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Building a Consistent Creative Habit · The Daily Writer

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, welcome to episode 116 of the Born to Create podcast.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Kent Sanders, and this is the show where we explore the mindset, habits, and skills to help you make a bigger impact in your life and creative work.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're in the middle of a series where I'm answering some listener questions, and my friend Craig Harmon sent in a really great question today.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, Craig has a great website called Church Music Makers.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can find it at churchmusicmakers.com.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Craig's a musician and a really fantastic writer.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: He has tons of great articles and resources for church musicians at his website, so make sure and check that out.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So Craig asks this question How do I build or rebuild habits that keep me consistent and being creative?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Craig, that's a fantastic question, and I think the place to start is by defining what you mean by being creative.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Many times, at least with me, I talk about being creative without being really specific.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the place to begin is by getting really specific on what we want to accomplish creatively speaking.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So for example, I know that you're a musician, so let's put it in musical terms.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say you want to write a certain piece of music by a certain date.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Here are several thoughts for making it happen in a concrete way and for getting it done.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And as I go through these, by the way, these are five or six things I've got listed here that I'll go through briefly.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: These apply to any type of creative work.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just using music here as one specific example.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is get clear on your vision or your goal for the project.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: For example, you can't just say, I want to write some music sometime this year.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, it needs to be I want to write this specific piece of music, whatever that piece of music is, this song or a cantata or um you know a collection of songs or whatever it is by a certain date.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: So get really clear on your vision or your goal for the project.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, establish a time and a place to create.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's morning, afternoon, evening, some specific block of time, like 90 minutes, three times a week, or whatever works for your schedule, but also have a place to create.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: That could be at your kitchen table, it could be a church office, it could be at a coffee shop, could be in your car, you know, wherever it is, it doesn't matter.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Just pick a time and a place that works for you and your schedule and be consistent with it.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, put it on your calendar.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I can I can tell you that a place that I get really tripped up a lot is having plans and goals for my week that I want to accomplish, things that I want to get done, but I don't put them on my calendar and therefore they almost always get pushed aside whenever they're not on my calendar.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So a really helpful thing that you can do is just block out literally on your calendar, this is my time to create.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that way, if someone says, hey, can you do this or can you have a meeting here or you know, can I ask for this appointment during that time, then you can legitimately say no, I'm not available during that time.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of a little trick that I use a lot, honestly, is I put things on my calendar when there are times that I'm gonna be creating and working on things that are important to me.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that way I can say it legitimately without lying that no, I'm not available during this time.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't put it on your calendar, then that time is gonna be vulnerable to other people's expectations and the things that they want from you.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: So put it on your calendar and and that way you can legitimately say your time is not available then.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, decide what you're going to say no to.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now for me this might mean I'm gonna say no to watching you know a certain number of movies for a certain amount of time, or I'm gonna say no to some other kind of activity that takes up my time that I can legitimately get rid of.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: The reality is that we only have so much time.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: So decide in advance you're gonna say no to certain things so that you can make room in your schedule to create.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, have an accountability partner.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: This could be a friend, it could be someone in a Facebook group or in a mastermind group, or could be your spouse.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you have a relationship like that where you want to hold each other accountable for those things, sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um it could just be somebody maybe at your church or in your ministry, whatever it is, it's really helpful to have an accountability partner who's gonna be checking in with you on a regular basis.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then number, see, where are we?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: That was five.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, and finally, give yourself a reward for getting it done.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is really, really important.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, I'm going to watch this Netflix series, or I'm gonna buy this certain book, or I'm gonna buy myself a watch, or treat myself to a concert, or whatever, whatever it is that's meaningful to you.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be something big and fancy.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: But those are six things that really help me to set and to reach goals that are important to me.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I would also recommend that you check out the excellent book called Atomic Habits by the author James Clear.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a thick book, but man, it's such a good book.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's by far the best book on habit building that I've ever read, and it's really helped me a lot as well.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Craig, thanks so much for this question.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: You have hit on a topic that is important to every creative out there, or at least it should be.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So pick two or three of these strategies and let me know how it goes.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'd really be curious to see if any of these are helpful.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, friends, those are my thoughts, but I'd love to hear what you think about this episode.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can do that in a couple different ways.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can go to KentSanders.net slash 116, or you can leave a comment and let me know what you think, or you can also leave some tips for building habits that maybe I haven't mentioned there.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear about those.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: But you can also go to Apple Podcasts and leave a rating and a review for the show.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'd really appreciate that because those ratings and reviews help the show to get discovered by other people who would also enjoy it.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hey friends, until next time, remember that you were born to create and designed to make a difference.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you on the next episode.