5 Creativity Hacks from Austin Kleon That Will Change Your Life

Author Austin Kleon has a way of conveying powerful messages in a concise and easy-to-understand manner. This book is about being consistent in your creative endeavors, whether the times are good or bad. Moreover, the author gives practical tips on how to fuel your creativity. This book is the second part of the three-part series, and I suggest going through these books in order.

This article will discuss the central themes of this book and add some of my touches. Following the author's footsteps, I will stay concise in my writing and deliver meaningful information without beating around the bush.

This is part two of a four-part article; I will extract central key themes from the fantastic book Keep Going by Austin Kleon. In each of these four parts, I will focus on the top five takeaways of the 20 takeaways from this book.

Tick Tock: Reimagining Your Relationship with Time

Nature functions cyclically. Have you ever noticed a tree going through seasons? It has to go through a deep winter to bloom in spring with beautiful leaves. Similarly, what makes our art better are the hardships and difficult times we experience.

We should learn from nature to consider the non-mechanical nature of time. Weeks and months are human-made constructs. As an artist, you should be patient, like a tree that doesn't force its growth, and remain confident.

Modern society places too much emphasis on productivity and money. Instead, we should occasionally reflect on our lives and learn from our mistakes, which drives growth. People with gardening hobbies often develop a better perspective on time—how it functions and how good things take time to mature. The same principle applies to creativity.

Walk Your Way to Wow: How Movement Sparks Creativity

The more I read about the lives of famous creatives, the more I see a pattern: almost every one of these high achievers took daily walks and hikes. This is a superpower that we tend to ignore.

Walking benefits you spiritually, mentally, and physically. Beethoven took daily afternoon walks with a notebook to capture musical ideas that came to him while wandering through Vienna's woods. Despite having access to advanced laboratories, Albert Einstein preferred walking to stimulate his thought process. His theory of relativity wasn't born in a lab but during his daily walks.

In one experiment, participants were divided into two groups. One group was given a task, while the other was asked to go on a short walk before performing the same task. Researchers found that the group that walked first performed better. Studies show that walking increases cerebral blood flow and simultaneously activates different parts of our brain. This cross-activation allows ideas that normally wouldn't connect to find each other, leading to those "eureka" moments that drive creative breakthroughs. Stanford University researchers found that walking increases creative output by an average of 60%, regardless of whether it happens indoors or outdoors.

Declutter to Discover: The Magic of Clean Spaces

Numerous articles have stated that tidying up your desk or workspace is the best way to improve productivity. Although this statement is true for productivity, it isn't necessarily valid for creativity. It can be beneficial to have a mess of things that you love.

Creativity is the connection of ideas, and if you keep everything separated from each other, you'll have fewer creative ideas. Try to cultivate your mess because ideas often emerge when you see multiple unrelated things.

We can all follow the rule of thumb: “Keep your materials messy and your tools organized."

Flip the Script: Why Changing Your Mind Is Your Superpower

We often view someone changing their thoughts and beliefs as something negative. We see this frequently in politics; if leaders change their minds, we perceive it as a weakness. Instead, we should start seeing evolving thoughts as valuable because changing our minds keeps us intellectually alive.

You can start spending time with people who don't share the same ideas as you. You can revisit your past ideas that you've noted down and compare how they've evolved or changed. Reading books from the past can help you form ideas that are long forgotten and provide you with new ways to think.

Creativity with Purpose: Art as a Force for Good

The author states, "The world doesn't necessarily need more great artists. It needs more decent human beings." Being a good person is more important than being a good artist. Great artists make art that expands people's perceptions of their lives and gives them a sense of possibility.

Buy the Book: https://amzn.to/41nVbVM