Build Up - An Understated Fuel for Creativity!

For someone who has read my article on procrastination, this piece might seem like a contradiction but let me explain. In the article on procrastination, I mentioned about getting the ‘unwanted’ but ‘necessary’ tasks done without further delay.

However, here I talk about the activities that we really enjoy doing but push forward either because we are short on time, energy, patience and sometimes creativity. We delay performing it because we are either experiencing a burnout or just cannot accommodate it in our current schedules. It is often frustrating, overwhelming and leaves us feeling unaccomplished and unsatisfied.

I guess that’s the time where things really start changing. When you take a break (planned or unplanned; intended or unintended), there is a sort of build-up that starts taking place within your system. You are technically taking no action (I would like to call it being ‘dormant’) but your brain is constantly, subconsciously working on something. This goes on for a significant amount of time before you finally reach a tipping point where the creative juices just start flowing. Does this sound familiar?

Personally, as a performing artist and a writer myself, I experience this more times than I would like it. But I somehow find my way around it and the outcome is rewarding. The build-up is in fact a great factor in pushing me to perform to the best of my capabilities and sometimes even beyond my expectations.

I tried decoding this and here’s what I infer from my experience:

1.    This “build-up thing” really works only for projects that have your heart:

And I am not talking about the examinations you studied for the night before and topped. I am talking strictly about areas where creativity is involved (and we all know that there’s absolutely no creativity when it comes to mugging up textbooks after textbooks for a 3 hour paper). This includes activities that you thoroughly enjoy, that make you lose track of time, transport you to another universe and really make you happy. Without exaggerating even a little, let me tell you as a dancer, any creative experience following a build-up leaves me in happy tears. It’s a surreal experience and a high no substance can ever help you achieve. I am sure fellow artists can relate to listening to a piece of music, and immediately, desperately wanting to come up with an amazing choreography. But failing during the first, second, nth attempt only to randomly, out of the blue come up with something of the highest quality. That is exactly what build up does, it pushes you to explore the deepest of your potentials.

2.    You blink, you miss

Nope, I am not asking you to NOT take a break, as we I discuss earlier, I am just hinting that being aware helps. When you are aware you can pick up signals that suggest you are ready to try again, that something unique and extraordinary is finally taking shape. If you are unaware and just going about the routine mindlessly, you are more likely to miss the signals and convert a great opportunity to NOTHING that leads to more frustration but no outcome. It could in fact promote complacency and complete throw one off track.

3.    Stay in touch:

As mentioned earlier, to continue being aware, one needs to stay in touch. Completely shutting the train of thought just throws your favorite activity out of your priority list and leaves you unhappy. What I personally do is, once in 3 days, I causally go back to that music piece or that incomplete article, listen or read the current version and start working on it. Sometimes I am successful, sometimes I am not. But staying in touch really helps you stay in control of the situation rather than feeling sorry later.

So, try these three things out the next time you experience a creativity block and let me know if this helped you. Do not forget to share this with friends you think might benefit from this. Happy Reading!

Also, thank you all once again for reading, sharing your valuable feedback and for being my biggest motivation to be consistent at writing.