With the rapid improvements in AI, it’s more important than ever to keep your creativity alive as it’s one of the best defenses against the rising trend of automation. Even if you don’t buy into all the hype around AI, keeping your creativity alive has always been a challenge and as so we’ve connected with some of the most creative folks in our community to discuss tactics and strategies for keeping your creativity alive.

Augie Haas

I think the best way to keep your creativity alive is to surround yourself by people who inspire you. I believe it leaves you thirsting to want to be better and always push yourself creatively and as an artist. Additionally, think an artist shouldn’t wait until a product is “perfect”. My favorite part of any process is the creating of something new and not necessarily the finished product. I always try and put out the best product I can of course and think people get stuck creatively when they can’t move on from an idea because it is not “perfect”. Read More>>

Nadia Alawa

Quiet times are for recharging and keeping my mind free and open to new ideas. I love the quiet. I let my mind rest and find ideas springing forth in the quiet. I always make it a point to go to bed – turn off the light with no phone and no worries – before I am dead tired to ensure that my mind can get emptied out. That helps with keeping my stress down and my spirit open for new ideas. Read More>>

Nadjhla Gracia

Creativity is not something I wait on, it is something I live. From my earliest sketches to nights drafting patterns and feeling fabrics between my fingers, I’ve always let my love for fashion lead the way. What keeps my creativity alive is staying connected to the process. It’s in the textures of fabric, the boldness of color, the architecture of Miami, and the stories of powerful women who came before me. Read More>>

Kim Geiser

As a lifelong highly creative person, I have made a habit of being creative in some way, everyday. Career wise I have tried almost every creative endeavor possible starting with a little consignment shop where I sold my handpainted cards and floral arrangements to writing tutorial articles for mixed media magazines to writing and illustrating my own book to solo art shows featuring my collage and paintings to traveling with a mixed media retreat company helping others find their creative voice to now running a successful creative reuse center in Sheboygan Wisconsin.  Read More>>

Aurelien Scagnolari

Honestly, my creativity doesn’t come from books or podcasts.

It comes from spending hours every week with founders and CEOs who are building, scaling, and sometimes exiting game-changing companies. I’ve worked closely with a founder who sold for $50M+, another who exited at $600M, a CEO running an $80M/year operation, and execs from billion-dollar media companies. Read More>>

 Jeremy Brown

For me, creativity isn’t something you “keep alive” as much as it’s something you fight to protect. Life, especially as an independent filmmaker, doesn’t hand you peaceful windows of inspiration. You have to carve them out between bills, stress, and self-doubt.

What helps me most is remembering why I create. I tell stories because I have something to say, something personal, sometimes painful, but always worth shaping into art. I also surround myself with people who aren’t afraid to challenge me, like my wife and longtime collaborators. That creative friction keeps me sharp. Read More>>

Gay Walley

I follow ideas down rabbit holes, don’t dismiss them till I really know they won’t work out. In other words, I have a great capacity for risk. Risking writing or making a film that may not work but I have to do it to find out if it will work or not. I don’t pre-judge things. Sometimes projects reveal they can’t work and then I drop them, but if I retain enthusiasm, even while clear the project still may not work, I carry on. Part of that is that I enjoy making something. Read More>>

 Jinha Kang

For me, I believe creativity thrives on curiosity. When my curiosity is alive, so is my creativity. I actively cultivate a sense of wonder in my everyday life, approaching the world with questions rather than assumptions. I’m especially drawn to the overlooked and the ordinary, which often hold the most unexpected inspiration. One habit that fuels my creativity is taking unplanned walks. Wandering without a set destination allows me to notice details I might otherwise miss. Read More>>

Ziggy Yang

I keep my creativity alive by putting myself in unfamiliar situations, but at the same time, I’m always reflecting on my own experiences and what I already know. Being in new environments often makes me rethink things I took for granted—this friction between the familiar and the new gives me fresh ideas. Honestly, the best inspirations usually come when I’m slightly uncomfortable or questioning my old ways of thinking.  Read More>>

Yukari Edamitsu

For me, creativity thrives on discipline and routine. The more I create, the more ideas flow—so I make it a priority to spend as much time as possible in the studio. While yesterday’s work becomes today’s inspiration, visiting museums and galleries to see the masters works motivates me to keep evolving. I find that being present with my process, sitting with a piece for a long time, opens up an internal dialogue. Read More>>

Bevanny Stearman

As an author, my mind is always churning to come up with new ideas and flesh out books I’m working on. When I’m excited about a project, it’s like a persistent hum in the back of my mind that I can’t turn off, even when I’m focused on other things.

Much of my inspiration stems from my family, my friends, and my boyfriend, but ultimately, God provides me with the creativity and imagination to develop stories. Since I began praying for God’s will to be done within my writing, I’ve felt more inspired than ever before, like He is revealing ideas to me so I can improve my work for His glory. Read More>>

J Von Tobel

Every story starts with a singe idea rattling around in your head. You don’t have the words to express its beauty, even if you took hours to explain. It is likely half formed, full of holes, and the most staggeringly beautiful things you’ve ever seen. This will happen again and again. Sometimes those beautiful ideas become stories. Sometimes they collapse like a table with too thin legs. It will happen again and again and again. Read More>>

Odin Blackgrove

It’s been said that one cannot seek creativity through will power alone. If creativity is feeling limited it’s because we ourselves have limited our personal connection with it. Creativity is unquantifiable and limitless. That lack of limitation might be frightening to us to consider at times; it can seem similar to being clueless. That limitlessness is true liberation, though. A cage that you can never reach the bars is hardly a prison. Read More>>

Chloe

Growing up, I was fortunate to have a family that was very crafts-oriented. We had a cupboard full of glitter glue, colourful paper, beads, paint, and lots of other creative options. I would jump from one project to the next, depending on what I felt like doing, whether it was experimenting with a new coloured sand kit, or making a 20th macrame bracelet to add to my collection. Read More>>

Norlynne Coar

My favorite way to keep my creativity alive is to travel. For me, it’s always good to shake up my vision, to look at things from different perspectives and see things in a new light, and to revisit places I love.

New environments, new shapes, new colors and new energy breathe life into me, and I stumble upon things that pique my curiosity or captivate me for whatever reason. There are also certain periods in history and cultures I’ve studied that resonate with me and inspire my imagination. Read More>>

Cheyoon Lee

Though I grew up in Seoul, a densely populated and noisy city of South Korea, my heart has always belonged to the serenity of the countryside. Thus, although I grew up a city girl, I often cherished a short getaway to the quiet countryside because I could often lie in the cabin and feel the breeze surrounded by tall trees and listen to music, and these enriching sensations kept my creativity alive. Indeed, these moments helped me a lot when I played music and encouraged me to develop my imagination and creativity as I naturally had the urge to express those emotions into sound. I don’t know how it started or why – Read More>>

Ezra Henderson

Creativity comes in waves for me. Sometimes entire songs will flow effortlessly out of me in 30 minutes, other times it seems nearly impossible to come up with an idea I don’t hate. I think the most important part is to stay consistent but not force it. Set aside time each day to allow yourself to be creative, without being tied to a result. This keeps the opportunities for those golden moments, without suffocating your art under the stress of the result Read More>>

Jack Robertson

I keep my creativity alive by choosing things that drive my passion. As a filmmaker and an actor, I chose the entertainment industry, knowing that it was the path for me. I needed something that would both challenge me every day, but also continue to inspire me to be better and to make art that inspires others. Every day is a new challenge, but in a fun creative way. I wouldn’t do it any other way. Read More>>

The Rabbit’s Cave

Honestly, keeping our creativity alive is just part of our everyday life. We get inspired by empty walls and start thinking, “What story could we tell here?” Sometimes just walking around, listening to music, or talking with each other brings new ideas. It’s not forced—it’s just how we live. We love what we do, and that keeps it fresh. Read More>>

 Chér Jey Cuffie-Samateh

I am a forever student! I take all kinds of classes- art, music, dance, professional and personal development. Stepping outside of what you do well informs your art. You might find that you have a hidden talent, it may augment your professional work and/or contribute to your mental health. My dance genre is Afro-Cuban (over 20 years). I also began singing the traditional songs, later fusing it with jazz vocal styling. For the past 5 or 6 years, I’ve been exploring folkloric dance from the African diaspora: Puerto Rican Bomba, Haitian, Brazilian, West African. Read More>>

MAMI POPO

I keep my creativity alive by always remembering why I started to create in the first place. It’s easy to lose focus, but when I think on why I started or the things that inspired me before I initially began a creative journey it sparks something in me. Read More>>

Caitlin Aasen

I keep creativity alive by constantly working in diverse ways that keep me inspired and engaged. I love working abstractly because it offers complete freedom—there are no boundaries, which allows me to explore ideas and emotions in an open, intuitive way. At the same time, I also paint pet portraits, which is more structured but just as rewarding. I have a deep love for animals, and I enjoy hearing the stories behind each one. Read More>>

Baiyu Qu

1. Daily Connection to Nature:
Living in Hawaii, I’m constantly surrounded by incredible beauty — ocean textures, volcanic rocks, and tropical flora. Every weekend, I might go hiking just to reconnect with nature.

2. Sketch Every Day:
Sketching is actually a big part of my work. My messy sketchbook is where I develop ideas and capture raw inspiration — with no pressure to make anything “good.” Sometimes the worst doodle leads to the best future piece. Read More>>

Steven Alvarez

My creativity comes from my real life experiences and desires. I write my music for small films I have in my mind which I constantly have playing while I’m driving, cooking, or out walking with my daughter. Doing this, alongside listening to the artists that influence my sound, helps stay in a constant creative flow. Read More>>

Kyle DeLucca

It is our belief that creativity stays alive through connection—and for us, that’s what theater is all about. In fact, the tagline for our organization is “The Magic of Theater Through The Power of Community.” As a small, non-profit community theater group, we truly lean into the collaborative nature of this art form in order to put together large scale musical productions. Through the passion of our volunteers and community members, we’re able to deliver quality entertainment to our little city of South Amboy. It’s incredibly inspiring to witness the unique talents each person brings to the table, both on and off stage. At the end of the day, we’re simply a group of people united by a shared love for the performing arts—and because of that, we’re able to create something meaningful and memorable together. Read More>>

Joshua Lucas

Creativity for me is like a cocktail that’s equal parts technique, history, chaos, and whatever questionable decisions led me there in the first place. I can’t just cut and paste and expect fireworks. That’s amateur hour. No, you’ve gotta throw yourself into the unknown, shake things up (literally)… there’s also late nights you embrace innovative ideas as Jim Croce would do, post-3 am.

I pull inspiration from everywhere: history, costume shops, bar stool theologians… Look at Salvador Dalí. The man didn’t just paint; he melted time, wore lobsters as hats, and probably hallucinated half his career into existence. He once sold a blade of grass for $10K to Yoko Ono, when it was supposed to be hair from his mustache. Dali said “I don’t do drugs. I am drugs.” that’s creativity at its purest. You don’t sit around hoping for a great idea to show up; you become the idea. Read More>>

Charlotte Lilley

Creativity, or more specifically my long-lost creativity, is something I’ve been yearning for and something I used to have in abundance. As a kid, I lived in my imagination. Art, fashion, gift wrapping, rock stacking, playing with my imaginary dog (only child things!) – all of it! I loved making things with my hands, wandering outside, talking to animals, getting lost in colors and ideas. Creativity was effortless back then and was a natural extension of how I played and saw the world. Read More>>

Katy Sewall

I believe that creativity is fueled by curiosity. It is about continuing to learn, rather than thinking you already have all the answers.

Creatively, I have worked in radio and podcasting for over 20 years. For nine of them, I was the senior producer of a morning show on National Public Radio (NPR), responsible for producing a live, two hour show every single day. Each hour featured a new topic, with unique guests and different themes. That means, over the course of my tenure, we came up with at least 4,680 unique ideas that went to broadcast. Read More>>

Morgan Turner

Ooh, this is a really important one, and something that I didn’t ever really consider when I started pursuing a career as a creative.
The reality of turning a creative outlet in to something you rely on to pay your bills, is that it can really affect how you feel about it if you’re not careful, and it’s crucial to find ways to keep your creativity alive. Read More>>

James Moorer

The answer is a bit complex because my creativity is also a huge part of my business model, so I am dually motivated to always stay in a state of purposeful imagination. It’s not just about being positive, but by consistently asking myself, what if? Read More>>

Tatum Crenshaw-Murphy

I keep my creativity alive by constantly dreaming and learning from others! I continually dream about new goals to accomplish. I love being around other creators who help motivate me. I never stay stagnant. Being creative comes in so many different forms. If I’m not focusing on being creative in film, I create in my kitchen. I love to come up with new recipes, learn to create sauces from scratch. I love creating new looks with my hair changing colors and different styles. There are absolutely no limitations on keeping your creativity alive. Read More>>

D’Angelo Caywood “Kwood

Create something meaningful. Each chance you get! Even if it’s hard work. Even if it challenges you. Because to make something meaningful, takes real effort and that will always push you towards your “best” self. That’s how I keep my creativity alive. Show up, put the work in and never stop trying new things. Read More>>

Yiling Jiang

I believe creativity comes from curiosity, and the key to staying curious is to keep observing and feeling life. Sometimes, I intentionally step away from the screen, go outside, and clear my mind by changing my environment. When I’m no longer in “work mode” and just focus on experiencing life, inspiration often flows naturally. I usually jot down these fragmented ideas in my notes—they serve as my archive of creative material. These sources of creativity don’t have clear boundaries—a song, a story, an emotion, or even a gut feeling can spark something. Read More>>

Debi Spencer-Zerby

To keep my creativity alive, I am always learning whether it is through new training, following other creatives, or finding inspiration in everyday life. I enjoy taking an idea or theme and allowing my imagination to shape it into something beautiful and unique. I also make an effort to stay ahead of current trends so my work continues to grow and evolve, while still remaining true to my style. Read More>>