get artsy

when was the last time you made something with your hands that had no practical purpose? something messy, imperfect, and completely pointless by productivity standards?

if you can't remember, your creative side is suffocating.

the case for making useless things

everything in your life is optimized. your schedule is efficient. your work is measurable. your habits are tracked. you've turned yourself into a productivity machine — and you've starved the part of you that just wants to play.

art is the antidote. not gallery art or instagram-worthy art. just art. the kind where you get paint on your hands, or clay under your fingernails, or glass dust on your clothes.

try something you've never done

the key word is "new." don't default to the creative thing you're already comfortable with. the discomfort of being a complete beginner is the point.

some options:

• finger painting — yes, like a five-year-old. there's a reason kids love it. it's direct, tactile, and impossible to take seriously
• pottery — shaping something from raw clay is meditative in a way that's hard to describe until you've done it
• glass blowing — hot, dangerous, and absolutely fascinating. many studios offer beginner classes
• watercolors — beautifully unpredictable. you can't fully control them, which forces you to let go
• collage — no drawing skills required. just scissors, magazines, glue, and whatever emerges

why this matters for your brain

creative activity activates neural pathways that logical work doesn't touch. it engages your right hemisphere, builds new connections between brain regions, and puts you into flow states that are nearly impossible to access through analytical work alone.

you'll also rediscover something important: the joy of doing something just because it's fun. not for a grade, not for a client, not for social media. just for the experience of making something that didn't exist before.

kill the perfectionist

the biggest barrier to creativity isn't talent. it's the fear of being bad at something. get over it. make something terrible. make something weird. make something that makes you laugh at how awful it is.

the process is the point. the product is irrelevant.

go make a beautiful mess.

if this resonated, share it with someone who needs to hear it.