When Spark Turns to Flow
When spark turns to flow you get magic.
Creative work starts with a very personal spark.
Whether it’s our own glorious idea, or we catch the fire of something that’s been suggested or assigned, for significant creativity we need to be all-in, from the inside out.
Did You Choose or Get Chosen?
Even when a creative project is 100% ours, it might feel like the project chose us, that we don’t have another choice but to take this path.
If you’ve ever been drawn by a powerful spark of vision, a tantalizing idea, a maddening and addictive puzzle or problem, you’ve experienced the charisma of creative opportunity that has launched uncountable acts of something-from-nothing and better-because-it-can-be.
The paradox of being taken over by a creative goal is that it’s just another way of experiencing a project that is profoundly yours, even when others are involved. You have claimed it, or it has claimed you, on the inside.
This is the perfect setup for what can be a gloriously creative experience and outcome. You’re going to love that baby like it’s your very own, because it is.
I Hope We Get Lost
What happens when we dive into the game or the job of following that creative spark? Hopefully, we will get lost…lost in the experience of flow.
Flow is a satisfying state of being intensely engaged in target-seeking behavior. We lose ourselves in the work or play, or we feel like we’ve lost track of time or could go on and on toward the objective.
It feels good. And it’s a wonderfully creative state.
Line Up for Flow
Flow tends to happen when you are:
Deeply invested in your goal (score the point, solve the problem, design the product, play the part, give the presentation)
Doing something just-right challenging for you and enjoyable enough for you toward achieving it
Easily able to tell how you’re doing toward your goal
Flow can be the momentum that carries us through the longer, harder parts of our creative projects and creative lives.
How Spark Turns to Flow
Did you notice the no-fail link between creative spark and flow? It’s You!
The spark is yours—originated or organically adopted—or there’s not much fire to fuel a creative journey. The resulting flow state sweeps you through rewarding, productive hours of creative work or play when:
The goal that emerged from a spark is yours—you’re deeply, personally invested even if there is shared ownership of the objective
and
Those flow-generating sweet spots of challenging activity and progress visibility are just right for you.
The magic of creativity happens in the cauldron that is you the creative.
Take Us Somewhere New
While creativity is often collaborative, and even highly independent creative projects have a vital social animal aspect to them, creativity is at the core a personal experience, and so is flow.
For the good of the work and any who will benefit from it, shine a warm, bright light of attention on what lights you up, what carries you away, what you could happily do, play, think about, or work on for long, satisfied hours.
Be there for the spark. Make way for the flow. Do that thing you love to do, and let it take you—and maybe us, too—somewhere new.