I try hard to be a creative person. Sometimes it works, other times I fail miserably. In my professional experience, I’ve learned a few things about being creative, summoning the Muse and finding inspiration in the most bizarre places.

Being a creative person comes with ups and downs. I love creating and building stuff, regardless if it’s coding something for work, taking a movie list and converting it to a pretty table (link), shooting some photographs, writing on this site, or who knows what else. A creative person will always be kept in high regards, because of the intrinsic value of their creativity, but it sometimes becomes a burden. Of course, it’s nice to feel appreciated and to see your work or your art getting popular, but when you stop having time for yourself, it becomes an issue.

And that’s because some people don’t understand that creativity is a random spontaneous event. It’s not something that you’re channelling over a certain amount of time and then *poof! you’re creative!* . Of course, there are things that can help you make that spark happen, like reading stuff for inspiration, having a smoke (which I don’t recommend), listening to a particular kind of music, talking to your dog or your bonsai. Sometimes taking a walk helps to clear your mind. Other times looking at a blank sheet of paper can make the creative juices to start to flow. But keep in mind that you can’t rush greatness. Or you rush it and you do something unworthy of a creative person.

Some have a ritual before attempting to be creative. They make a coffee, they drink a glass of scotch, they put on pink slippers. Some hike to the peak of a mountain. They get comfortable. I think that’s the key to creativity. I don’t actually believe in the term “creative space” as a physical place, but I think it’s more a state of mind. the sum of all elements that make you actively relaxed. There’s no room for creativity in a mind that’s crippled by stress and anguish, so the first and most important part is to clear your mind and then let things come to you.

Whenever I felt un-creative when I was designing websites, I would just do something completely different. I would code something, I’d write some HTML on a different project, go for a smoke and brainstorm about another site. It’s fantastic when you notice how much a mouthful of fresh air can help you see something with new eyes and offer you a new perspective on something to kickstart your inspiration again. For example, a few years ago when I had writer’s designer’s block, I just went on the balcony to photograph some pigeons and clear my mind.

Of course, the place where you are has its importance too, it’s hard to try to be creative into an overly crowded office, a noisy train station or to try to keep your laptop on your knees in the subway. Regardless, the place is only one of the elements of the environment, just like the music (or the sounds of the birds), the lightning, the smell or the lack of it, all these bringing their contribution to the creative (and, why not?, productive) mood. Of course, getting surrounded with creative people could boost your creativity, especially when they are nice people that can inspire you, help you grow and teach you a lot of things, but it can also become a burden, pushing you too hard to succeed that it turns on you and sets you up to fail. All these are just environmental factors and they all contribute more or less to your creativity. But the core of the creative process still happens inside the mind palace, and it’s only influenced by these external factors.

A highly creative state is somehow a meditative state, when your brain is not wired on how to do something, but on what to do. It’s a feeling that can’t be rushed and that won’t wait for you if you miss it. So don’t worry too much, relax and let it come to you. After all, the best creative space is inside your mind, that’s where it all begins.