5 Habits to Increase your Creative Side

I've been there, stuck staring at my computer asking myself, "what am I supposed to write about or create?'"

Have you been there too?

Creative work can be challenging, and many people lack confidence in their own abilities. Being unsure, anxious, or defeatist about your creative potential is common and can become a self-fulfilling prophecy that hinders your performance.

Creative self-efficacy is the internal belief that you have the ability to complete creative tasks effectively. If you can learn to leave behind the fixed mindset of “I am not a creative person”, you will be able to make more room for personal growth and unlock a bucket of ideas through exploration.

Believing in your creative potential

The concept of self-efficacy originated from Dr. Albert Bandura, who closely studied the relationship between performance and belief in oneself. He noted that those who had a sense of strong efficacy or believed in themselves were able to approach the challenging task with determination to succeed.

People with high self-efficacy tend to set goals, become deeply engrossed in the task, and continue their efforts despite difficulties or setbacks. Rather than feeling threatened by a challenge, they approach it with the confidence that they are in control and will eventually master the task.

Conversely, Bandura noticed that those who tend to back away from difficult tasks do so because of self-doubt and a fear of failure. With little determination to succeed, they are more likely to dwell on their perceived weaknesses. For people with low self-efficacy, this results in abandoning tasks, resulting in a lack of self-confidence.

In short, believing in yourself isn't easy ...and sometimes takes years to accomplish. If we work on self-improvement every day, the greater our own creativity can flourish and grow. So, how do learn to grow our self-confidence to lead to self-efficacy?

How to cultivate creative self-efficacy

Learning how to believe in your own creative ability is as important, if not more so, than developing your creative skills. While it is important to practice and explore new creative skills, cultivating creative self-efficacy can have a great influence on your creativity. Here 5 tips to start cultivating your creative self-efficacy.

1. Develop a creative network.?By building a strong professional network of people who are driven to produce excellent creative work, you can start imitating part of their creative self-efficacy to increase your own. Remember that creativity is not restricted to the arts. There is creativity in everything we do, watch how your peers present, and deliver projects or create their work. Once you start observing and learning you can start emulating some of these patterns.

2. Get creative support.?Identify people whose creative efforts are often successful, and ask whether you can work under their guidance. This could be a quick?brainstorming session, a creative review, or just sharing some helpful resources. Support should go both ways: consider whether there is scope to offer others some of your time to help with their creative growth.

3. Take time for yourself: Creativity comes from spending time with yourself and others. You get ideas from going to events and stepping away from your computer or tablet. Take time to yourself, walk outside, and enjoy life. Your creative ideas will start flowing.

4. Build upon your current content: I watch for what people enjoy but also what I enjoy. If I can't produce content that doesn't motivate me (like this article) then the material isn't going to be to the impact level I would want for my audience. Recycle your content and play with it, this might take some time but it will help you in the long run!

5. Have more conversations: If I hadn't spoken to so many people through my journey as a content creator, many of these ideas wouldn't have surfaced and been spoken on. I get my ideas from people, and simple conversations or questions they may have. Connect with others more, join groups and see what conversations inspire you!

Remember that your creativity is more closely linked to creative self-efficacy than to your actual creative competence. Cultivating creative self-efficacy can help you feel more motivated, and productive, and can be an opportunity to build a strong professional network. Lastly, you are not alone-bring others on your journey, and let those creative ideas flow!