Sometimes it feels great, like dozens of ideas are knocking at your mind’s door, waiting to be sent on a mission.
Other days, you want to quit. Or bang your head against a wall. Or do both while you cry, watch chick flicks, and eat gallons of chocolate ice cream.
Blogging every day has taught me many lessons. First off, I don’t really like chocolate ice cream or chick flicks all that much. Second, habits are the key to success in life.
If you were to tell me five years ago that I would now be married, blog every day, be a full-time pastor, write songs for my church, exercise, and have time to walk the dog, I’d probably bang your head against a wall.
Most of us complain about not having enough time. The truth is, we have enough time to do whatever we want, but we’re not willing to make the sacrifices to do it. Click this link: https://www.wired.com/tag/creativity/ if you want to know more!
Creativity Lessons from Blogging Every Day
Like I said, the discipline of blogging every day has taught me many lessons. Here are five habits that blogging has taught me about creativity:
Don’t underestimate the importance of a morning routine
Creative people can struggle to get things done. In order to put in the time necessary for my blog, I’ve had to wake up early. Like, 5 a.m. early. This has done more for me than improve my blogging.
The early morning hours seem to be the most productive for me and in Jon Acuff lingo, I “hustle” on my dream before the demands of the day drown it out.
I also love how Tim Sanders describes the need to feed your mind a good “breakfast.” During these early hours I write, read, and pray, setting the course for my day.
There’s more inside of you than you think
Sometimes people will ask me how I keep coming up with solid material to write. To be honest, the more you write, the more creative you become.
As long as you’re writing on something your passionate about, you’ll keep taking your writing to a new level the more you do it.
You’ll see things from a new perspective the more you do it. So, believe me when I say, there is more inside of you than you think. There are years of creativity in you that will only get deeper and more beautiful over time.
See every moment as an opportunity to learn
I used to just live — sort of let life happen while I had a good time.
But when you blog every day, it forces you to look for inspiration everywhere. Every conversation, every movie, every song, every walk, every book, every meal you eat.
The list continues. Learn everywhere and keep track of all your ideas.
Don’t fear criticism
I used to fear publishing because I was afraid of the negative reaction people would have. Or not having a reaction at all. I feared that people would hate me, think I’m too young, shallow, deep, naive, arrogant, uninformed, or simple.
As a creative, you can’t allow criticism to control you. Otherwise, your ideas will stay in your head. Blogging has taught me this: don’t fear criticism. Just keep creating.
Don’t waste time
If you blog every day, you’ll have to sacrifice good things for great things.
I don’t watch much TV because there’s usually a blog post that needs drafted, an idea that needs developed, something that needs shipped. I love this, because it trades mindless entertainment for vision.
I’m able to make a difference in other people’s lives through my writing. That keeps me going.
So there it is. That’s why I think you should write every day. Go do it. We are awaiting your brilliance.
Fitness
There are probably lots of great resources for men, and I apologize that I have to put my focus on the next two blogs on women, but as a woman, I find it important to stress that our lifestyles and habits might differ from the men in our lives. Which is good, because the differences spice up our lives.
Whitney was a game-changer for me, and what I like about her the most is the creativity she proves when making workouts. There is always something new on her channel. She was the one who ushered me into a fitness journey as a creative and is still with me all the way.
I’m an absolute fan of her workouts, and they DO work, if you work hard.
This is another blog for women, and I’ll talk some “girly” issues here, so men, feel free to skip to the next one.
I just love this blog because it gives me courage as a woman.
It never takes more than five minutes of my day to skip through the beautiful photos, read a little of the post. But every time I find myself lost in those five minutes, I realize that I’m filled with hope.
There are beauty and bravery to it, a hope that family life can be amazing, adventurous, filled with happiness, ease, and love.
Just open the blog, the very first post. Have a look at the photos. You’ll catch yourself smiling involuntarily. You’ll fall in love with it.
What this blog does for me, is, it makes me want a family. It makes me want to throw away the fears and prejudices of being pregnant or being a mom. When I look at Amber, I am thrilled to have kids.
Sure, I’m aware that life’s not always how we see it in those pictures. There are problems. But this is not what it’s about. It’s about the fact that those happy moments outweigh the hardships because they are so precious and worth every bit of my time and investment.
Having mentors and role models on the internet is important. That’s the beauty of the world we have nowadays: the endless connections we can make with people around the world. But this can and should never replace personal face-to-face encounters and relationships with people whose lives we can actually witness.
Because as we see them living their everyday lives we can witness firsthand how they live what they teach. Personal conversations and exchange of ideas make us grow. Even more do projects we can passionately work on together.
Walter is one of the people in my personal environment who inspires and mentors me.