“Don’t practice to get good, practice to suck less.” – Austin Kleon
October challenge
October is filled with a variety of creativity challenges. These include Inktober, Drawlloween, and in the toy community we have … OcToyber. I’m not sure if the popularity of these challenges stems from the great alliteration opportunities, general seasonality or pop cultures love of horror. But whatever the reason – there’s no shortage of prompts and challenges to get the creative juices flowing.
While I don’t join any specific creative community prompts, I enjoy a good photo challenge. Which is why for the third time I’m challenging myself to create 31 seasonal or horror themed photos. This may not seem like much. But posting an image a day is can be a challenge for me.
Making the time is the big one. Like everyone else I’m over committed. Just thinking about the process (developing an idea, setting it up, creating a photo and then editing the image) is exhausting. My second challenge is that I’m not a fan of horror. I steer clear of scary movies, tv shows, books and anything that even hints at being horror.
After three years of this challenge – I’ve noticed how much my internal mindset has shifted. Which is super cool because I love opportunities that showcase how my process is changing.
What I learn
I embark on these creativity challenges, not because they’re fun, but because I learn so much. While I might not immediately see improvement, over time, I can see that I definitely suck less.
For my first OcToyber challenge I barely understood studio lighting. But after completing that challenge I was comfortable enough with the lighting that I know incorporate studio images into my process. I was able to get over my self limiting beliefs. My internal dialogue moved from “I can’t do this” to “This isn’t that hard!”
Now I can set up studio photos with as much ease as outdoor photos.
The other big lesson I learn every year is that ideas are always there. There is no shortage of ideas! I hear from people all the time who ask me: “Where do your ideas come from?” While I can’t give an answer any better than I have a healthy relationship with my inner child. I’ve learned that creativity is a muscle that needs to be exercised. The more I use it, the stronger it gets. And the stronger it is, the less I have to worry about ideas.
Even when I’m not feeling very creative, by leaning into the consistency of my creative practice, I can move my creative life forward.
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
— Maya Angelou
What this means to me
For many years I never participated in any creativity challenges. My internal gatekeeper was too strong (too hard, not my thing, fear of failure, etc.). But now that I’ve pushed myself beyond that negative self talk – I’m a firm believer in the positive effects of (small scale) personal challenges.
In no particular order of importance the benefits are:
- Finish with a significant number of images that can be edited into a series.
- Learning that failing is subjective. Not all the images are winners, but some have a certain wabi / sabi charm.
- I can revisit older ideas with new skills and see my progress.
- Learn to be less precious about the process.
- Dig deep when the ideas start to slow which always leads me to interesting places.
- Let go of my expectations and lean into the pure joy of creativity.
- By setting aside the time, I’m telling myself (and the world) that my creative health is important.
A few more images
An invitation
This is where I invite you to take up your own creative challenge. Rather than a photo a day, your challenge can be organized in anyway that feels accessible to you. If you’re a photographer, it could be a photo a day or a week. If you enjoy writing, a set time or word count is a common challenge. For other art forms, a set time of day or time period can be useful. I’m surprised how much I can get done in as little as 20 minutes.
My reward for completing a creativity challenge is a feeling of accomplishment that can’t be found anywhere else. Which is why I hope that you will create and start on your own creativity challenge!
“All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself..”
— Chuck Close
Need help?
If you need help getting started I can help. Through my one on one creativity coaching practice I can help you devise a challenge, be your accountability partner, give you feedback and support so that you can make the most of your efforts.
Feel free to reach out directly or check out my page on individual coaching for more information.
“We always may be what we might have been”. – Adelaide Anne Procter