Twyla Tharp & Habit Changing

Twyla Tharp, a choreographer, has been an inspiration for over four decades. It only takes the willingness to make creating a habit to make it a part of your life. It is the result of hard work and planning, and it is within everyone’s reach. There’s no escaping the fact that creativity isn’t a mystery. It is the result of hard work and preparation, of understanding one’s goals and subject, and of learning from previous approaches.

Some key ideas are:-

1. Follow your creative path.

“It is a reality that we all have strands of creative code hard-wired into our imaginations,” says one expert. These strands are as deeply ingrained in our DNA as the genetic code that defines our height and eye colour, with the exception that they control our creative impulses.

2. Understand the ins and outs of your trade.

Recognized that the more you understand the nuts and bolts of your trade, the more thoroughly you may express your abilities. Great draughtsmen are incomparable to great artists. They can also mix their paint, grind it, and apply the fixative; no work is too tiny for them to pay attention to.

Great composers are frequently brilliant musicians as well.  The best authors are those who are well-read. All of these people have mastered the essential abilities of their creative field and built their originality on top of that solid foundation.”

3. Combine your desire to do something with your skill to do it.

“If you don’t have passion, all the knowledge in the world won’t help you rise above craft.  If you don’t have the appropriate talents, all your desire in the world won’t help you. Combining the two is at the heart of the creative life.”

‘Whether or whether it brings us praise, acceptance, or money, we need this breadth and passion if we want to keep perfecting our craft.’

4. Make a ritual out of your creative practice.

“Professionals and Athletes are very particular to make a ritual before starting their actual activities-it just as an anchor to the subconscious mind. A professional golfer may travel down the fairway conversing with his caddie, playing partner, or a pleasant official or scorekeeper, but as he stands behind the ball and takes a deep breath, he has signalled to himself that it is time to focus.

They replace doubt and dread with comfort and routine by automating the commencement of the sequence.”

5. Create a suitable workstation and atmosphere.

“Always try to select a place and location which is comfortable and convenient for executing our work without any external interactions. It should entice you to visit, and once you’ve found it, stick with it. You’ll need a working atmosphere to develop your creative habit. All preferred working states, no matter how bizarre, have one thing in common: they compel you to get started when you enter them.”

6. Invest in yourself.

“Make it a top priority for you. Make an effort to work around it. Money is available for use once your necessities have been met. Always utilize the wealth & money that you earn for a better purpose for yourself and others.

7. Don’t put too much emphasis on money.

It’s tempting to believe that if we could buy anything we wanted, the amount and quality of our creative output would skyrocket, but it was seen far too many artists dry up once they had enough money in the bank. Here only money matters don’t give too much importance to money rather focus on your talents.

8. Simply do it. Creativity is a labour of love.

“Immerse yourself in the work’s subtleties. Commit to mastering all aspects. Simultaneously, take a step back to examine if the work scans, that is, if it is understandable to an unwashed audience. Don’t get so wrapped up in what you’re saying that you forget what you’re trying to say.”

9. Don’t do anything because you feel obligated to.

“Understand that dedication & obligation are entirely different and both should go hand in hand, and it’s certainly not a good justification to keep doing something that isn’t working.” “Obligation is a shaky foundation for creativity, ranking far behind passion, courage, instinct, and the desire to achieve greatness.”

10. Always have an attitude of faith and belief

“Confidence is a quality that must be earned honestly and maintained regularly; you must work just as hard to safeguard your abilities as you did to develop them…  One thing that all creative spirits have in common is that they all need to practise to keep their skills sharp. “Art is a large habit-based democracy.” “Creativity is a habit, and the finest creativity comes from good work habits.” In a nutshell, that’s it.