The myth of maintaining a creative streak
What if "not breaking the chain" was never the point?
I’ve been thinking about creative streaks recently. Which isn’t surprising, considering I’m on a 71 day streak of daily art journaling. As someone who has never had a streak that’s lasted longer than roughly 12 days, this is HUGE.
There have been a few days here and there when I haven’t felt like painting, but the idea of a 100 day streak has captured my imagination and propelled me to the painty table even on the days when it feels like my muses have left the building.
What I’ve found on those days is that while it may take some time to get my creative juices flowing, flow they always do. The resistance has rarely been to the act of creating, but to the fears that have been floating around in my head, something that I explored more deeply here.
I’ve also been thinking about our — my? — focus on maintaining the streak. Popularized by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, streaks have been touted as a “productivity hack”, the “secret” to achieving goals, to becoming fitter, richer, wiser.
And while consistency is important, I’m not convinced that “don’t break the chain” is the best advice out there.
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As artists, we are all familiar with creative fallow periods, those times when very little seems to happen in terms of tangible or visible creative output, but a lot percolates within.
They’re quite similar to fallow periods in farming — the time, usually between the autumn harvest and the spring planting, when fields are left bare and allowed to rest. Sometimes, farmers allow a field to lay fallow for a year, and while those fields may not be productive, that rest regenerates the soil and leads to better crops in the coming years.
Creative fallow periods are also regenerative and, I wonder, if we are so focused on maintaining a creative streak, where is the time for creative restoration?
When we focus on maintaining unbroken streaks, on turning our creativity into a race to productivity, we don’t give our minds the opportunity to wander, to wonder what if, to dabble with different interests, to go down shiny new rabbit holes.
That wondering and wandering is important for creativity to thrive and flourish. It’s the filling of the cauldron. The hunt for interesting ingredients that can be thrown together to make a satisfying meal. That happens when we are less focused, say, on making roast chicken for dinner and become curious about what’s in the pantry as we figure out what we can throw together with the ingredients that we have on hand.
But if you’re focused on maintaining an unbroken streak, where’s the time to go foraging for ideas? For inspiration? For new threads to explore? For experiments with different mediums and how they mix together?
I think, in creative practice, the only streak that matters is that you do something creative every day.
In my case, that doesn’t have to be to painting or art journaling every day. Something creative is a more expansive idea. It encompasses the fallow time — the time you spend filling the creative well, looking for inspiration, following a thread of curiosity, even dabbling in a different creative pursuit for a while because it caught your attention.
Because that something creative can spark a new series of paintings or infuse a freshness in your process that may have been lacking. It can lead you down the path to a new hobby, open up a new vista that you hadn’t thought you would find. And that is what true creativity is all about. That sense of expansiveness. Of keeping the wonder alive. Not marking off dates on a calendar to create an unbroken chain.
And yes, I realize the contradiction between this position and my desire to have an unbroken streak of 100 days of art journaling. What is important, I think, is to learn how to discern when I am dealing with resistance, and when I need a bit of a creative reset. But that is, perhaps, a post for another time.
Let’s chat
I love chatting with you in the comments or via e-mail. Here are a few questions to help us get the conversation rolling:
What is your position on creative streaks? Do you think they’re important for your growth and development as an artist/creative?
Does the idea of creative fallow time strike a chord with you?
Can you discern between resistance to your creative practice and the times when you may just need a bit of a break?
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