where else does this apply (to my current knowledge)?”
    • “Where else might this apply (in contexts where I haven’t discovered it yet)?”

    Examples

    Harvard Medical School professor Herbert Benson suggests the neurotransmitter NO (Nitric Oxide) may be the catalyst for breakthroughs and “aha moments.”
    Where else have I seen this before? -> Pranayama/Yogic Breathing: Nasal breathing (and humming “om”) can increase nitric oxide production fifteen-fold. Humming your way to epiphanies might be worth a try.

    Learning a language by grouping words instead of reducing it to words and grammar. Where else does this apply? -> Conversation Based Chunking; learning series of digits by grouping them together;… See: chunking concept in cognitive psychology

    Uber made it possible for people to share/rent out their car.
    Where else might this apply? -> How about sharing/renting out your home? That’s how AirBnB was born.

    You don’t have to look elsewhere.
    See what’s already there, then ask…
    Where else?

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    How Replacing Productivity by Traction Leads to a More Fulfilled, Creative Life (the Productivity Trap)

    ByLukas

    Many of the articles on this website touch on the concept of productivity. And yet, I have very mixed feelings about the word. There’s something aspirational about it, and at the same time… it feels dirty.

    Whenever a word triggers me like that, I like to do do an exercise to figure out what’s causing it. First, I write down all my instant associations with the word, without thinking too much. (For example “productivity is…” or “productivity means…”. No thinking allowed, just instant writing.)

    Then I look for patterns or insights in what I wrote.

    (This is a fascinating exercise. I suggest you try it with “rich people are…” and see which instant associations bubble up. It might not be pretty.)

    As always, the instant association exercise did its job. In this post, you’ll read what it brought to light, how I managed to reframe productivity as traction, and how that reframe might help you live a more creative and more fulfilled life, too.

    The Productivity Trap: Does productivity mean maximizing economic output?

    The instant association exercise revealed that my biggest problem with productivity is that I (and many others) often mix it up with “economic productivity.” In other words: maximizing economic output every day. Or less euphemistic: working 10-12 hours a day.

    What about “producing a lot in as little time as possible?” At first sight, that looks like a good thing, right?

    But here, too, there’s a lot of pressure to maximize output without regard for rest and recovery.

    For example, let’s say you’re a master of deep work, and you finish a job that is supposed to take 8 hours in 4 hours.

    For many people, that means “Great, now I have 4 more hours left to do something productive“. And they end up working 8 hours anyway. Or 10 (better do something “productive” at night than watching TV for 2 hours!)

    This is a typical productivity trap. It’s a monster that’s never satisfied, creates a lot of pressure and leads to burnout.

    A healthier way to achieve a lot

    Luckily, there are other and healthier ways to be focused and achieve a lot. I like how Nir Eyal frames it in his excellent book “Indistractable“:

    On any given day, your mission is to do the things you set out to do.

    Sounds simple, but it’s a massive mindset shift.

    To understand why, we need to take a look at the concepts of traction and distraction.

    The magic of traction and distraction

    At any given time in your day, if you’re doing what you set out to do, no matter if it’s work, play, going for a walk, or taking a nap, you’re gaining traction. In other words, you’re moving towards the goal you set.

    If you’re not doing what you set out to do, you’re getting distracted. You’re moving away from the goal you set.

    Simple, right?

    The only prerequisite is that you choose what you want to gain traction towards. You have to deliberately decide what you’re going to do, create, work on, or play with.

    Traction is inclusive of ALL your daily activities, work or not

    The nicest part about this approach to “productivity” is that it allows, includes, and even encourages what many people classify as as “non-productive downtime.”

    For example, you can consciously decide to write two hours a day. Then, if you end up actually writing during those two hours, you’re gaining traction towards that goal.

    But you can also consciously decide, in advance, to watch a 1-hour series afterward as a reward for your hard labor.

    And if during that time you set out to watch that series, you actually watch the series, guess what: you’re gaining traction towards that goal too!

    If you set out to meet with friends, or have a romantic date night… and you follow through… yep, now you’re gaining traction in that domain too.

    The same goes for spending time with your kids, and anything else you consciously decide to do in any given day.

    If you adopt this new traction mindset, everything I described has now become “productivity”.

    Traction increases integrity, self-trust and self-esteem

    Now, why is this important?

    Simple. if you consciously choose what you’re going to do, no matter if it’s work, play, relaxing,… and you then follow through…

    That shows integrity.

    You show yourself you can do what you set out to do. You keep your promises to yourself.

    And that increases your self-trust and self-esteem.

    That’s right: saying you’re going to watch an episode of your favorite series and then doing that (without feeling guilty) can increase your self-trust as much as saying you’re writing a blog post and following through!

    That might sound weird, but that’s how it works. It’s just a healthier way to look at your daily activities.

    Added benefit: the more self-trust and self-esteem, the less inner resistance you’ll feel to living the life you want to life. Read more about that here.

    2 Essential conditions to make Traction work

    Here’s what’s important to start taking advantage of the power of traction:

    • Consciously decide what you’re going to do on any given day: work, play everything. If you don’t, the habits you created unconsciously over the past years will take over and pull you toward activities you want to avoid.
    • Avoid overpromising things you’re going to accomplish in one day. If you overpromise and it’s impossible to fulfill that promise to yourself (or others), you lower your self-esteem. If you do this every day, you’ll end up losing all trust in yourself. You’ll develop a belief that you’re unproductive, lazy, not reliable. In reality, you’re making unrealistic promises to yourself.

    A better way to manage projects without overpromising: timeboxing

    With practice, you’ll get better at estimating the time needed to complete a project you can create a realistic calendar.

    But sometimes, it’s hard to predict how long a project will take.

    If that’s the case, I recommend “time boxing”: adding a set block of time to your calendar to work on a project.

    Once the time is up, you stop working on that project.

    It doesn’t matter how much you achieved. As long as you worked on the project during that time block, you’ve gained traction. (If you ended up doing something else or you got distracted halfway through, that’s a different story.)

    In the end, it’s all about being honest with yourself and finding uninterrupted blocks of time to work.

    Step-by-step plan to start gaining traction

    Here’s how I recommend you get started with traction, without overdoing it (remember, keeping your promises to yourself and your integrity is vital):

    1. Decide on 1-2 projects you want to spend your time on a given day (work, play, relaxing, friends,… anything)
    2. Find uninterrupted time in your calendar where you can do that thing. 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes… find what works in your current situation.
    3. Add it to your calendar. Make sure to think through any possible distractions that might come up (your phone, kids, meetings,…) and prevent them from pulling on your attention during your chosen time block.
    4. When the time comes, work on the project you set out to do.
    5. When time’s up, stop working, no matter how much you did.
    6. Afterwards, review. How did it go?
      Did you do what you set out to do? Did you get distracted by anything? Could you prevent these distractions from happening in the future? You might have to change your environment. Put away your phone. Choose a different time with fewer distractions.
      Did you overpromise to yourself? Were your expectations for what you could achieve in this time block unrealistic? Was the time block was too short or too long? If necessary, adapt the time blocks and lower your expectations for the next time to avoid disappointing yourself again…
      Keep in mind: repeatedly letting yourself down is bad for your integrity and self-esteem.
    7. The next day, plan another uninterrupted block of time, this time adapted based on your experiences with the first block.
    8. Keep trying and adapting.

    Practicing traction this way will help your self-esteem, integrity, your trust in yourself. You’ll also get more done in less time. Because this is a plan that works long-term. It builds discipline. It helps you create a life you like and feel good about in the long term.

    Final thoughts: replace the word, not the meaning.

    Whenever a word becomes cluttered with negative connotations, I give myself two choices.

    Either I train myself to redefine the meaning of the word and replace the negative connotation with something more positive. That’s the hard way.

    Here’s the easy way: I replace the word itself with a brand-new concept with no negative associations.

    Productivity becomes traction.

    Controlling becomes channeling. (Blog post coming soon).

    Failure becomes lesson.

    You get the idea.

    I suggest you take the easy way and replace your goal of productivity with traction.

    It’ll save you a lot of time and frustration.

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    #28 Write anyway – then write some more

    ByLukas

    Think you don’t have any good ideas to write about? Write anyway. Then write some more. The ideas might well reveal themselves on the page. (Morning Pages are good for this)

    Have an idea but struggle to put it into words? Write anyway… Then write some more.

    Struggling to edit your work and get it to a level where you believe it’s “publish-worthy”? Publish it anyway. especially when it’s imperfect. Once you see nothing bad happens when there’s a typo or an awkward sentence, your self-trust grows, your editing will become less judgmental, and your creativity will soar.

    Scared of publishing your work, being judged, being seen? Publish anyway. Then publish some more. When you increase your publishing frequency, there’s less burden on that one post, video, book, piece of art.

    You can only overcome the objections your mind invents by not letting them stop you from sculpting away, day by day.

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    #23 For all the languages I’ve learned

    ByLukas

    For all the languages I’ve learned
    trying in vain to put the inner and outer world into words
    closely but not completely capturing the essence
    I now realize the biggest insights reveal themselves
    where words are worthless and feelings reign
    where they are felt and lived, embodied,
    refusing to be rationalized, categorized
    or undergo the violent limitations of our words.

    Maybe language learning is more about admitting that some languages are lived, not learned.

    That some insights are felt, not expressed.

    That sometimes words create distance from what we experience deep down, instead of offering the clarity we seek.

    Accepting that may well be the biggest challenge of all.

    There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.

    Rumi
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    #17 Humming my way to innovative insights

    ByLukas

    In his book “The Breakout Principle“, Harvard Medical School professor Herbert Benson asserts that most of our big epiphanies and insights are preceded by:

    1. A phase of strong mental and physical exertion
    2. A phase of relaxation, where you release the mind and let it roam freely.

    Benson discovered that the phase of relaxation seems to be accompanied by the release of nitric oxide (NO), a powerful neurotransmitter.

    Among other things, nitric oxide improves cellular oxygen uptake, is a vasodilator and muscle relaxer, and improves cardiovascular health.

    Benson goes as far as saying nitric oxide may be “the biochemical foundation for the relaxation response” and the catalyst for the “breakout” (= the insight or epiphany).

    When I read about Nitric Oxide in Benson’s book, I realized I had heard about Nitric Oxide in a different context (the Where Else Principle at work): pranayama, a yogic breathing practice. In his book The Illuminated Breath, Yoga teacher Dylan Werner mentions the same health benefits of nitric oxide, and adds that it’s made in the lining of the blood vessels, nasal cavity, and in the paranasal sinus.

    He also mentions we can increase production of nitric oxide by breathing slowly through the nose (so there’s more air exchange in the sinuses and nasal cavity).

    What’s more: a certain type of yogic breathing, bhramari pranayama or humming bee breath, can increase the production of nitric oxide fifteen fold because it increases the air vibration, and thus air exchange in the sinuses and nasal cavity.

    That’s right: fifteen times more nitric oxide from a simple humming breath practice.

    Seems like my daily bhramari pranayama practice is the perfect way to relax the body, the, mind, and create the perfect conditions for those new insights to emerge.

    That’s why I am sculpting away, day by day, humming my way through life… and the insights always seem to follow.

    Now I know why.

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