I made a list of things I wanted to do in the beginning of 2008. One of the things I wanted to do was to be more creative.

One year later, I heard about The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and a reading group for this book in Tokyo. Working through The Artist’s Way was a great way to get rid of creative blocks that I accumulated without realizing.

I was a creative child, in the sense that I spent a lot of time creating something. I loved imagining, drawing, and making up stories.

As I grew up, however, something changed. I started comparing myself with others and telling myself that I’m not good enough. Sometimes, others would tell me that I’m not good enough.

I believe this is a common story among us. When you are a child, you don’t care what others think of what you create. You just have fun creating something. But eventually, you start comparing yourself with others and others start telling you that you are not good enough, and sadly, you give up. Perhaps school killed your creativity too. (If you didn’t give up or you regained your creativity, congratulations!)

Also, if this happened to you, you might have a tendency to consider creativity to be something special. After all, you weren’t special enough to be creative, right? Or so they say.

But being creative is not about being special. It’s not the case that only some gifted people can be creative.

I recommend you to work on The Artist’s Way to explore a very good definition of what it means to be creative and to regain your creativity. The book is designed as a 12 week course. So, in 12 weeks, you could have a better sense of creativity and become creative… again like you were as a child.

But, if you are interested in this whole thing about creativity, keep reading before spending 12 weeks on this book; I’ve got something to say about being creative… in fact, about being more creative.

Just like writing down what I wanted to do in the beginning of 2008, recently I thought about what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be in the future. One thing that came to my mind strongly was to be more creative. Now I have a better idea of what it means to be creative than I did in 2008.

But I thought more about what it means for me to be more creative.

What I came up with was really simple, and it starts with this question: Are you creating consistently? My answer was: no. I had been creating, but not consistently.

So, here’s what you can do if you want to be more creative. Spend more time creating and create consistently! Forget about the quality, forget about what others or even you think of your creations, and keep showing up everyday!

Does this sound too simple and even too easy? It may sound too easy, but I bet it’s not too easy. In fact, I believe that’s the most difficult part for many of us.

Jeff Goins’ new book “You Are A Writer (So Start Acting Like One)” inspired me and helped me get to this line of thinking. It’s a great book for those who write. What I found unique about this book is one of its core messages that urges you to act like a writer right away. I highly recommend it.

How do you spend more time creating and create consistently?

This is a matter of priority and choice. If you are serious about being more creative, then you need to find ways to make time to create and to create consistently.

(Hint: Be serious about it, but never forget to have fun.)

By the way, creativity is relevant to anything and everything we do. So, even if you thought this post wasn’t for you, the chances are – being creative would help you with what you love doing, and you can be more creative about it by spending more time on it, by experimenting without the fear of failures, and by having fun.

And in case you didn’t know, I believe your life is your art, and I believe creativity is important in creating the life you love to live. If you read some of my posts and liked them, I want you to create and to live your own art. If you haven’t started yet, this is a great time to work on being more creative. It’s never too early or too late. If you choose to be that way, come and jump to this side right away.

Let’s be more creative. You can be more creative.