Creativity Explored: The Benefits of Repetition

When the nature of creativity is explored, the importance of repetition is revealed.

Working as a creative career consultant, I have learned over the years that repetition helps us to discover our personal rhythms and know them more intimately. This knowledge saves time, maximizes our energy and creativity. Repetition lubricates creativity, expands capacity, and helps develop effective working patterns that result in higher efficiency. No matter what the creative goal–a project, portfolio or marketing plan–repetition plays a key role in the creative process, up through completion.

Among creativity tools, repetition is key because it deepens our learning on two levels.

On the conscious level, repetition increases our mastery in using the new knowledge and tools we’ve learned. Increased mastery makes the new tasks more automatic, conserving more energy. Repetition is a sort of lubricant for the creative process, easing the way for new learning to “sink in.” Have you noticed? When you learn a new task related to your creative project but do not repeat it, the learning begins to fall away? When finally returning to the task, part of your time must be invested in re-learning what you’ve forgotten. If one of your goals is to maximize your creative growth, mastery through repetition is essential.

With sufficient repetition, the learning on the conscious level deepens to internalize on the unconscious level. Our capacity expands to include instinct and intuition that guide us into more efficient choices and more elegant outcomes. Somewhat mysteriously, the unconscious energies become interwoven with the conscious ones, directing us toward our primary and secondary goals more efficiently. Most creative people have experienced those times in the creative process when energy seems to build exponentially and the project seems to take on “a life of its own.” This experience is a result of fusion between the conscious and unconscious operations.

New tasks bring tension because they are unfamiliar. Repetition helps us to grow comfortable with what feels, at first, uncomfortable. This discomfort is an essential ingredient in creative growth–not to be avoided but rather wholly embraced. With repetition, discomfort gives way to more and more comfort. At this point, we stretch again, to learn another new task. This brings discomfort again, but further repetition gives way to comfort again, and so on. As we use repetition properly, each action builds more momentum on both the conscious and unconscious levels. We begin to experience less trial and error, fewer false starts, and more efficient use of time. With increased knowledge and sharpened instincts, our actions become progressively more effective. (Click here for help on your marketing plan, project, portfolio or creative career change.)

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*Essay by Barbara Bowen of GatewaysCoaching.com - the definitive source for artists and creative careers in transition. Contact Barbara to empower your creative process and for help with your career goals. She would love to hear from you.*