Marketing Monday: The Creative Hack That Led to the Creation of ControlTrends

Creativity is not just for CEO’s and marketing professionals

Whether you’re a technician in the field, a coder, and accountant or in sales – boosting your creativeness positions you for success

 While we are all born inherently creative, this can easily be lost as we conform to societal and business norms. Thankfully, we can relearn and sharpen our creative skills through practice and shifts in attitudes!

The hack that kickstart my creative juices was by utilizing the Morning Pages exercise developed by Julia Cameron.

Being creative doesn’t mean you never get stuck, you just know how to get unstuck quicker everyone else!

Back in the day when famous artists, movie producers, business executives, and writers found themselves in a creative funk, they called Julia to get them unstuck and reinspired.

So when the likes of Steven Spielberg, Steve Jobs, or her husband at the time, James Cameron, would get stuck, they would go see Julia and pay her lots of money to get them unstuck.

 She was the creativity coach for the rich and famous, the  movers and shakers in the arts, business.  politics, and even sports. I wonder if she was responsible for Kareem Abdul- Jabber’s famous hook shot?

Fortunately for us she wrote down the creative exercises she would give her famous clients.  You can get the same creative advice today for $14.99, if you buy her book The Artist Way, 
that her clients paid big bucks for.

One of the first recommendations she gives her clients is to start every morning with an exercise called “the morning pages”.

What Are Morning Pages?

Morning Pages are three pages of long-hand writing done first thing in the morning. It can be anything from free writing, rants, musings or any kind of stream of consciousness, jotting down. This exercise helps clear out all the mental clutter that may prevent you from really accessing your unique voice. In her book The Artist’s Way; A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity, Cameron writes “I like to think of Morning Pages as an emotional pressure cooker—they take psychic steam off so I don’t blow up…They are a clearing house—a place where I can put my conflicts, my worries, my anger at others…and myself….When I am stuck creatively or emotionally…the issue that has stopped me will often surface while I’m writing Morning Pages.”

Cameron highly encourages people to do their Morning Pages first thing when they wake up so this practice becomes part of your daily routine. When starting out with this exercise it is important not to become discouraged if you don’t see results right away; consistency is key! Dedicate yourself for at least a month before considering stopping because actual results come after consistent effort over time. Another tip would be make sure you write your entries longhand instead of typing them on a computer or smartphone as the act of writing itself is therapeutic and very conducive for creativity.