Thursday, November 26, 2009

Health

The habits of highly creative people

By Linda Kulman
Posted 10/5/03
Page 2 of 2

But your book extols the value of habits.

Look, you can't let yourself get locked into your own rituals. You build them to serve you, not to serve them. So when they're being useful and they're moving you along and they're not boring you, they're good. When none of that is true, then you need to make some alterations.

You don't mention the terror of creating.

I see no point in reinforcing that. The choreographer Frederick Ashton did over 100 pieces. Every time he went in to start a new piece, it was a given that he was going to throw up all morning. And we all have that equivalent. "No, I can't do this, and I'm not good enough, and I'm a total failure." But those are indulgences. Do the best you can do. And be there because you know that it's good for you to be there. Either you do what you do very well, or it does something for you such as giving you solace, giving you a companion, giving you a place to practice being yourself.

Why does being creative matter?

So that you walk out the door believing in yourself a little bit more. So you believe that in any given day you've made more of it than it might otherwise have been. So that you do not take things for granted. Creativity, ultimately, is a way of saying thank you.

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