MI N I MI SE C RE ATIV E BL OC K

AN D G R OW A S A C RE ATIV E

W W W. M A D E B Y J A M E S . C O

 HEY TEAM

LET’S DO THIS SHIT

I thought i would rustle up this little document about
creative growth, and how to avoid creative block.

I truly believe by implementing some of these things

you will seriously increase your productivity and
almost never struggle with idea generation.

Hope is helps.

M A D E B Y J A M E S

OVERVIEW

1 HABITS AND ROUTINES

2 MINDSET MATTERS

3 CREATIVE GROWTH

M A D E B Y J A M E S
HABITS AND ROUTINE
This is truly the one things i wish i had learnt way earlier Here is a breakdown of my day
than i did. I used to think “i’m a free, and awesome
creative and i work how and when i want” this quickly got
me into a lot of poop mentally and actually created a 6:00am - wake up
n e g a t i v e i m p a c t o n m y p r o d u c t i v i t y. I w o u l d d r a w i n t o t h e
e a r l y h o u r s o f t h e m o r n i n g , p u l l a l l n i g h t e r s o n t h e r e g u l a r, 6:30am - Read
just to get stuff done. Now i’m not saying that this is
wrong, not at all, as i know circumstances and life in 7:30am - walk dog
general sometimes knock us off our plans, but on the
whole i have personally become a much more effective 8:30am - head to office and start work
designer by sticking to good habits and a solid working
routine 6:00pm - leave the office
10:30pm - go to bed
N o w d o n ’ t g o a n d t u r n y o u r l i f e u p s i d e d o w n t o m o r r o w, a s
with anything you have to implement changes slowly to
make them successful. Maybe start with changing one thing
and go from there. Tidy your desk when you finish work so
its ready for the morning, before you start work in the
morning maybe read for 30 mins. Adding tiny positive
details to your day will overtime help you to be more
relaxed and therefore more productive… we are creatures
of habit, so make them good ones

www.madebyjames.co
.

MINDSET MATTERS
The biggest killer of creativity is in our lack of ability to
deal with our inner voices
I’m not sure if that makes any sense but it kind of does to
me. We are our own worst enemy when it comes to self
doubt and other negative emotions that a lot of us
creatives tend to have swirling around in our brains… any
of these sound familiar
Am i good enough?
They are better than me?
why am i so rubbish compared to them?
In all honesty i don’t feel that any of these thoughts ever
truly leave you as a creative, whether you have been doing
it for 2 weeks or 20 years, i think what you learn to do is
deal with them a lot better… also the older you get the
less of a monkeys you tend to give about what others
think, in a positive way obviously
Creativity is not a competition, comparing yourself to other
designers is not good for the brain. We are all on different
journeys and moving at different speeds, and you know
what… that is ok. Remember why you started on this
wonderful creative adventure and enjoy the process of
getting better every day

www.madebyjames.co
?

 CREATIVE GROWTH
We have all been there… “No i don’t want to share my work
because its not perfect” or “i don’t want to share my work
because i don’t think it’s good enough”… this is going to
be tough for you to hear but your perfectionism is actually
stopping you from becoming a fantastic designer with an
e p i c c a r e e r. We a l l g r e w u p b e i n g t o l d t h a t b e i n g a
perfectionist is important - but i personally do not feel that
that relates to creatives…. being a brain surgeon or rocket
scientist, yes very important… but being a creative, not so
much
Imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern in which an
individual doubts their skills, talents or accomplishments
and has a persistent internalised fear of being exposed as
a “fraud”, i am sure you can all relate to this. The Key
component to this ‘killer of creativity’ is comparing your
skills to others. The one thing we all have to remember is
that we are all the same - every creative has, or will,
s u ff e r f r o m i t a t s o m e p o i n t i n t h e i r c a r e e r.
www.madebyjames.co
.
Instead of creating barriers and walls for yourself to climb
over why not use this knowledge as a power to create…
There is only one YOU on this planet so show the world
that person, all your little quirks and nuances - put your
work proudly out into the world whether its finished or not
- trust me, its better to be judgement for trying then to
judge yourself for not trying at all… be brave and life will
reward you
A few ways i like to keep myself motivated and driven to
grow are these below;
1 . B e c o n s i s t e n t l y, u n p r e d i c t a b l y, c o n s i s t e n t
2. One foot in the present and one foot in the future
3. I always think there are 1000 people better than me
Check out my instagram post on this topic for more detail
or just ping me a questions here - james@madebyjames.co

STAY AWESOME TEAM