Why You Can’t Turn Your Creativity Into ANYTHING

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▼ Timestamps ▼
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00:35 - Reddit post
03:47 - How to bloom creatively
09:30 - Gratifying impulses
14:36 - Train your impulsivity
22:30 - Questions
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Today Dr.K talks about how to stay creative, how to always be creative, how to act on your ideas, how to turn ideas into reality, how to be creative, how to create something, how to follow through, and more. HealthyGamer also discusses what to do when unmotivated, how to fix motivation, how to build a habit, habit building creativity, creative habits, and more.

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All guests of Healthy Gamer are informed of the public, non-medical nature of the content and have expressly agreed to share their story.

[sioframay]

I find when I start a new craft I feel like my efforts are childlike in nature. Lately I keep trying to remind myself that the reason it looks childlike is that I'm a beginner and generally children are also beginners. It's made a big difference in the amount of patience I have with a task.

[trent]

Setting a time limit is SO important. When you tell yourself, "I am going to spend the whole day being creative!" you either burn out or do nothing.

[alejrandom]

30:04 "the reason why you think creativity only flows at random times is because the way you allowed it to flow is only at random times"
Man you just speak liquid gold

[matchasgotcha]

I used to think i wasn't creative after playing piano, violin and guitar for two years each. I didn't love them but I also wasn't patient. You don't need to be in the arts to be creative - you can be creative as a teacher, manager, and in many other professions. Hobbies as well

[motherofcards]

I'm an artist with ADHD, so naturally my interests are driven by impulse. I definitely wax and wane when it comes to completing work and posting to my socials, this has been really helpful to understand the core roots of this poster's issue and make everything click. What I found helps to curb the impulsive creative ideas is to keep an idea book, write down the thought, and then continue on with discipline.

[rvbyx]

i needed this video more than i ever, EVER thought. i genuinely thought this wasnt something people talked about and had no idea why i was feeling that way.

[wpelfeta]

I think the thing that helped me the most when being creative is breaking things down into bite sized chunks. I used to have so many ideas floating around in my head an no skills to do it, and no idea where to start. But if you break everything down into tiny, tiny chunks, you have a clear path to follow. I break everything out into 30 minute chunks. If I don't think I can complete the chunk within a 30 minute session, then it means it's still too big. Then I break it down even smaller so it does fit in a 30 minute session. (In fact, when I first started this, and I wasn't used to working for even 30 minutes at a time, so I would break things down so far that I could literally fit it in 10 minute sessions. But now I have enough attention span to work for 30 minutes.) I put all of this into a To Do list and just grind away at it. Sometimes I'll get bored, and I take Dr K's advice from a previous video about being a Wind type person: It's okay! Just do something else (creative! not games) and come back later. And over the past year, I've felt like I've been the most productive I have ever been. And the thing that gives me motivation is looking back at my checklist and seeing each step I completed checked off, and getting the satisfaction that even if my project is still way too early to show anyone, I can feel the progress being made and I know where my trajectory is going. And I know that one day, I'm going to finish it and it's going to be amazing. (The Checklist is the secret sauce + in between 30 minute session I meditate for 5 minutes to relax, refresh, and prepare for the next 30 minute session) .

And if I don't have the skill to do something, I'll just do what I can as a placeholder and come back later to fix it up better when I've picked up more skills. The important thing imo is to not get stuck in a learning loop, which is what used to happen to me. I'd learn and learn and learn and never create anything. So now I just acknowledge I don't have certain skills and just try to work around it temporarily. So I balance my day with a little bit of learning, but try to mostly focus on creating.

Also another important part is giving yourself enough time to play + plan time for family time. So really on weekdays, I only get in about 1.5 to 2 hours of quality work. Because the rest is family time or video game time. I think it's important not to lie to yourself and think that you can work without play forever and ever. After all, you have to enjoy life. But 2 hours a day will make surprising amounts of progress over time!

And if I'm still feeling burnt out, I will reduce my work time down to just 1 or less hours a day until I feel motivated again. But I try to at least maintain 30 minutes a day just to stay in the zone if that makes sense. I've noticed that if I go a few days without quality work sessions, my attention span deteriorates very quickly and it can be weeks before I pickup motivation again. So I try not to let any days slip without quality work.

[the_markoman]

Something to keep in mind is that there is no golden formula for creative habits. If you look at successful authors and their habits you'll find that they all have radically different schedules. So seek to find a habit that fits you, and don't assume there are specific correct habits - what matters is simply that the habit lends itself to your individual needs and productivity.

[FlashySenap]

I can relate way too much. My issue hasn't always been impatience at every turn. More so my perfectionistic nature commbined with no fast way to accumilate information needed in order to get past the obstacle I'm facing. Spending hours just trying to find a video that can tell me how to get something working just kills the mood. I'm also extremely bad at following the red thread in information. It becomes the mmindset "i need to learn everything to be able to do anything".

[jletsgoo]

6:20 'just practice'
5:50 answer 1? develop discipline
7:50 brain is efficient, dislikes adversity
can train
neurons fire, repeat: habits formed
dont need to restrict/control impulse
gratify
10:15 impulse is (+) energy, but then u get frustrated, then stop
11:28 looking for formula, how to sustain 'impulse'
❌ [explosion of creativity] + discipline = success
13:10 relying on firecracker over candle
train your impulsivity
14:35 ! train your impulsivity
starting on impulse, cant sustain
15:20 meditating: recognise the reason/focus, lvling up impulsivity
15:40 train attention on 1 thing, mind wanders, but try to focus on candle
15:55 wait for the wandering mind,
watch the smoke, mind wanders, bring it back (mind pushup, return)
17:05 slow down your start:
feel like doing it for 1000h/day?
❌
recognise u have a limited amount of fuel,
set aside a specific time each day,
! space out creative energy to last, into habit formation

19:20 u need to have that creative energy LAST til u can recruit other parts of ur brain: building a schedule, habit formation
20:20 decouple actions from reward,
so actions are not reward/impulse based
- 3 checkboxes: " I did what I was supposed to do today, good job!"

25:30 mindset shift. diagnosing the problem: giving into impatient/creative impulses make u stuck

[sweethope]

I've been so bummed that I couldn't make a manga in my 20s that I've wanted to create since I was a teenager (I'm 36 now) I have more time for it now being childless and having all my friends turn into parents/moving away. I need this creative consistency to help my loneliness out so tysm Dr. K for this lecture! The 2 hour a day window is totally doable and easy to manage :)

[TylerCampbell]

"You only have a right to the action itself and never to the fruits of that action. Do not make the rewards your motive and do not develop any attachment for avoiding action." Your comment at the end there reminded me of this verse.

Thanks for the great content man. It's helping me understand my brain a bit and feel validated and hopeful.

[kah]

In regards to his last statement I think it’s also recognizable when someone is truly putting creative effort into a project. Too often I’ve seen people criticize a game, show, event, etc. because it feels like a corporate mandate. People can often feel when someone has put consideration and effort into a passion.

[mrjokioo]

"The brain is kind of like an animal, and it does what it's trained to do." That's really well put.

[AFGH]

Ive just realise that "burst of creative energy" is what people usually call an "inspiration". Im amazed how well Dr K navigates people emotions

[matheuswohl]

this video is a good example of the importance of "how/why it works" as opposed to just "what works"

[domehead]

Doctor K is really out here helping people to achieve their full potential, I impulsively love this guy.

[dewberry]

You gotta focus on the process not the results. As soon as I focus on whatever the results are I hate everything I do. That’s when impatients sets in.

Enjoying what you do even when you feel miserable doing it. You might not like that moment but there’s gratitude just in the fact that you’re doing it.

The other big thing is write things down! If you have an idea when you are working on a different project don’t pursue it. Put it somewhere for safe keeping and then when you have some free time you can play with the idea a little bit. But that’s not what you’re committed too right now. Saving it for later doesn’t mean you have to throw away the joy it gives you it means it’s not a priority. So giving constraints and giving your mind a chance to slow down so even if you chose to follow what started as an impulse it is now an intentional choice. That’s helped me reach my goals.

[I-Hate-The-New-Handles]

Doc, I literally just started out writing a month ago and had this problem for a week now. This video couldn't have had a better timing.

[ErebosGR]

I've also struggled with this vicious cycle many many times, through dozens of hobbies and activities.
Other factors that may exarcebate this problematic pattern are a perfectionist's mentality and an anxiety/fear of failure.

A helpful mnemonic I've found is setting bite-sized, S.M.A.R.T. tasks/goals:
Specific – the task must be specific.
Measurable – the task needs to either be quantifiable or at least have an indicator of progress.
Achievable – the task must be realistically achievable.
Relevant – the task should contribute towards an overall progress.
Time-limited – the task should be bound by time constraints, either a time schedule or deadline.