The creative process is an excellent teacher. The learning you gain through it is authentic, deep and realistic. When you decide to create something, you do a deep dive into the subject to understand it better. The content you create emerges from your in-depth understanding.
In the next step you articulate the understanding in your mind into words and sentences, videos, or shapes in an image, further deepening the learning.
This is the process of moving from intangible thoughts in your head to a tangible creation. It’s a difficult and painful process. But remember the pain is due to the mind expanding and breaking boundaries – there is simultaneous construction and destruction happening within your mind, and only then is a new creation born. Exactly how a woman delivers a child after undergoing pain for a long time.
Don’t let the pain make you give up. Persist through it, because the end result is worth it.
I will share one tip that I have found very useful for creating content. The process of creation has 2 stages – 1) Divergence 2) Convergence.
Divergence is the stage when you let the floodgates of thoughts and ideas open.
You allow your mind to be flooded with the raw material for your creation. You read, learn, observe and absorb everything that is even remotely connected with your creation.
You pour out all this raw material onto a paper, canvas, video or any other container for your creation. This is your first draft. It welcomes and accepts incomplete sentences, single and isolated words, incoherent paragraphs, one piece of the image, one video shot of the story in your mind. At this stage, don’t hold yourself back, let it all flow.
Convergence is the second stage. After pouring out the raw material into your container, it all starts churning, and the subconscious mind starts its magic. It starts forming complete sentences, coherent images and a full story. Everything starts falling in place. There is a theme, structure and a meaningful shape starts to emerge. The human mind seeks completion and closure, so it will not let the raw material sit idle. It will knead, weave, break and join this raw material until it transforms into a beautiful creation.
This is the time you edit. Every deletion is a filtration towards clarity. Every addition is an embellishment of your creation.
You have to give some time to the subconscious mind to incubate the raw material. Overnight or 2 days works for me. Find out what works for you. This is a circular process, it keeps happening over time. Your job is to feed enough raw material to your mind.
The creative process is an adventure. You will surprise yourself when you immerse yourself into it. The mind will reveal mysteries, spin magic and take you on an unforgettable ride.
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