The Challenges of a Creative Individual (Part 2):
Your Lack of Focus Is Your Greatest Strength
(Contemplations and insights by a sensitive artist-soul)
Note: The thoughts and concepts presented here are hypothetical — they are based on my own intuition and are not deducted from any scientific evidence.
With that in mind, please enjoy!
Open Focus and Linear Focus
From my own experience, I would say that when engaging in creative activities, your mind can either switch between a hyper-focused, linearly-oriented, or a soft, non-linearly-oriented mode of perception.
With the first, you can accomplish tasks that are more rigid in structure and which need a more analytical, logical approach, while the second mode of perception enables you to see connections between elements that you cannot register when hyper-focused — allowing for new ideas and creative impulses to emerge.
This latter perception is not only the reason why it is important for you to step away from your work and disengage with it consciously (so that new ideas can emerge), but it is also the reason why your artistic brain needs aesthetic stimuli.
These stimuli are, obviously, rooted in aesthetically pleasing fields, and they allow your imagination to be directed toward the focal points you are naturally interested in. As a consequence of subjecting yourself to beautiful art that inspires you, you allow your essence to shine through and harness your innate creational powers. Enjoying something and being interested in certain subjects takes zero effort.
This is why it is important to look out for the things that make you feel uplifted naturally or that make your heart pound with passion and enthusiasm without you even trying. It’s a good indicator to see in what direction your creative life may want to be led, even if the journey ahead may appear foggy and unclear.
To tie these thoughts back to the question of focus: When you work on an art piece, a musical composition, let’s say, then you most likely are inspired by certain composers that have come before you. These inspirational fountains can act as the aforementioned aesthetic stimuli. They are necessary, especially in the period prior to creation. They are signaling to you what you want to create: Something with a similar style/quality/mood.
Every artist has her heroes, and it is good to know them. But once you start your project, your heroes can get in the way…
Because their creations have already manifested in the material world and because these creations are already ‘finished,’ you can only see the finished product.
And because you can only perceive the finished product, you can only guess what their methods of creation were. This can stifle you when you simply want to focus on your own imagination and your own creative goals.
To pull apart the real or assumed aspects involved in your heroes’ creative endeavors surely can bring forth new ideas or generate ‘happy accidents’ that can carry great motivational momentum.
But when overdone, the engagement with someone else’s work can put invisible barriers between you and your own work. Maybe analysis paralysis would be the right term to use here…
What is the solution?
As mentioned previously, a good practice is to engage with your inspirational sources prior to working on your own project, prior to getting into the flow state. And once you move away from the linearly-oriented, unilateral hyper-focus, you can delve into the soft, open focus. You may notice that tasks are being fluently accomplished, and time passes differently during the flow state.
Do you remember the last time you worked on a project and everything just fell into place, and you cannot even recall how long it took you or even how you accomplished certain elements of your creation? In this state, you forget time, you forget your worries, you forget your surroundings, and you are purely, intensely connected to source.
Also of great help can be to read books or generally engage with material that doesn’t seem to be connected to your endeavor at all. On the surface level this may seem like a waste of time, but just pick up a book about, let’s say, baking a specific chocolate cake and see how it might influence your craft!
Additionally, it’s important to keep reminding yourself that you are an individual and that your methods are intrinsically different from the methods of the people you look up to. You are your own voice, and that voice reverberates through various styles and approaches. Allow yourself to be devoted to your art while remembering that your vision is not the same as someone else’s vision, and therefore, you are not obliged to follow the same routines, methods, structures, or even the same tools.
Experiment, have fun, and dive into your work with love and passion.
Out of the Haze, Into The Zone
When consciously ‘defocusing,’ you might realize that if you have trouble focusing (like a lot of us artists do), this state is, in some sense, your natural habitat. To be creative oftentimes means to be lost in one’s head. And to wander around internally can generate phases of doubt and confusion. But this can be counterbalanced by diving into the work, even if you feel you lack a clear goal, the necessary skillset, or the motivation. Motivation doesn’t always come prior to the process; it arises naturally because of it.
A good practice to foster your innate creative potential is to simply lean back in your chair and observe the environment. Let your soft gaze glide over elements in your surroundings without decidedly ‘locking in’ on specific objects or subjects. Allow your mind to run wild — your inner eye might produce all kinds of visuals, your inner voice may vocalize all kinds of fictitious conversations, your inner ear might hear all kinds of melodies. Accept this and appreciate your creativity as much as possible, as it is something beautiful. This will make you more open to incorporating that wild creativity into your ‘routine.’
Sidenote: I’ve also heard that some people get into the flow state easier when they rhyme. It makes sense when you think about it: To connect words that resonate with each other and that carry a certain amount of poetic quality can propel your mind into a rhythmic cycle.
This rhythmic cycle allows you to immerse yourself in a pattern that is predictable but not too predictable. This, in turn, enables you to tap into a motion that lets you both explore creative ideas on the way, as well as incorporate the already pre-planned elements of your project.
Personally, I never used the rhyming method, but I used to sing under the shower, which was not planned — it just happened automatically. I would find myself surrounded by all kinds of fantastical scenarios, and all kinds of existing and not-yet-existing melodies would rush through my head. It’s fun and inspiring.
Another thing you can try out is to simply sit down with a piece of paper in front of you, sketch a bubble, put a label that pops into your head inside that bubble, and write down all the words (around the bubble) that cross your mind. This associative process can lead to great concepts and ideas.
Creativity Expands Your Self
The creational processes you take part in — may they be hobbies or rooted in professional spheres — carry the potential to shape the way you perceive the rest of the day. Not only that but: Being creative and allowing those imaginative juices to flow without restriction actually enhances the way you see things. You can find yourself subconsciously or consciously analyzing TV shows, gazing more intensely at elements in a natural environment, appreciating the intricate details and embellishments of Greek statues, or simply feeling more inspired than usual when listening to an emotional piece of music.
The sense of your self — in a way, the perception of your self — can expand constructively.
You may come to realize, during or after a creative endeavor, that you are more than your body and mind: There is an infinitely large, beautifully loving essence hovering in the Aether that you cannot see but is there to guide the ‘small self’ here on earth.
You might as well want to call it soul.
If you want to increase your engagement with the beauty of the world and not dwell in the negative, sad aspects of humanity (more than necessary), a good idea is to try to capture that very beauty in your art. The classical approach of this would obviously lead to a Renaissance-type painting with realistic portrayals of people, places, and nature. But this doesn’t have to be the goal. The channel for creation is big, infinite, in fact, and you can allow yourself to create all kinds of things through all kinds of mediums.
I like to combine elements. Not restricting the process to one medium or, for instance, one type of pencil allows me to get into a flow state easier and additionally brings the benefit of interconnected creativity. Seeing connections between nodes that might not be intended to be connected doesn’t only make the process much more joyful but also enhances those very nodes. Seemingly small, uninteresting aspects of artwork now become large and interesting, drawing in your focus more than they did in the beginning. This can lead to a more detailed way of working, or it can lead to you coming up with an entirely new idea that may feel superior to the previous one you followed.
Go in as many directions as you like, but be aware not to overwhelm your sensitive artist’s heart.
Associative Potential — The Association Chain of Attention Deficit
To suffer from a lack of focus doesn’t mean to suffer from a lack of focus. Being lost in thought can actually open up the doors to expansively creative, fantastical worlds, made possible through the initiation of association chains: The power of the creative mind lies in its associative potential.
For example: Have you ever read a book and one page in, you already drifted off, catapulting your attention into realms beyond? And did you find yourself automatically, as if pulled away by some higher force, creating scenarios in your head that not only the best writer would be unable to describe, but also that felt extremely, supremely real to you?
Well, chances are that you are gifted with explosive creativity. This can be overwhelming because it cannot be controlled. But this is more a good than a bad trait of creativity: You don’t want to control it. Why? Because if it was controlled, the potential for creating links between elements would inevitably be hindered. And this, in turn, would create a box, framing your imagination in one category or one genre…
What you do want is to be able to transpose that explosive creativity. And how can we achieve that? Simple: Ask yourself, what medium is the best, meaning: the most appropriate, most fitting, for the things that are going on in my head? Now, don’t become entitled, and don’t be pretentious about this. Regard it as a simple brainstorming session — there are no inherently right or wrong answers.
But there is an intuitive knowingness attached to the answers. You will know which medium and which style of working is right for the project of your choice.
And if not, then it is time to experiment.