Writing: Flow & The Creative Process
I’ve mentioned in a post a few days ago that I want to be much more active with this blog, it’s a fun format and I really enjoy writing posts - Though, as often as people say they want to “get into something” more, it many times over turns into a lack of that thing and then disappointment when you didn’t meet your personal goals / expectation. Think of a simple question, how many people say they’re working on a novel? How often do those individuals sit down and write, actually getting pen to paper, finger to keyboard. #Writers will know this very well, it’s a fun idea and appears all over the place, the most common one is probably #Dieting - I personally think the word diet is an excuse, if you really wanted to be healthy or get fit, just as much as you would want to finish that novel you’ve been writing for years - You’d get on with it and force yourself to do the work. Of course, everyone is in different circumstances but I really like Stephen King’s idea which he explains in his memoir, On Writing (fantastic read!), the first like of the first chapter is the following,
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
It’s a brilliant sentiment which I find very fun to think about as a writer, creative and general ‘pursuer of dreams’. However, that’s not what I was planning on talking about, not motivation or any sort of writing gobbledeegook we’ve all heard before. I just wanted to write and this is what came to mind, which raises the thought I will now bring to attention,
How on Earth do some people just hone in on their creative side and throw themselves straight at it every day?
I think motivation is a no-brainer but I think it goes much further beyond that, it’s like you have to set the intention and then don’t think about it, don’t give your mind a single chance to second guess the decision. So, as a creative myself, I sit here wondering on where these brilliant writers acquire the (what Joe Rogan calls) “Just show up mentality.”
We often as people get ourselves (I know I do for sure) into thought patterns in which we assume certain circumstances need to be in place for me to do X thing. If those circumstances are not in place, we can’t perform, we can’t succeed and to some extent, just can’t do anything. I think part of the whole creative & competitive mindset is actually getting OUT of your mind, because even though it’s helping you be creative and stay focused, it’s also where the inner critic lays, creeping on the corners waiting to challenge your ideas and plant second guessing seeds inside of you. Flow is a big component to this whole idea, since when we’re in Flow, the inner critic shuts off (simple but brilliant primer on Flow from Steven Kotler). When this happens, you flow (parden the pun) straight through your creative process and can reach points in which any decision becomes possible. Without going into Flow too much, it’s a science I only know the basics on but it interests me heavily - Even saying this now, I feel that time has passed very quickly and my critic has shut down completely, I’m writing this impromptu and rather enjoying myself. It’s a fun idea to think about, I didn’t exactly know where this would go once I started writing but overall we’ve come to writing, Flow, creative process, etc, etc.
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