How do we move from inspiration to creation? One step at a time. Whether you are learning a new craft, or you’ve been working at the same one for years, using some of our journal prompts for creativity in your daily routine is going to take your art to the next level. Set aside time to plan out your next big project. Write down your vision, so that you can view it from all angles, from beginning to end. Reflect on the trials and errors and the road that led you onward. All along the way, you will gain access to your creative capacity.
How to Use Journal Prompts for Creativity to Improve Your Art
I love the term “brainstorm”. That’s what creativity can feel like, a crazed exhibition of ideas, emotions, themes, plots, colors, and schemes. As a writer and journaler, I have a specific need for pages and pages of outlines and in-betweens. But, even if you are an actor or a carpenter, your creativity journal can be the eye of your creative storm. If you are new to journaling, start with one of our earlier posts here.
Sometimes the process is much slower than a sudden hurricane. Instead, it happens over months and years. By writing your ideas down when they come to you, you grant your mind permission to keep sending you those little sparks until one day you have enough energy to light up the night.
Write Down Your Ideas, Right Away
The most incredible ideas can pour forth from a single image, a door to your inner world left barely ajar. Once you’ve pried loose an idea, you can set to work clearing the cobwebs, gluing the feathers back on, and polishing the brassy surface.
Regardless of your craft, journaling is essential because you can spill all of your creativity onto the page. That space becomes a sanctum for even the smallest wisps of inspiration. Many of us are not familiar with using a creativity journal. You may have a preconception that creativity only happens in the moment and you want to just go for it whenever you feel like it. You don’t want to plan, you want to get into the flow right away. Well, your diary is actually the key to entering that coveted flow-state.
To Be Creative, Be Disciplined With Your Journal
Many creative types swear that they cannot work “under pressure”. However every single art requires pressure, that of a pen pushed against paper, a brush across canvas, a finger upon strings… Inspiration is always waiting for you to feel its gentle pressure, like a hand resting on your shoulder.
If you put aside more time to engage with your art, then your art will expand. It’s as simple as that. By using journal prompts for creativity you will have a place where you can store your inspirations, like tiny talismans that you can run your fingers over again and again.
Be inspired by your own work and your own spark by writing about it. Where did the idea sprout from? How did you wrangle it out of the ground? Where are your favorite places to forage for inspiration? The more you store in your journal, the more you will have to pick from later.
Likely Outcomes After Using Journal Prompts for Creativity
- Goals
- To-do lists
- Images/drawings/blueprints
- Inspirations
- An action plan
- Reflections
Where Does Goal-Setting Come In?
I am an advocate for goal-orientation. I don’t believe our goals should lead us by the nose, but we should create meaning for our future by working towards projects and aspirations that we actually care about. An effective goal has three facets:
#1 – It must be meaningful to you
You are not going to feel successful if your dreams do not bring benefit to yourself and others. Create a goal that makes sense for your ambitions and make it real for yourself. Your goal must outweigh all the other things you could be doing with your time. When you journal about your goals, recognize exactly why you care about them and how it would feel if you didn’t achieve them.
#2 – It must be broken into digestible chunks.
You need to be able to pick away at your goal in an easy-to-manage action plan. I will talk about action plans shortly, but first, just think about the way we teach ourselves anything. In school, if you were presented with the entire coursework package, you would automatically feel overwhelmed. Take the big picture of your goal and break it in half, then half again, and repeat the process until you’re left with a measurable amount of work for each day.
#3 – It must have a due date
I know a lot of people think that due dates make them crazy, but I’ve canvassed a lot of creators and we all have one thing in common. A timeline gives your creativity journal a channel to flow through. Don’t take my word for it. Test it out for yourself and see how a mission with an end in sight actually energizes you and helps you to cut through that artist’s block as if it were made of cheese.
Is a To-Do List Necessary For Your Creativity Journal?
Yes. Yes it is. No, it doesn’t need to include every little chore. No, you don’t have to hold on to it. An effective to-do list incorporates the measurable portions of your action plan. If you’re a writer, instead of saying things like write, or revise, you should say: write 500 words, or revise one chapter. Make sure it’s something concrete.
An added bonus to having a to-do list in your journal is that you get a hit of dopamine when you check something off. Plus, when you reflect on your project, you’ll remember how often you stuck to your to-do lists and you’ll see exactly why you did or did not succeed. You can’t hide from yourself when you have a to-do list.
How Do Mind Maps Work?
A mind map is exactly what it sounds like. Use it to gain access to your inner desires and intentions. Whenever you are stuck on a project, take time to step away and doodle out your ideas. Don’t worry about making sense or writing in full sentences. Use drawings, short-hand, and cut-outs to compile a collage of inspiration and make it visible in your working space.
Mind maps can visually guide you to your ultimate goal. A classic mind map begins with a circle around your central theme. Then you make that circle into a sun by extending its arms out to other bubbles with smaller components of that central theme. Those components get divvied up into related thoughts, until you’ve exhausted all ideas and you are left with a magnificent constellation of interconnecting content.
Tape this mind map somewhere visible so you can come back to it again and again. You can add or change it up as you see fit. Another option is to strictly use images. If you are a painter, you can create a mind map with your studies. When using journal prompts for creativity, focus on the process. What about a certain study made you choose that angle or that lighting? What were you evoking in your art?
Where Can I Turn For Inspiration?
No matter what your project is, you should surround yourself with the art of others. That doesn’t mean sticking to your own craft either. Seek inspiration from music, art, poetry, sculpture, film, etc. Whatever it is that rouses you, fill your journal with snippets or images of that inspiration. The work of others is the fuel for your own vehicle of creativity.
Another fascinating practice is journaling about the lives of our favorite artists. Learn about your heroes and explore what struggles they’ve faced, what obstacles they’ve overcome. Take time to reflect on what art means when it comes easily to us, vs. what it means when we have to pry it loose. The struggle for art is itself a source of inspiration and by writing about it, you gather insight about your own response to life’s crucibles.
What is a Creative Action Plan and How Does it Work?
Goals that live up in the clouds, stay up in the clouds. They remain like a dream, a place we escape to, but can never truly reach. An action plan is the commitment you make to reaching your lofty goals. When you break your project down into chunks, you use your to-do list to complete each task and level up to the next phase.
Action plans need to be:
- Simple
- Direct
- Measurable
- Time sensitive
In the same way that a general makes a battle plan, or an entrepreneur makes a business plan, creative types can benefit from an action plan. One of the myths in our society is that you are either a free-floating type B personality, or a thoroughly disciplined type A. In reality, we can all benefit from structure.
The scaffolding for your action plan is built alongside your life. There is no special place you need to get to. There is no special state of mind. You create that time, that space, that state of mind each time you commit yourself to sitting down with your goal.
Take it step by step
Your action plan breaks your goal up into a set of daily and weekly tasks. It is the step-by-step procedure that guarantees success because it leaves nothing to chance. We don’t want our art or our creativity journal to be driven by the whim of the muses. We want to take control and create a system that we can trust to bring us through the toughest parts of the process. Idea generation, time management, focus, discipline, these are all included in your action plan and remember, your action plan is not a torture device. You’re not committing to something you dislike. You are devoting a part of your day, everyday, to the one thing that brings you pleasure and lasting benefit.
How Do You Tie It All Together?
Today, take out your journal and begin a new goal, or use one you’re currently working on.
1. Write about the project: what materials will you use? What practice/study do you need? What teachers/resources can you pull from? How much time will it take to complete? Why is it meaningful to you? Be specific.
2. Create a mind map that includes all the little aspects of your task that you can think of. Use a format that appeals to your aesthetic because your mind map needs to be visible.
3. Break your project into practical, manageable tasks, set a daily schedule to incorporate your project into your everyday life.
4. Set to work and along the way, record the process and reflect on it as you go. What bumps have you hit? Is there anything that didn’t go as planned? What solution did you find? Who can help you with the technical aspects? How has your vision evolved over time?
Why Reflect?
At every point along your journey, you’ll want to be present with the tasks at hand. You’ll want to remember how you solved certain problems, and what you still need to do to solve others. You’ll also want to step back and enjoy the ride. Reflection is a treasured time for resting with everything that’s coming up for you.
Take time every day just to reflect on your experience. When you have a project, pay special attention to the changes it makes in your life. You might notice imbalances in your work and leisure time. You might miss out in your relationships. It’s important to really be okay with the way you life evolves when you do step into your creativity.
There are sacrifices that must be made in order to develop our talents. If we can’t talk about those sacrifices, then we risk lying to ourselves and saying it was easy. Using journal prompts for creativity to inspire your art takes devotion and it takes guts. When we reflect, we turn the mirror on ourselves and ask, am I still okay?
By reflecting on our art, we keep it in our hearts. We remind ourselves why we set out to share our craft with others. Creativity is within every one of us and it’s an inexhaustible resource. Even when it feels unattainable, we have our journals to remind us that it is always at our fingertips.
A lot of people worry about losing the spark, or about falling out of practice. That is precisely why we should each prioritize structure and devotion in our lives. Everyone of us is capable of infinite creativity. When we tap into that well, we want to make sure we have the canal in place to let the waters run.
20 Journal Prompts for Inspiring Creativity
- Write about a childhood memory that still brings a smile to your face.
- If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
- Describe a moment in your life when you felt the most alive.
- Write a story or poem about a time you lost something or someone important to you.
- What is your biggest fear and how do you overcome it?
- If you could have a conversation with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and what would you talk about?
- Write about a dream you had last night or a recurring dream you have had.
- If you could learn any skill, what would it be and why?
- Write about a time you took a risk and what you learned from the experience.
- If you could change one event in history, what would it be and why?
- Write about a place that holds special meaning to you and why.
- If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
- Describe a time when you felt the most grateful.
- Write about a person who has had a significant impact on your life.
- If you could live in any time period, which one would you choose and why?
- Write about a moment of triumph or victory, big or small.
- If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?
- Write about a goal you have for yourself and why it is important to you.
- If you could relive one day from your past, which one would it be and why?
- Write about a time when you showed kindness to someone or something, and how it affected you.
