Creative
Companion
Companion
That’s it for today.
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Come back tomorrow for three more!
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Insight doesn’t arrive when you force it. It comes because you set the right conditions and then get out of the way.
You might just need to stop trying so hard.
How are you protecting your creative energy from the gravity of productivity?
Make sure you have a secret creative life.
Once you become a "creative professional," the thing you love starts dying of exposure. It's like dragging a wild animal into a conference room and asking it to do tricks for clients.
Work in forms you're bad at, regularly. Remind yourself that it's about play, not prowess.
What’s something you used to make before you knew better that you secretly miss? Why the hell aren’t you making it?
There is a quiet, feral thing you left behind when you grew up and got "good at other things." Go and find it again.
Stop telling yourself you’re too busy, or it’s not “useful,” or you’re “out of practice.” It's bullshit.
Set yourself a ridiculously small, “unserious” creative challenge for a month. No matter how garbage you think it is!
Remember the things that asked nothing of you except that you show up.
You are what your choose to become.
Are you creating new possibilities or efficiently executing within established boundaries?
Can you remember who you were before you traded your creative soul for relevance.
When did you stop being so audacious?
Where have you placed your creative audacity?
You're not being audacious enough!
Turbulence isn’t a phase. It’s the climate now. And your job, my job, is to learn how to fly in chop.
guard some energy and defend a piece of your creative ground. Your sanity might depend on it!
If you're at the mercy of other peoples chaos you'll lose track of your own rhythm. Create space for the work that makes you feel less like a cog and more like you're alive.
You’ve not lost your creative drive — but maybe you’ve outgrown your medium?
If an idea keeps whispering in the background, let it linger. Don’t name it yet. Let it stay wild a bit longer. You don’t have to know what it is. You just have to keep poking it.
Draw the shape of your mood with your weak hand. Abstract. Stupid. Accurate. Do it fast. See what shows up.
Next time you’re stuck, ask: “What does this feel like?” Not what it is—what it feels like. Trust that.
Work in a different location, with a different tool, on the same idea. See what snaps. Routine, rupture, repeat. That’s how new grooves get carved.
You don’t need to transcend discomfort, just befriend it. Sit with the resistance, and make something anyway.
Take a walk with a question. No podcasts or music. Let your brain chew. Reflection isn’t a break from doing—it is doing.
Drop the goal. Follow what’s easy, curious, or oddly compelling today. See where it goes.
Make something before you justify it. Let the work explain you, not the other way around.
Sartre said existence precedes essence. Translation? Just start. Meaning shows up after.
Be Rocky. Not in the ring—on the stairs. The real win isn’t the punch. It’s the training montage.
One spark is enough to start the fire. You don’t need to see the whole plan. Just the next flicker of interest. Follow that.
Creativity is a muscle, not a mood. And you’ve already shown up. Which is 90% more than most.
You’re already doing the hard part: caring. Most people stop. You aren't stopping. That’s momentum. That’s rare.
Every blank page is secretly a dare. It’s not mocking you—it’s waiting for you to punch first.
Curiosity isn’t a trait—it’s a habit. The more you train it, the stronger it grows. Pick one thing today you don’t understand, and follow the thread until it surprises you.
Have a think about who you are working with. It is just as important as the work itself.
Mastery comes from balancing deep work with spontaneous imagination. Your default mode network helps spark creative breakthroughs. Give yourself room to daydream.
Inspiration thrives in the in-between moments. In pauses. In doing something else entirely. Create the space for that.
Inspiration tends to show up when there’s novelty involved. What inputs are you choosing to make this happen?
Inspiration isn’t one tidy part of the brain lighting up. It’s a messy, thrilling, cross-network rave involving memory, emotion, novelty detection, and creative recombination. How can you employ this?
The dance between your chaotic subconscious brainstorm and your uptight internal editor is what turns raw inspiration into something vaguely coherent. Dance more.
We get inspiration the same way plants get sunlight—by sticking their heads out of the muck and hoping for the best.
Steal like a raccoon. The best inspiration often begins with someone else’s trash.
Want to be inspired? Start by not trying so hard to be inspired. Get curious. Pay attention. Get bored enough that your brain starts inventing things to stay entertained.
Can you give less of a damn about coherence or polish. You are free to wander. Follow your stranger impulses.
Have a think about whether you are creating or just producing. Know the difference.
You need a creative space with no scoreboard. No comments. Not for sale. What is that for you?
Some of the best stuff you make is allowed to live in a folder no one will ever see.
You can’t outsource noticing. That’s your edge. That’s the skill. That’s the entire damn job.
You’re not bored. You’re being called elsewhere. Get curious and play.
What happens if you stop thinking of your thing as a service and start treating it as a language again?
Make your thing and resist the urge to explain yourself. Explanation is often just fear — a tidy excuse for why you didn’t trust your instincts.
You don’t owe anyone an explanation. Make your thing. If it’s honest, it’ll say more than your pitch ever could.
Name the thing you're resisting and make something lopsided anyway.
It’s alright to start something and abandon it. You can steal from it later.
Most of what I start is scrappy. But the ones I finish—I only got there by letting them be that first.
Do amazing scary things. Especially the ones that don’t guarantee applause.
Make something that embarrasses the future version of you. That’s how you know it’s honest.
Tape a googly eye to your self-doubt. Now it’s a character. Now you can work.
Speak your idea out loud in a fake accent. If it survives that, it’s worth keeping.
Good creative work is like a message in a bottle—you might never see where it lands, but send it anyway.
Do work that can walk on without you. That’s optimism at its bravest.
You already know what isn’t worth it. Now act like you know.
Failure is inevitable. Fear is optional. Only one will keep you from making the thing.
Work with people who care. Their words match their actions.
Every time you make something, write down why it exists, what it’s saying, what it’s fighting against, what it could mean to someone.
The future belongs to creative direction over production, to curation over creation, to clarity over complexity.
Execution is table stakes. The new valuable skill is being the person who can connect the dots.
You don’t have to be a performance artist who bathes in lentils for 12 hours. But you do need something that’s unmistakably yours.
Making things IS the point.
Write your next idea backwards — not metaphorically. Literally. Start with the ending and unravel your way back to the start.
Reply to one boring work message in the tone of a pirate captain!
Narrate your day (if only in your head) in the voice of David Attenborough.
It doesn't need to be useful, or scalable, or even good. It just needs to be honest. And alive.
What is your drive underneath the job title?
You’re not crazy for wanting to do this your own way.
How are things between you and... you these days?
Why don't you let the sun shine in?
If you don’t know what the rules are and you have a go you might be surprised with the results!
Go forth and create something that doesn’t make people roll their eyes.
What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to dive into, just for you? Let's go!
Can you turn curiosity into play, play into practice, and practice into passion?
What would you pursue even without praise, money, or recognition?
Write all your emails and messages today in the style of your pet.
If you want to believe in your creative ability → Create daily.
You are an experimenter. Every attempt refines your skills.
Can you see what’s in front of you and enthusiastically meet the challenge?
No one prospers without rendering benefit to others.
Can you notice the difference in your thinking based on where you are?
Have you noticed a difference in how creative you feel based on your physical environment? Leverage that!
What's the current space you're working in like? It isn’t just a backdrop—it’s an active part of your creative process.
Your environment is a creative tool. Can you tweak your perception of space to unlock creative thinking anywhere?
What environmental cues are influencing how you think?
Preparation → Incubation → Illumination → Execution
Move. Play. Do something silly. Trick your brain into action.
Don't overthink it.
There’s this expectation that creatives should be “passionate” enough to work late and accept the burnout. That mindset is outdated and toxic.
You don’t need permission to create. ✨ You don’t have to be perfect. ✨ You already have what you need—you just have to start.
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