Reinventing Your Creative Life in 4 Months

A Blueprint for Energizing Your Artistry and Refining Your Creative Process

Reflecting on where we stand and where we’re headed is vital in our creative journey. It’s a practice we emphasize for good reason in The Intentional Artist newsletter, especially as the year winds down.

Being proactive, rather than reactive, lets us define success on our own terms. This is about setting ourselves up to win according to our individual aspirations.

Reinventing ourselves, in our art and in our lives, is a deliberate choice, and it’s a process we should engage in regularly.

As 2023 comes to a close and we’re all feeling a bit introspective, it’s the perfect time for a creative renewal. If you’re a creative—whether you’re an artist, musician, writer, or in any other creative field—feeling stuck or eager to inject new life into your work, the new year is an excellent opportunity to start afresh.

In this issue, I want to share a practical plan that can help transform your creative life in just 4 months.

Let’s kick off the new year together with a burst of fresh energy and ideas for your creative work. Join me on this 4-month journey to refresh and inspire your creative spirit.

Here’s a quick overview of what we’ll cover in this edition:

• Building simple daily habits for creative momentum

• Reconnecting with core creative values

• Regaining control over your schedule and commitments

• Strategically revitalizing aspects of your lifestyle

While working through this plan will require some commitment, the beginning of a new year is the perfect time to embark on it.

With consistent, small steps and clear goals, we can achieve significant improvements over the next few months.

I hope you’ll join this journey of transformation. Start planning now, and together, let’s make 2024 a landmark year for our creative endeavors.

Ready? Let’s dive in...

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Reinventing your creative life in as little as 4 months is achievable with the appropriate framework. The following step-by-step guide introduces a concept called ‘Deep Life,’ a framework inspired by the principles in Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work, yet uniquely tailored to suit the creative mindset. Over a 16 week period, we’ll explore how this framework can systematically transform your creative pursuits.

Step 1: Set Up Core Systems for Tracking Creative Habits

Time-frame: 2 weeks

The first step is to set up your foundation, what we’ll call your “core” — a central place to track the key habits, routines, and systems you’ll use during this creative reinvention.

Here are some ideas for your creative core/foundation:

• A notebook or journal to track creative habits

• An editorial calendar to schedule creative projects

• A vision board with images that inspire your creative goals

• Set up a basic tracking system to monitor daily behaviors

Take the first 2 weeks to identify 3-5 “key habits” — small, positive habits you can do daily to jumpstart creative momentum. Things like:

• Spend 10 mins journaling new ideas

• Do morning pages writing exercise

• Spend 30 mins learning a creative skill

• Practice instrument for 15 minutes

The key here is to cement regular creative habits, even starting very small, that provide structure as you rebuild.

Common mistake: Getting overambitious with habits and unrealistic schedules that quickly fall apart.

Better approach: Start very small with realistic micro-habits done daily. Then build up intensity over time.

Step 2: Reconnect with Your Core Creative Values

Time-frame: 4 weeks

With basic habits running, spend the next month reconnecting with your deeper creative values using a two-pronged approach:

Part A: Re-read or re-watch influential creative works that previously inspired you. Use these to tap back into your core creative values.

Part B: Write a first draft of your own “Creative Code” — a personal manifesto capturing your creative values and vision of a creatively well-lived life.

Some key sections to include:

• What originally drew you to create?

• What creative values matter most to you?
  Originality?
  Craftsmanship?
  Emotional impact?

• How do you want creative pursuits to fit into your broader life vision?

• What daily or weekly rituals will keep you connected to these creative values?

Revisiting old inspirations combined with codifying your own creative code provides a compass to guide your reinvention.

Step 3: Regain Control and Reduce Creative Commitments

Time-frame: 4 weeks

With core values reconnected, now focus on regaining control over your calendar. Creative lives can easily get scattered chasing opportunities or overwhelmed by external obligations.

Use the next 4 weeks to implement “multi-scale planning” to take back control:

Seasonal Calendar: Every 3 months, update a high-level creative plan with goals for the season.

Weekly Plans: Each week, review the seasonal plan to create your weekly creative plan sent. Block off key work times.

Daily Schedules: Set a daily schedule protecting 2-4 hour creative work blocks. Time block each hour.

This multi-level planning system allows you to align daily schedules to weekly objectives to seasonal creative goals. More control and less chaos.

Next, armed with better insight into where your time and energy are best spent, strategically reduce less fruitful commitments, relationships, or projects, opening up new space to focus on what matters most, creatively.

Step 4: Small & Large Creative Lifestyle Overhauls

Time-frame: 6 weeks

You’ve built a more solid daily routine and taken back control of your calendar. Now the exciting part — using that foundation to transform aspects of your lifestyle.

Small Overhaul Ideas (Done in weeks 9-12)

Following are examples of potential 1-2 month creative passion projects:

• Launch a YouTube channel to teach a skill

• Write a short zine around a creative theme/story

• Record a 3-4 song music EP

• Organize a local gallery show of your work

• Learn a whole new artistic medium at an intensive pace

Large Overhaul Ideas (Planning started in weeks 13-16)

At the same time, start investing in and scheming your next big creative life leap over a longer 1-2 year timeline.

Some common large overhauls we see are things like:

• Quit day job to focus on art full-time

• Organize financing and plans for a creative business

• Dramatically change creative medium or process

• Plan a move to a new creative hub location

• Apply for an intensive mentorship or residency program

Next Steps

The key to successfully reinventing your creative life is having a structured system to make big changes while starting small.

The 4-month Deep Life framework guides you through setting up that structured transformation in a step-by-step way tailored specifically to the creative lifestyle.

Here’s a quick recap of the phases:

1. Set Up Core Habits & Tracking

2. Reconnect with Values

3. Regain Calendar Control

4. Small & Large Creative Overhauls

Rather than random acts of creation whenever inspiration strikes, use this guide to make remarkable creative living a daily practice. The creative juices will start flowing faster than ever within just 16 weeks.

Trust me when I say that it won’t always be easy, but stay committed to the process. Your creative future self will thank you.

So, what are you waiting for?

Grab your journal, your vision board supplies, your seasonal editorial calendar and let the creative reinvention begin!

That’s it for this issue of The Intentional Artist.

As always, if this resonated or was of help, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Artfully yours,
Chris

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