“…the place you choose to do what you do has an impact on you.
More people get engaged in Paris in the springtime than on the 7 train in Queens. They just do. Something in the air, I guess.” -Seth Godin
(full article HERE).
Creativity, in my experience, is often directly related to my environment. I’m more likely to receive revelatory impressions out on a bike ride through the country with no headphones, than I am sitting in a noisy room with radio/t.v./kids screaming, etc.
I can’t cycle into the country whenever I feel like being inspired, and oft times I’m demanding the inspiration come while sitting in front of the computer. Nonetheless, I can make small changes to my environment to be more inviting to creative thought.
Habitually, I would clean my room before I would sit down to compose music. Having order in the space I created allowed me to fill more in control of life, and thus more calmly able to focus on creating. I do the same everyday in my own office before tackling my writing, journaling or even editing of images.
I also happen to need complete silence. No music playing, No interruptions, and no other people around. Thus… most of the creative work happens in the early morning hours when those things are more likely to be in place.
David Du Chemin remarks on the importance of knowing what environmental conditions we need in order to be at our most productive, ” Whatever conditions work best for you it’s good to be conscious of them. It’s also good to try not to allow your creativity to be defined by them. Discovering why you work more creatively in a certain space will allow you to harness your creativity in broader and broader spaces.”
What kind of space helps you to be creative? Please share!
Brooke Snow is a Lifestyle photographer in Cache Valley, Utah. Her favorite time of day is between 6-8 a.m. Meditation, journaling, planning the day, greeting a wild monkey toddler in the morning and delving into a fabulous homemade breakfast by the best husband ever. Magical. And it happens every day! Awesome. Life can’t get any better.
Brooke teaches private photography lessons , online photography classes, as well as seasonal photography classes in Logan, Utah.
6 Responses
Oh i want to be one of those people like YOU who loves the morning but I am just NOT a morning person. I find that it totally varies for the time of day and has more to do with my mood and the situation around me. I need to be free of my kids, I need to be awake and alert and I need to be happy. Those make up my most creative time but as for space – outside makes me feel creative too. (And actually museums too)
I am most creative when I have a flexible schedule, or at least my own schedule. The days that I am most creative are the ones with nothing on my calendar.
I’m with you on the “no music” thing, and the cleaning your workspace before editing, and the bike rides, and the screaming kid… I guess I’ll just say ditto. I miss the practice rooms at BYU sometimes, especially late at night or early morning, they were so quiet and peaceful.
the great thing about practice rooms was that there was absolutely nothing to distract you…I had forgotten about that. I sure got a lot more done in those rooms 🙂 Granted, it was also the bane of my existence at times, but it did great for forcing me to focus 😉
How ironic! I’m reading this at 3:40 AM because I can’t sleep due to my house being a mess from being neglected all week. It goes both ways for me- I can’t work or sleep in a messy environment. Oh how I crave order! If you can achieve it, I guess there is hope for me. Or do you secretly outsource your cleaning and laundry? -lol.
Oh Tori 🙂 You’re so funny! I always love your comments! My secrets for cleaning and laundry? I have been on a dejunking rampage. My house isn’t usually that messy simply because I have trashed everything not useful. My son has very few toys and if he gets a new one we give an old one away. I try not to acquire without giving out. Its made my life so much easier. Less mess because there is less “stuff”. Laundry… I don’t fold it anymore. I just stuff it in drawers. My toddler pulls everything out of drawers sometime through the day anyway, so why take the time to fold it the first time? I do fold me and Ben’s clothes, but everything else is tossed into drawers. Folding laundry takes five minutes. Its super great 🙂