Why staying in your comfort zone is better for creativity
When it comes to creativity, there’s a lot of talk about getting out of your comfort zone. That when you take yourself out of your comfort zone, you get to the holy grail of creativity and suddenly, all the creative sparks will start leaping out of you like the Sydney Harbour Bridge on New Years Eve.
I’m not so sure.
Have you ever been outside of your comfort zone?
If you’re anything like me, it’s a scary place to be. And there are two reactions that I tend to have - I want to turn and run, or I freeze. I either want to call in sick, turn off the lights and hide under the doona; or I have complete mental inertia, unable to think of a single creative thought.
And yes, there are undoubtedly times where if you push through that feeling, you get to a creative spark at the end. But there are also times where you don’t. And it’s a lot of trauma to go through to maybe, if you’re lucky, get to a state of “creativity”.
So instead, I like to think about my creativity as a circle - a handy technique I picked up from Adam Johnson of The Positive Creatives podcast.
The Circle of Creativity
I imagine I have a circle of creativity. I’m in the middle of it, and inside the circle is my comfort zone. It’s warm, it’s delicious, it’s cosy long socks and hot chocolate by the fire.
Outside the circle is outside of my comfort zone. I don’t know what’s out there, but in my mind it’s a bit like The Nothing in The Never Ending Story. I don’t want to go there.
So the sweet spot for creativity is right at the edge of the circle.
I’m not right at the middle, where I’m super relaxed.
I’m not out in The Nothing, where I feel overwhelmed.
But I’m right at the edge of the circle. I’m feeling a little bit jittery, my heart is starting to pump, and I have a fire in my belly. I’m safe, but I’m not 100% comfortable - I’m on the edge of my seat - in a good way.
The edge is where the magic happens. You can see things at the edge that you wouldn’t normally see, and you feel empowered to think big.
So how do you create this state?
Well, there are a few ways:
Spend time at the edges.
Spend time where you feel like the sand is starting to shift beneath your feet. Breathe through it, don’t push yourself, but just get a sense of where you’re at and see if you can spend a little longer there.
Go back into the centre to relax.
When you’re feeling strained or overwhelmed, it’s totally ok to head back to where you’re comfortable. Do something that’s still creative, but comes more easily or naturally to you.
Work on embracing failure.
When you change your mindset to not just removing the fear of failure, but actually seeing it as a gift (because you learn from it), your circle actually grows. It gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and there is less of The Nothing.
Pretty cool, right? So go forth, creative soul, and stay in your comfort zone!
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