The Creative Habit

This year, am re-reading one of my favorite books, The Creative Habit, written by the great choreographer Twyla Tharp. From practical guidance to philosophical reflections, this book has it all. And it applies to every reader, whether he is a painter, a doctor, a musician, a lawyer, or a candlestick maker. One of the themes of the book is

that to excel, you must have a combination of passion and skill. Only work, work, work will help you reach your creative goals. 

Tharp writes, "If art is the bridge between what you see in your mind and what the world sees, then skill is how you build that bridge." She points out that Mozart had to practice his scales before he could write the great symphonies. With this notion, Tharp is on the same page as Malcom Gladwell, who wrote in his popular book Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. That's a lot of hours.

But skill alone is not enough. Tharp notes that "Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft, Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life."

So what about some practical tips for unleashing your passion, and developing your skill? One idea that has stuck with me from The Creative Habit is the importance of rituals. In Tharp's book, a ritual is a pattern of behavior that becomes so routine as to be "automatic", and yet constitutes something very "decisive". She writes that rituals are especially crucial at the beginning of the creative process. Beginning is the point of greatest peril--the moment at which you are most likely to chicken out, or turn back, or go in the wrong direction. The ritual serves as a reminder that you are on the right path ("I've done this before. It was good. I'll do it again."). It wipes out procrastination, and jump starts the creative process.

Tharp describes "triggering rituals", which make the actions to follow feel comfortable and routine. Used at the beginning of the creative process, these triggering rituals start the creative juices flowing. They increase confidence, and reduce distraction. For some people, the ritual may be turning on a certain type of music. For others, it may be lighting a candle. Or cleaning your tools. For some painters, the simple act of squeezing out fresh new pigments in a preordained pattern on the palette is a triggering ritual.

Tharp says that faithful use of a start-up ritual has a guaranteed outcome. She even goes so far as to call it Pavlovian: "Follow the routine, get a creative payoff." Tharp makes it sound as if the routine yields the desired payoff as surely as night follows day. I think she may be onto something. So......here's to a New Year's resolution to cultivate routines that pave the way to creativity!