Why I Write A Blog / Fermenting Like Kimchi
When practicing meditation, it’s common to focus on one particular process as it unfolds, to allow a more natural state of mind to occur. One that isn’t burdened by expectation, self-doubt and self-criticism. We call that »anchoring«, and in meditation at least, our anchor is most commonly the breath. It’s is a place to return to, whenever we drift off. At least in my experience, it’s also a very practical tip on how to achieve a more productive state in life. Sounds good, you may say – but how can meditation concepts and naval devices help me with being more productive and better at creativity? Let’s explore!
Quiet Confidence
About ten months ago, I felt a bit stuck creatively and didn’t feel I was being productive enough. I said, what the heck, and wrote my first blog entry. English isn’t my first language, and I mostly work with international clients, so practice is always welcome. After pushing myself out of my comfort zone, it did feel nice to create something fun, outside of my usual playground of design and animation, where most of my expectations for progress laid. By continuing, it felt positive to have something creative, that I could come back to every week. But what made it truly impactful: I promised myself that I’ll keep on writing, and keep on doing it for myself, no matter what. Week by week, I could feel getting stronger internally, even though there were no indicators that showed any changes or progress externally. A kind of quiet confidence was brewing inside. Instead of being afraid of what would happen if I wrote about this, or that, I kept on challenging myself. And I always won, by proving to myself, that I can do it. And I still do. I’m still fermenting like kimchi. 😂
Little Victories Always Add Up
The interesting thing is, that this “quiet confidence”, that I was gaining from writing every week, finally started affecting other aspects of my life as well. I’ve been proving to myself that I’m creative, that I’m productive, that I keep my promises, and that I always do the work (even if I don’t feel like it), so it’s how I’ve started viewing myself. Even though my bread and butter mostly comes from animation, I feel that I’ve become more productive and way more creative as a digital artist, due to practicing writing every week. Without anxiety, excuses, or the need for external validation: I just make things.
And so, for creativity and productivity, THIS has become my anchor. I get to return here every week and get better by practicing. I get to strengthen my creative muscles. I’ve learnt that if we want to get unstuck, we need to start doing something first. To sum it up: we get MORE productive, by actually being productive. We get MORE creative, by continuing to create. The creativity well doesn’t ever run dry, it can only get unclogged. And then, the supply is infinite.
So DO something, anything. And then DO it again. Course-correct. And DO it again. And again…