The 5 Phases of Creativity

Creativity is greater than circumstance.

I grew up with creative siblings. My mom is an artist. My sisters are artistic. And when I draw a person, it looks like a Dorito chip with arms and legs.

I just don’t have that kind of creativity in my body.

It took me a while to realize that there are different kinds of creativity and lots of different kinds of artistry.

Since I’ve realized this, now I like to say that I am a life artist. Every artist has a medium, and my medium is life. It’s my life, it’s my clients’ lives, it’s possibility and what we do with that. And that’s a different kind of creativity.

Another kind of creativity is when we’re stuck in a situation that we don’t like.

“Creativity is greater than circumstance.” That’s what this means. We cannot let our circumstances be greater than us. So regardless of what we’re experiencing, creativity can help us see life differently, to do different things with it.

And then there’s creativity in the context of actually bringing something to life. This is probably my favorite kind of creativity. Because when we bring something to life in the world that didn’t exist before we did, that’s bigger than who we are or how we see ourselves in the moment, we also have to create ourselves in the process of that.

Creativity IS a process. And it happens in phases. It’s not just that ‘creative flow state’ where brilliance comes pouring out of you and into the world.

In my experience, the creative process looks like this:

Phase 1: AN IDEA OR DECISION

You have an inspired idea. It may be internal or external — something that you want to create from no-thing.

Phase 2: RESISTANCE

Almost as soon as you sit down to begin, resistance pulls up a chair and takes up all your legroom.

This can show up in many different ways. You may find yourself asking, “HOW do I do it?” or “WHO should I call?” or “WHAT should I say or do next?”

MOST people tap out at this phase OR try to skip ahead to or wait for phase 4. Because phase 2 is tough, and phase 3 isn’t so sexy…

Phase 3: DO THE WORK. MESS AROUND.

This phase often produces a lot of crap. But this is part of the creative process! Just start playing. Get in there. Mess around. See what starts to comes up.

If you’re writing a book, write a terrible page. If you’re drafting an email, fumble through it. If you’re designing a social media post or crafting a newsletter, just get ideas onto screen or paper.

This phase is mainly about waiting out resistance and getting present.

You’re essentially battling your mind, which is putting the pressure on you to ‘figure out’ what you’re going to create.

Know this: Pressure kills creativity. Presence expands it.

Just stay in this phase long enough and you will enter phase 4 — the holy grail of the creative process.

Phase 4: THE FLOW STATE

The flow state is that experience that I mentioned in the beginning, where brilliance is pouring out of you ‘effortlessly’ (although now we know it’s not actually effortless… you just put all the effort in in phase 3!).

Here, you’ve officially traveled beyond your mind and trying to ‘figure it out’ and started to create from your true nature: creativity.

Creativity IS you, your natural state, when you’re not putting pressure on yourself TO create. Let it flow.

Phase 5: FINISH IT

The thing is done when you call it done. See it through. Hit post or send. Share it with the world. Let it go.

>> Understanding that there is a process of creativity and having an awareness that these phases exist is helpful because you know that resistance will last through phase 3, until you reach the creative flow state.

Lean into that resistance. Hang with it. Resistance is part of the process. You WILL hit the creative flow, as long as you don’t check out or quit.

To have the awareness that you’re still IN the creative process allows you to be with resistance in a way that doesn’t completely derail you.

What is your experience of creativity right now? What would you like it to be?

How does resistance show up for you in your creative process? And in what small ways can you start to lean into that?