We’ve all heard the saying, “Dance like no one’s watching.” I would say the same can be true of creative work: “Create like no one’s watching.” The act of creating without the pressure of judgment or expectation can be a powerful catalyst for personal growth, skill development and discovery of new creative passions.
Break Free from Creative Constraints
When faced with a creative block or the monotony of a repetitive project, the remedy might just be to break free and create something unrelated. Whether it’s a doodle, a short piece of writing, or a musical riff, the act of creating without expectations can recharge your mind and offer a fresh perspective. This is not about creating for an audience, a grade or a job – it’s about diving into a creative process with no strings attached. What’s on the other side of this break may surprise you in positive ways.
Learn Through Creating
Creating just for the joy of it opens the door to continuous learning. It’s not always about structured lessons or formal education. Sometimes, the most profound lessons come from experimenting and tinkering on your own creative works.
Take, for instance, my recent experience of learning Adobe Premiere Rush, a lightweight video-editing software. Foreseeing possible use of it on upcoming projects I wanted to learn it quickly. Instead of following a rigid tutorial, the learning journey involved creating a vlog video about my morning routine inspired by other vlogs I’ve seen online. The goal was to learn a software, yes, but I too enjoyed the challenge of taking quick video clips from my phone to tell a story that was true and not time-consuming to pull together. (Though trust me. My morning routine is hardly exciting.)
In keeping theme with this learning, I also broke away from my day to sketch a drawing repeatedly before recording a timelapse using the mobile app version of Adobe Premiere Rush. By carving out a few hours time for these projects, I immersed myself into the flow of creating, and I learned a software in both its desktop and mobile app use cases. The goal isn’t perfection, and you’ll gain more when you set perfection aside.
It’s of course no requirement to post your creative work online. I do tend to post a lot of my work online, and this is a personal preference. I post not for critique (I do plenty of this on my own) or likes (I don’t really care about this), but rather as a way to build an archive of my work; and more importantly, I also hope to inspire others to explore creativity like how I’ve been inspired by the creatives I follow online.
Embrace the Unseen Benefits
In a society that often values the outcome over the process, “creating like no one’s watching” becomes a courageous act of self-expression, self-discovery and self-learning. It’s a reminder that the act of creating itself is a reward, a journey of growth, and a celebration of the boundless possibilities that unfold when we let our creativity flow freely, unhindered by the expectations of others. So, go ahead, create like no one’s watching, and revel in the magic of unrestricted creativity. You may discover new passions and at minimum will get a nice creative break and headspace reset.
