I studied creativity for 365 days & here’s what I learned.

Key wellness + creativity strategies (and how to apply them)

• Use creativity as a trainable skill (not a fixed trait)

  • Treat creativity like a “muscle”: practice consistently and show up even when you don’t feel inspired.

• Unblock creativity with daily “Morning Pages” (Julia Cameron – The Artist’s Way)

  • Do 3 pages of free-flow handwritten brain dump each morning (typing in a doc is okay if handwriting isn’t feasible).
  • Rules
    • No editing
    • No filtering
    • Type fast
    • No backspacing
  • Goal
    • Clear “surface-level junk” (looping worries, logistics, frustrations)
    • Then surface deeper questions/worries
    • Make mental space for new ideas
  • Practical schedule
    • Try it for a week
    • Time commitment: about 5–10 minutes/day

• Take “Artist Dates” for self-connection (Julia Cameron – The Artist’s Way)

  • Block 1–2 hours weekly to spend time alone with your inner artist.
  • Examples
    • Park walk, bookstore browsing, thrift shopping, picnic/matcha
  • Purpose
    • Rebuild connection with yourself so you can reconnect with your ideas
  • Mindset
    • Don’t invite others—this is intentional quality time for you.

• Embrace the messy process of creation (Austin Kleon – Keep Going)

  • Creativity is messy experimentation: try → fail → learn → try again.
  • Clarity comes from action, not from waiting to feel perfectly clear.
  • Focus on
    • Process + iteration (e.g., testing thumbnails/titles/ideas)
    • What you can control (validation, research, skill-building)
  • Guiding principle/quote referenced: “Make the most beautiful thing you can.”

• Challenge the “one right answer” mindset (Kelley – A Whack on the Side of Your Head)

  • Creativity gets suppressed when you’re trained to find the correct answer only.
  • Exercise
    • When stuck, generate 2nd/3rd/4th “right answers” (brainstorm options instead of judging too early).
  • Core belief
    • There are no wrong answers in brainstorming—you’re practicing the skill.

• Work with fear/resistance instead of waiting it out (Steven Pressfield – The War of Art)

  • Fear/resistance often signals what matters—your ego may be protecting you from failure/rejection.
  • Methods mentioned
    • Lower the bar to start
      • Example: 15 minutes/day to work on your business (consistency beats perfection).
    • Build a routine before quality
  • Additional tactic
    • “Gaslight” yourself into action in tiny steps (e.g., “we’re only outlining—not filming/publishing yet”—then still take the next step).

• Create from the inside first; ship to let it count (Rick Rubin – Creative Act + Seth Godin – The Practice)

  • Create for yourself first:
    • “You’re creating to surprise yourself,” not just to satisfy the algorithm.
  • Fulfillment
    • Comes from executing your vision, not from views/likes.
  • Outcomes
    • Find a sweet spot between what lights you up and what your audience needs.
  • Ship principles
    • Nothing matters outside of shipping the work.
    • “We don’t ship the work because we’re creative. We’re creative because we ship the work.”
  • Production rule
    • Aim for around 80% complete (good enough to publish), then move on to get more data.

• Act fast on ideas (idea urgency + curiosity over fear)

  • Idea-as-entity concept:
    • If you don’t birth an idea through action, it may find someone else to do it.
  • Creativity direction:
    • Follow curiosity, not “strategic fear of what will work.”
  • Timing:
    • Creativity favors people who act quickly on ideas.

• Create mental silence to access deeper ideas (David Lynch – Catching the Big Fish)

  • Deeper “big ideas” come from a less overthinking mind.
  • Strategy
    • Reduce mental clutter/noise
    • Use transcendental meditation (speaker notes increasing meditation and interest in the impact).

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Presenters / sources mentioned

• Presenter (speaker): Not explicitly named in the subtitles

Books/authors referenced

• The Artist’s Way — Julia Cameron
• Keep Going — Austin Kleon
• A Whack on the Side of Your Head: How You Can Be More Creative — Dr. Joseph Chilton Pearce
• The War of Art — Steven Pressfield
• Creative Act: A Way of Being — Rick Rubin
• The Practice — Seth Godin
• The Mountain Is You — Brianna Wiest
• Catching the Big Fish — David Lynch