The Creative Instinct

You know, there’s a huge, yawning and in my case, quite tetchy difference between getting ready to start a creative project, and then actually starting it. In this particular case I’m talking about this blog, The Creative Instinct, but it’s a pattern I’ve learned to recognise as part of my own creative process.

I’m sure many of you will know it - the calm preparation, the research, the connections, realisations and the ah-has, and the firing off of more creative ideas than you know what to do with. And then… the pressure. Oh yes.

I like it though - it’s just that I get a wee bit volatile. I could say volcanic - nice image - but it’s not that grand. More like a geyser with a rock blocking it’s escape hole. So there you have it. Please allow me to introduce myself: Andrew Leigh, author of The Creative Instinct and occasionally resembling a blocked geyser.

Now I’ve spent a fair amount of time, vision and planning building up to this first post and I have to tell you that so far I haven’t used any of it. This is because I had a huge revelation only this morning while reading through ‘How To Be Creative’ by Hugh MacLeod (I’ll put a copy of it on the site as soon as I’ve figured out how to do it!)

He talks about artists finding their own ’shtick’: That moment where they finally find their true voice, once and for all. Well, I thought I knew about finding your own voice, and I thought I had it - but I reckon shtick is more than just voice - it’s the song too - the voice and the song. It’s the marriage of medium and message. Think Jackson Pollack discovering his splatter but using it for landscape. Think Hendrix on pan pipes. No shtick.

This next part may sound rather melodramatic, and I’ll probably regret writing it in a few months - or even tomorrow. Ever since I started studying and training in personal development five years ago, I’ve had a hankering to work more with creative people. Whenever I’ve done it in my life coaching practice I’ve loved it (I love all of my coaching - but I get the biggest buzz out of helping people find their creative self). I could have niched but it never felt right, and I really do enjoy coaching and connecting with people on lots of topics.

The Creative Instinct, however, is all about offering personal development insights for people to enjoy their creativity more and do their creativity better.

And right now, it feels like my shtick.

Welcome to The Creative Instinct.