✦ Hey massive, waagwaan?
It’s been quite a while! In that time I moved out of China, visited family in Taiwan, and made the crazy flight back to the Western Hemisphere. I spent a week in Florida, before finally arriving and acclimatising back to Jamaica. (Check out more of my daily adventures on my instagram.)
It has been a great goal of mine to figure out how to stay consistent with my writing and art while I’m busy and up and down, but realistically, that has never happened. There may come a day when I have the capacity to schedule that many things in advanced, but until then, I choose presence over forced appearance.
That being said, it’s high time for me to come back into my creative practice. And like going back to the gym after a long break, the creative muscles are sore! As I crack some joints and get back to the grind, I thought it would be lovely to share my fall-back creative kata.
01. Why.
It is so easy to let your head clog up your creative juices.
Maybe your cat has been a bit sick. Maybe the weather has been rubbish, or perhaps you are simply trying to figure out what to create. Nothing ties an artist’s hands up faster than the overthink spiral.
‘What should I make? What messages am I sending? How do I want people to see me? What niche?’
That cloud of whats and hows will get you stuck. As I can attest to personally, since I’m no stranger to said what-how storms.
In fact, right before settling down to edit this article, I spiralled for a bit, giving into the storm, letting the anxiety of the unknown freeze me in action. I just recently moved back to Jamaica after spending 7 months abroad and in the process of being more present, fell out of habit with my creative process. Coming back to it, I sank right back into the pattern of asking all the wrong questions, and focusing heavily on the outcome or output, rather than the process.
It has taken me years to realise that creativity is all about embodiment and flow, where we must let things build on itself day to day, rather than scraping a project together from scratch each time. This is the difference between the modern man’s way, and the creative soul’s imperative.
Below, you will find a glimpse into my daily creative process—a routine that not only keeps my ideas flowing but also ensures they build on each other, evolving into something more substantial over time.
02. Process
1. Slow Mornings with a Book 📖
I read every day. Whether it’s books, articles, or research papers, daily reading is a non-negotiable part of my creative routine. One of the most important skills an artist needs is the ability to slow down, and keep the mind and spirit wide open for inspiration. With today’s social expectation for fast, fast, fast— it’s easy to go through your creative process mechanically, in a rush, with your focus on the tangible outcome of words on a page, minutes edited, or social copy produced.
Starting my day with slow reading and pensive note-taking is a deliberate action that sets the pace for the rest of my day. I find that when I go directly onto my laptop to type or do morning pages, I get caught up in the energy of work and end up mindlessly cycling through tasks rather than thoughtfully producing great work. Reading is my habit anchor, the trigger for a creative session. It signals to me that it’s time to quiet my doubts, and go deep into constructive thoughts and musings.
2. Note-taking & Pebbling 📒
While I read, I capture highlights and notes using BookFusion, Readwise Reader and Tana’s quick capture depending on the content format & the nature of the notes. There was a time when I would have Obsidian open while I read too, but I’ve shifted away from that to allow myself less interaction with my computer while I read.
I subscribe to the idea that all of our ideas are useful, and I make an effort to record as many of them as possible. This is a part of the ‘quantum note-taking’ concept (as opposed to linear-note taking). The idea is to let great ideas reveal themselves as we think and write, not the other way around where we limit our ideas to a confined topic.
In addition to collecting book highlights, I pebble all sorts of content, quotes and anecdotes without a set schedule as I move through and interact with life. Pebbling is a term for capturing highlights and things that spark joy from the content you consume and moments you experience. It is based off of the way Gentoo penguins are known for collecting small items and stones that they like to share with their partners. Pebbling is more than just a way to remember what I’ve consumed; it’s the first step in processing and internalising new ideas. By saving these nuggets of wisdom, I create a repository of inspiration that I can draw from during my creative sessions, and it is important for me to find time to revisit these ideas and connect them to each other. This practice also ensures that my reading isn’t just passive consumption but an active part of my creative development.
🔮 BONUS: I also use Readwise and Bookfusion to review what I save after I highlight. I use their apps and widgets to remind me of quotes on my phone’s home screen, do daily reviews and to search for what I need when it is relevant. I also sync those tools with my Obsidian (or Notion).
3. Daily Writing ✍🏻
Morning Pages and Thought Management
Writing every day is another cornerstone of my creative process. After I read, I go directly to my second brain, letting my mind blurt out anything that comes. This free-form, stream-of-consciousness writing process is inspired by “morning pages” popularised by The Artist’s Way. Starting with brain dumping and open writing takes care of three things:
a) Gets the mind pumping, and minimises the feeling of fighting with a blank page.
b) Pulls out ideas on the top of your head. A lot of the time the things I end up writing are solid introductions to new posts or content.
c) Gets rid of the friction of working on a specific, pre-set task.
As someone with ADHD, point C has come in especially handy. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is the task that you set for yourself the night before. Usually, I want to do literally anything but that thing. So starting with this brain dump allows my mind some space to do what it feels in that moment, in a contained way that leads to productive work.
4. Daily Commitment 💪🏼 Moving Drafts Forward
The final, and arguably most important, pie ce of my daily routine is committing to move something forward, no matter how small, for 25 minutes. After I spend 25 minutes or so free-writing, I look at my drafts and existing content and choose an idea I feel I could add to. It could be refining a paragraph, expanding an idea, or even just fixing formatting, but the key is to make progress on something (anything) that’s already in motion. This way you don’t end up with a million half started drafts and half-baked projects.
Usually, this is where people want to begin, but it is the end of my process. The ideal we have in our minds is that we open our laptops, get back to our drafts and move forward just like that. But the truth is, this is not how creativity works. We cannot expect it on demand, and by trying to assume its presence, we may find it most elusive. Writing doesn’t actually begin with a pen on paper, but with the loosening and engaging of the mind.
03.
So What’s the Takeaway?
The creative spirit is not like a machine that delivers what you want, when you want it. Creativity, the kind that matters, needs to be engaged and courted into existence. Our best work, best moments, best break-throughs come in flow. That’s why every person, regardless of profession, should build a practice that builds momentum and a habit of ‘engaging’ the mind.
By dedicating a small, manageable chunk of time to your mind each day, you ensure that your ideas don’t get trapped behind overthinking and trivial pursuits. It’s a way of keeping the iron hot, so that when inspiration strikes, you’re ready and able to act on it. One doesn’t become great through a single fit of action, but through slow consistent displays of care for your craft.
It’s all in the practice, not in the deliverable. Shift your focus to centre yourself in the act. Ask yourself:
How can I embody my work daily?
Thank you for reading this post!
If you feel aligned consider subscribing, tipping or finding out more about me and my 1:1 services on my website.
Your small donation of a coffee a month can help me to keep going and make better and better content!