How to Thrive as a Slow Creative
Give your ideas time to cook but don't abandon the stove
Trust the process, a phrase I’ve told myself time and time again throughout many phases in my life. Whether it was showing up to the gym everyday to sculpt my dream body, forcing myself out my comfort zone to combat my social anxiety, or encouraging myself to keep pushing when facing challenging times, this phrase served as a reminder to keep the course even when things aren’t certain and results aren’t immediate. If you stick it out, you’ll eventually reach your desired outcome—it just requires patience.
As many times as I have chanted this mantra, it wasn’t until recently that I applied it to my creative process as a writer.
There have been so many instances where I’ve gotten so frustrated from how long I spent on a page or felt and underlying guilt as more days passed without me posting something. Looking at other writers and creatives who constantly publish stellar pieces on the regular, had me feeling behind.
As a full-time content writer, it is my job to take on multiple projects that require continous creative output and I manage to get it done without completely getting burnout too much resistance (bills have to get paid). But when it comes to my own personal pieces and assignments where I have complete creative freedom to explore topics I’m passionate about—that requires more patience.
I have continuiously tried to play the game of being a consistent creator—setting my own deadlines, following a strict writing schedule, and posting without major gaps in between. But every time I set these strict guidelines, I end up falling short on the promises I made to myself and, as a result, beating myself up about it. It wasn’t until I embraced being slow creative that I broke free from the external pressures and allowed myself to be more patient, consistent, and devoted to my craft.
What Is a Slow Creative?
Some people have the ability to take a fresh idea and execute it right away without much thought or time in between. However, for some of us, we can put our ideas into action but it might take time until our vision is fully actualized. We are slow creatives.
A slow creative is someone who takes the scenic route when pursuing the creative process, taking time to deeply explore their ideas, creating a more thoughtful and intentional end product. The slow creative values quality over rapid production, which essentially leads their creativity to unfold at a slower, more natural, pace.
For slow creatives, our artistic expression is not something that can be forced. It requires a meticulous rendering of personal experiences, external inspiration, and at times—divine intervention.
When I think of slow creatives, I think of one of my all-time favorite artists, Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick has been known to take his time between projects, with publishing gaps as wide as 6 years between albums. While this might be frustrating for the dedicated fan and put him under the scrutiny of the entitled hip-hop community, who are used to artists pushing out microwave-ready albums each year, each of his projects is well worth the wait.
This is because he cares about his craft and you can hear it in the music. Any time he drops you’ll see countless threads dissecting Kendrick’s deep-cut references, prophetic lines, or very intentional hating storytelling. That type of craftsmanship isn’t something that can be done overnight. It takes time, it takes research, it takes self-exploration, it takes time to let it all unfold.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Kendrick shared that it might take a whole year of jotting down notes for him to figure out how to execute an idea and convey it in a way that people connect with. That’s not to say that within that year he isn’t consistently practicing his craft—writing, listening to beats, and creating hard drives worth of songs—but he doesn’t release anything until his ideas are fully fleshed out, creating cohesive projects that leave no stone unturned. And that’s what makes him a slow creative.
Doechii has expressed a similar ideology when it comes to her creative process in one of her early YouTube videos, stating that she had to stop limiting herself to the expectation of people’s timelines and give herself the freedom to create in a way that feels authentic to her. At the beginning of her candid vlog, she says:
“I start to feel inadequate when I feel like my projects aren’t moving fast enough for my audience”
She goes on to say that she, herself, doesn’t have a problem with the speed of her projects, it’s only when she holds herself to a certain standard she feels is expected from her. It wasn’t until she stopped worrying about outside expectations and got clear on her own standards and core values, that she was able to create freely in a way that was authentic to her.
What Doechii described is what a lot of creatives feel. Not to get too deep on this post but I feel like creativity in its purest most potent form is truly a spiritual act of taking something placed deep inside you by external forces and figuring out a way to integrate it into our current reality in the most profound, beautiful way possible. That’s something you can’t quite put a timeline on.
But it’s not just a theory, there’s actual scientific evidence that proves the most creative people tend to have slower connections in the brain.
Regardless, living in a fast-paced Western society can often challenge this natural path of creation, leaving many slow creatives feeling burntout, frustrated, or even inadequate, as Doechii described. This doesn’t have to be the case. To master oneself is to know oneself. So when we really tap into what makes us unique, we can utilize this superpower to find a creative process that’s sustainable to the demands of the content-hungry economy yet allows us to move at our own pace.
Before we dive into how to find a routine that works for us, let’s look at what exactly makes the slow creative so special and what common challenges we face.
Strengths of Slow Creative
Dedicated to high-quality work: Slow creatives are highkey perfectionists and we can’t stand the thought of sharing our art with the world until it’s reached its final, carefully curated form. This forces us to spend countless hours on projects, working and rendering until it has our internal approval.
Showcases originality: We draw inspiration from many places but at the end of the day, we are cooking from scratch to create something truly unique. This often requires meticulous planning, self-exploration, and experimentation to be fully executed.
Highly passionate: We don’t just create for status or monetary gain, we do it to nourish a part of us that can’t be fed by anything else. Our art can often inspire us in our everyday lives, giving us a sense of purpose and the feeling of being understood.
Challenges of the Slow Creative
Feeling rushed: Until we truly accept the fact that we must create at our own pace, we will constantly grapple with the feeling of being rushed to meet societal expectations or professional deadlines. But rushing the process can actually have an adverse effect on your creativity, forcing you to produce work that hasn’t reached its full potential and therefore lackluster.
Abandoning projects: The undefined timeline of creation for certain projects can leave many frustrated and antsy, causing them to abandon projects altogether. This is especially true for those (like me) who are constantly developing new ideas without enough time in between to focus on the previous one.
Getting distracted: While we do require more time than most to create, getting distracted by outside factors can lead to unnecessary amounts of time being wasted, delaying the process even more. (More on this later)
Editing too much: A pitfall that we don’t talk about enough for many creatives is the act of editing our work so much that we lose focus of our original idea. This is a slippery slope for the perfectionist in us but too much refining is a killer to the creative spirit that inspired us in the first place.
Via Pinterest
How Can Slow Creatives Refine Their Process?
Reimagine Your Time Management
Letting yourself explore your ideas as they naturally unfold is one thing but not having a clear schedule or system for creation is a breeding ground for chaos and eventually burnout. You don’t have to make yourself meet hard deadlines but you do need to hold yourself accountable.
If you are truly devoted to your art, show up for it by setting aside time in your day to create. You don’t have to hit any sort of benchmark or make a certain amount of progress, but make the commitment to your craft by making time and space to engage with it regularly.
Now personally, I have always had a hard time creating a rigid writing schedule. It sounds good in theory but forcing myself to assign words to a blank page on days where work left me mentally exhausted or where I was emotionally or physically distraught was just not productive.
If you have had similar experiences, lean away from creating a strict schedule for creative work and instead develop a system that allows you to continuously foster your creative juices by honoring your energy and mood.
In the ADHD-focused Substack, The Dopamine Dispatch, author Kelly, explores the idea of incorporating “chaotic discipline” into your life in an effort to maintain your productivity while honoring your energy levels—something that’s essential for slow creatives and neurodivergent individuals alike.
There will be some days where your motivation and drive will be at an all-time high and there will be days where you will be physically locked to your couch, unable to create anything significant besides a Doordash order.
You can still foster space for your creativity on your off days, it will just look different. If you can’t find the strength to open up a Google Doc, pick up a pen and paper and explore free writing. If the thought of opening Canva or Illustrator makes your head throb, let your inner child take the wheel and bust out some colored pencils and a sketchbook. Above all, just be aware of where you are placing your energy and what you could be giving your energy.
We all have our daily habits or practices we indulge in regularly that don’t necessarily need to be penciled in such as watching TV, cooking, doing our skincare routine, or scrolling. If you start viewing your craft — whether it’s writing, painting, making beats, or creating visuals — as a part of your regular habits, you will always come back to it and slowly replace the activities that drain your creative force.
Remember, the road to completion may not be linear but to actually get there consistency is key.
Rest The Right Way
As I mentioned earlier, it’s important that we honor our body and spirit’s natural rhythms by resting when we need to. In fact, rest for the slow creative is a necessity in order to recharge our creative energy. But to get back to our 100% we need to prioritize resting the correct way rather than just spending time idly.
Rest should be restorative and not another means to leave you feeling more drained. You might have heard that there are 7 types of rest: physical, mental, sensory, emotional, social, creative, and spiritual rest. There are times when you might need to prioritize one of the others and there are times when you might need a little bit of all 7.
While creative rest is categorized as its own entity, I believe all forms of rest are needed to reach your full creative potential. On a human level, physical rest like sleep and relaxation is a nonnegotiable and therefore should be a priority.
However, sleep alone is not enough to restore us fully. Practicing things like journaling, meditation, stretching, being in nature, turning off screens, or any other restorative activity can be just what we need to decompress from our daily lives and sort through everything we’ve taken in. This allows us to make space for our inner voice. It is when we can connect to our most authentic selves that strikes the purest form of creativity.
Get Inspired By the World Around You
Just like Austin Kleon says in his book Steal Like An Artist, nothing is original. All great works of art, all groundbreaking innovations, began with outside inspiration. I know this conflicts with what I said earlier about slow creatives being more original but the truth is we are just better at hiding our theft.
That’s because the slow creative draws inspiration from everywhere, but has the ability to synthesize their findings and remix them into something refreshing and innovative.
“What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.”
- Austin Kleo, Steal Like An Artist
Your inspiration doesn’t have to come from artists with similar styles and niches, it doesn’t have to come from art at all. The greatest ideas, the most profound “light-bulb” moments come when you least expect them, and often times you can only receive them by living your life.
Step away from your canvas for a moment and observe the unlimited supply of beauty from the world around you. Enjoy time with your friends, travel, invest in a class or group that interests you. The most profound art is fueled by lived experiences. You can’t access that type of energy if you are living a secluded, routine life (I type this as I haven’t left the house in days).
No but seriously, I’m a believer that art and living are nearly one and the same. It’s like the question ‘What comes first, the chicken or the egg?’. I pose the question—does art imitate life or does life imitate art? Regardless of the answer, we can’t have one without the other.
Kendrick Lamar once said that obsession leads to inspiration. When you are devoted to your craft, you will constantly find inspiration in all kinds of places. So live your life, and capture your ideas along the way. Those small notes can contribute to your best work.
Journaling
I might have mentioned this before but tapping into your creative nature can be a deeply spiritual practice. And to lock in you really need to be in tune with yourself. That can require intentional, sometimes deep reflection—which can be attained through frequent journaling.
One of the most prominent practices Julia Cameron urges readers to practice in her book, The Artist’s Way, is to devote time in the AM to writing morning pages. Even if you’re not a writer or feel like you have nothing to say, she stresses the importance of logging a 3-page stream of consciousness in an attempt to become acquainted with all corners of your psyche, thus gaining a greater sense of self, clarity, and purpose.
All these things set the stage for adequate creative recovery, enabling you to immerse yourself fully in your craft while silencing any negative, critical thoughts that threaten it.
Whether you are following Julia’s regimen or simply jotting down your thoughts as they arise in your Notes app, journaling can be a deeply introspective practice and enable you to see your artistic visions more clearly.
Limit Distractions
Like I said before, as slow creatives, we often can’t force our artistic expression in order to fit a certain timeline. However, if you let yourself get sidetracked by distractions the process can get dragged out much longer than needed.
That leads me to introduce the biggest culprit of stealing our attention: that damn phone. It’s an issue we all face. I’ll be the first one to admit I could be deep into a page typing my life away but then, after getting stuck on a certain word or key piece of information, I reach for a quick dopamine boost that is supplied from the various apps on my iPhone. Before I know it, I’ve wasted 20 minutes scrolling that could have been dedicated to fleshing out an idea.
When you finally have a chance to sit down and work on your craft, it’s so important to remove anything that could get in the way of your creative flow. We’re able to access our most profound ideas and bring them to life effortlessly once we enter our flow state, and we can only achieve this when we are deeply immersed in the task at hand.
Create a calm, quiet, and focused environment dedicated to working on your craft, eliminating distractions like extra noise, notifications, and anything else that takes away your focus.
With that being said, I also acknowledge we are humans and our attention spans have gotten incredibly short over time, so it’s natural to move in and out of flow state no matter how “in the zone” you are. If it helps, work in increments by setting a timer for 30 minutes to an hour to fully focus on your creation. You can also set a short timer for breaks in between to let your mind wander and even have a quick scroll. Just be diligent, be mindful, and try to stay locked in as long as you can to actualize your greatest creations.
Find A System That Works For You
There is no one-size-fits-all for harnessing your creativity. We all have different needs, inspirations, and methods for our expression. I believe adopting all these principles can help many creatives harness their power and overcome the obstacles that come with making their visions a reality. But at the end of the day, it’s up to each individual to discover what excites them, what motivates them, and what’s practical for their lifestyle.
DonYé Taylor explores various creative archetypes beautifully in her post What type of Slow Burner are You? From her list, I relate most to the Riutalist, the Seeker, and the Wander. So it’s crucial for me to develop a system that has structure yet gives me wiggle room to explore (my Scorpio sun, Virgo rising, and Sag moon battling it out).
Just like self-discovery our relationship with our creativity is a forever evolving synergy. What worked for you in one season, might not work for another. Don’t be afraid to pivot, try something new, and get out of your comfort zone. Through it all, be patient and don’t give up. As long as you keep your creative spark alive, there will always be an opportunity for it to fully ignite.
We Hit 100 Subs 🥳
Thank you to everyone who has joined the tribe in the last few months. I didn’t know what to expect from this new and intriguing platform when I first joined, but I knew immediately it was where I needed to be. I hope my words inspire and motivate you in the same way they have for me — most of the time I’m fully preaching to myself.
Life can be strange and unpredictable (especially now in 2025), but throughout it all, there is so much beauty and many lessons to be learned that can catapult us into realities beyond our comprehension. That’s what this Substack is all about: finding the silver linings while also crying through the storm when needed.
Life is less strange when you have someone who understands what you’re going through, there for you in your corner. I hope we all can be that for each other. I can’t wait to dive more into the topics of slow living, self-actualization, culture, and spirituality while also sharing more of my personal journey with you all going forward. Let’s all try to figure this life shit out together. 🤍
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to fuel my fire for future content by buying me a coffee (more like a matcha or tea, but you get the idea). Any contributions are greatly appreciated. 🤍
Such a comforting and affirming read! Thanks for validating the slow creative path and backing it up with scientific study too 🤌🏾 Love to see it!
“the act of editing our work so much that we lose focus of our original idea.” — yep!