Our Founder & Creative Director, Beck Wadworth, shares her top 4 tips on how to harness your creativity, including the importance of great technology, embracing your creative waves & why you should put pen to paper.

1. Go with your creative waves

First things first, as a creative it's important to learn & identify a few key things that are unique to each individual. 

• When & where are you the most productive?
• When & where are you the most creative?

The answer to these two questions can provide the essentials tools needed to harness & push your creativity. 

Of course, as all creatives know, we can get those lightbulb moments at the strangest of times. It's important to use these creative waves to your advantage. Sometimes allocating a set time to a project just doesn't work. Your mind is blank when it comes to ideas & in turn you end up wasting hours trying to force the moment. My tip: Instead, when this happens, acknowledge that it's not the right creative moment, move on to something else on your to-do list, keep the project in the back of your mind & when you get that creative wave -  drop everything & let the magic happen! Learn how to stop & re-organise your workload so you can carry on with the creative moment while it's fresh in your head. It's more productive in the long run & will allow you creatively to do your best work.

2. Put pen to paper for creative brainstorms

One of my favourite ways to harness my creativity is to put pen to paper. I always keep a notebook near my bed, at my workspace & in my handbag for those creative brainwaves. 

It's also a great way to develop ideas that need refining either individually or as a team. Start by jotting down notes, brainstorming, or drawing ideas & go from there. 

I love looking back through my notebooks at the end of a project & seeing my creative process unfold.

3. Use technology that helps to harness your creativity

Of course, technology is hugely important when it comes to harnessing your creativity & staying productive. Investing in the right technology for you can work wonders. For me, an essential part of my job is visualising beautiful designs for our stationery line & working on all the creative for the An Organised Life brand, so I need a laptop that can really bring what I am envisaging to life. The HP ENVY portfolio is designed for creators to push the envelope of what is possible, no matter if they’re full time creators, side hustlers or hobbyists. It helps to unleash your creativity and support the work you do.

For me personally, the HP ENVY caters to all my creative needs across editing, design, & video. Usually (pre-covid), I travel a lot too! And I need a device that can allow me to get creative no matter where I am working - my home office, the Sydney office or the plane! This laptop allows me to do that without having to sacrifice performance or quality.  

A few other reasons I love this device from a creative point of view:

One of the features of the ENVY 15 I have found useful is the Performance Mode in Command Centre. It helps to boost speeds while I’m editing images or videos in my home office. I’m also not a big mouse user, so I love having the glass covered trackpad.

4. Don't rush it

And fourth & finally, my last tip for harnessing your creativity - is to take your time & never rush it. Wait until you're really happy with the project & give yourself time to reflect, review & tweak. For example, the Wedding Planner I designed with Greta Kenyon from Together Journal took us a year to design & create because we took our time researching, interviewing, collating, refining, designing & tweaking so that we could put the best wedding planner to market that took the stress out of planning anyones special day.  It was all in the details & was a product we wanted to stand the test of time. I loved the creative process. 

Of course, sometimes deadlines are tight but when this does happen try to adjust your workload so you can have as much time as possible to harness your creativity & push yourself. 

Sponsored by HP New Zealand / Australia. Make sure you check out the brand new HP ENVY laptop, a favourite for creatives.