How to Be More Creative: 7 Tips From St. Vincent

Learning how to hone your creative skills is a necessary skill when creating any art form. When St. Vincent needs to work on a record, she goes into “nun mode,” a period of time when she abstains from distractions and instead focuses on making music. To learn more about honing your creativity, check out the following tips from the world-class musician:

1. 1. Practice discipline. Life is full of distractions. Sometimes, a writer needs to cut out anything that serves as a distraction to push through the noise. Stay hyper-focused during the writing process and try to hone in on your message. When making her Masseduction (2017), the Grammy Award-winning artist decided to focus solely on writing, removing any distractions from her life that could have impeded her ability to write music. “It's not necessary to become a complete ascetic,” St. Vincent says. However, it can be helpful to maintain a distraction-free environment to channel your best creative thinking.
2. 2. Silence your inner critic. “I think half the battle of writing is sitting with yourself in uncomfortable positions where you're hoping something happens,” St. Vincent says. “You're straining your brain and your spirit to find something to say. And you feel bad when it doesn't happen.” Finding the right sound is not an easy task, and you may start to feel some self-doubt. It’s important that you push through those feelings. Turn down the voice of your inner critic as much as possible. This will put you in a better position to generate ideas. To boost creativity, avoid inhibiting yourself during brainstorming sessions. Don’t limit your thinking or judge your own creative process too harshly. You never know what you’ll be able to come up with if you allow yourself to create freely.
3. 3. Let yourself be surprised. "The great thing about music is that it’s generative. The more you do, the more you can do,” St. Vincent says. Let yourself be free to create your best work. Part of the music-making process is discovery. Creating can be an elusive process. Sometimes you don't know the big themes. You don't necessarily know where you're going or what you're unpacking. You just have to go through and create. Follow your inner intuition and your voice. By the end of the process, you may discover what it’s really about.
4. 4. Find inspiration in your daily life. As an artist, your ideas and opportunities can come from anywhere. As a creative person, it’s important to observe the world around you because it can inform your best work. A random observation can potentially trigger a creative solution. Go beyond the music and learn how to find inspiration in all art forms and life experiences to fuel your creative juices and see things from a different perspective.
5. 5. Find your balance. Creating can be hard work. “Part of the process is sitting there and hoping that the train rolls through the station,” St. Vincent says. The creative process is about pushing through uncomfortable thoughts and actively engaging with your ideas until you find the best perspective. Other times, you can jumpstart your creative thoughts through passive engagement, where you walk away from a project and allow creativity to happen naturally. It’s okay to daydream or let your mind wander. Whether you’re pushing the limits of your comfort zone or trying to leave it behind for a day, it’s important to remain creatively open to every method of refining your own original ideas.
6. 6. Write everything down. “With writing, you just have to make a habit of it,” St. Vincent says. If you see something of interest in your daily life, write it down on a piece of paper or on your phone. If you see something inspiring or have a thought or creative way to approach an idea, write it down. If you have an idea for a melody, record it. Even if it's something that you don't use at the time, it may come in handy later, or it can lead you to other ideas that you will use.
7. 7. Make shame your friend. Find a way to find humor in all situations. Be able to laugh at yourself. There’s no way to get good at something without being bad at it first. Shame will stop you from experimenting. Shame will stop you from trying and putting yourself out there. You have to metabolize it and find a place to put it so that it doesn’t block you from doing the thing that you love.

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