8 Tiny Creative Habits That Will Lead To Massive Life Success
Stick with these habits for 6 months and witness the transformation.
Getty Images | Unsplash I’ve spent over 37 years seeing the same misconception over and over: Big changes happen overnight. Wrong. The most amazing results are almost always accompanied by applied long-term consistency over anything else, including talent, brains, a great idea, and great connections. The hardest thing for many is staying consistent — not so much the individual creative act. Look back over the history of those people who found insane success and you will almost always find a trail of consistent work over many years. I credit all of my biggest successes with small, consistent habits. Here are some ideas I’ve used to great success, which you can apply, tweak, or adapt to create incredible results.
Here are 8 tiny creative habits that will lead to massive life success:
1. Write and share 200+ words daily
Writing isn’t just for writers. Creative or non-fiction writing (and sharing it in public) should be a habit that stays with everyone well after their last day of school. There is nothing that comes close — in terms of the impact this has made — to my 14+ years of writing in public via blogs and social media. I’ve created clients, work and speaking opportunities, a coaching and consulting business, a design business, an audience of over 40,000, and developed discipline that benefits other areas.
2. Record and share a video
All kinds of opportunities were granted to me through my near-daily video creation habit that began a few years ago. A few of my videos were edited. It was just me holding up my phone, pressing record, talking, and then posting. I’ve now added over 350 videos to YouTube and don’t plan on ever stopping. Though this has brought me new friends, business, and sales, the most important benefit of this discipline has been my continual improvement as a confident speaker, without needing notes.
3. Read a few pages
Photo: Andrii Kobryn / Shutterstock
Reading is a creative act. It takes an active imagination to enjoy a book — far different from sitting back and sucking in Netflix. Accumulating pages read over many months will do more for your creative and imaginative muscle than most things. Give yourself the excuse to read every day. Think what this will do for you in 6 months; 5 years.
4. Go on ‘ideation walks’
This is a regular non-negotiable for me. I walk, and I bring my notebook, and I write down ideas. Walking gets my steps in, but it also loosens me up creatively. I get insight after insight on walks, all of which are transferred down onto paper. Many of these ideas serve to clear my mind — a form of therapy — but many are used later in articles, newsletters, and as suggestions brought forward in coaching calls.
5. Have conversational calls
As an introvert, getting in front of people on a video call was never my idea of fun. I enjoy it a lot more and I do this often as part of my coaching business, but there’s been so much more I benefit personally from getting on regular calls (many of which are free, get-to-know-people calls), notably expanding my network and improving my speaking confidence and presence around others. It’s fulfilling work. How could you bring more face-to-face conversations into your work? Maybe you can run a podcast, take up consulting, or just regularly make a point of setting up more calls with interesting people and seeing this as a craft to master in itself.
6. Make short films
Like with the photographs, you could develop a habit of making short films, creatively edited films, comedic skits, and so on. You need only see what kinds of audiences this kind of thing can accrue on places like YouTube and TikTok to know the potential impact of getting good at this, creating consistently, and sharing plenty.
7. Take photos
Photo: Dean Drobot / Shutterstock
Getting into photography is easy for almost anyone these days. With our smartphones, it’s hard to make a photo look ugly. Have fun capturing the world around you. I find it helps me focus outward and develop my awareness muscle, keeping me out of my head, and noticing the beautiful details around me. Share your best captures online, and you can grow a following for your photos alone. Get inspired by some of the photographers generating millions of subscribers on Instagram. Can you develop a photography portfolio with a clear personal style?
8. Sketch, make art, design, or draw a picture
In my twenties, I spent two years adding two or more vector illustrations to a stock photography website every day. I developed my skills as a digital illustrator and logo designer and created a substantial monthly income. This directly led to me building a global design business from scratch, working with companies like Google, the BBC, and Saatchi& Saatchi. What if you made an illustration every day or week and shared this online or as an NFT? You could create a side business making art for clients too.
There you have it. See how all these examples are accompanied by an additional publishing action that ensures they go out into the world and are seen. Notice also how all of them are open to adaptation to what works for you. Have fun with it. Choose something, make it yours, and commit. See you in 6 months.
Alex Mathers is a writer and coach who helps you build a money-making personal brand with your knowledge and skills while staying mentally resilient.