Creativity isn’t an occupation; it’s a preoccupation.
The truly great creative people I know are constantly working. Looking, thinking, watching. They are curious by nature, fascinated not just by their own interests and experiences but those of other people too. Everything they encounter is being absorbed, processed, and re-formed, eventually to return in some new shape as an idea. I think of these people as transmitters – they absorb diverse, random messages, influences, and thoughts, then reinterpret and play them back to an audience in new and fresh ways.
Being fascinated, inquisitive, informed, and engaged is an all-day, everyday activity. It doesn’t have an on-off button. It doesn’t have a stopwatch attached. It is constant. A way of living and of being that never switches off. If you don’t want to live like that then don’t follow a creative profession.
Of course, the danger is that your passion spills over into obsession and you become a bore. Nobody wants to be one of those.
So be careful.
I work in advertising but I don’t live in it.
And neither should you. You really ought to get out more often. Look around you. The more surprising and disparate your inputs are, the more interesting the outcomes will be.
Staying open to new ideas, new places, and new people will feed your creative soul. Lack of inspiration may be just another way of saying lack of experience.