A kinder system for busy creatives

I didn’t see it arriving; it seeped in through tiny gaps. Another skipped lunch. A late-night tweak that turned into three hours. That familiar knot in my belly before opening a new email. I had lost touch with a lot of who I was, and what brought me joy. I was burned out.

When the fog wouldn’t lift, I ended up doing something that felt radical for me, a (perhaps too) driven self-employed creative: I paused.

I took a break that gave me a chance to listen and learn. I met creatives around the world, studied what science has discovered, and had new conversations with myself. What I learned helped me come back to myself, and reignite my own creativity. I came up with a simple framework that keeps creativity alive on ordinary days. No hacks or heroics. Just small everyday practices you can return to when your energy dips or the work feels heavy. 

Outputs need inputs

My pause from work quickly turned into fieldwork as I set out to rediscover my spark. I went on a long solo journey in quest of answers, and spoke to makers and creatives from New Mexico to Norway about how they keep going and stay motivated. Eventually, I found myself back in the Finnish Archipelago where I grew up. The moss covered forests, so familiar to me from childhood, showed me something altogether new: everything, I realised, was interconnected and interdependent. My creativity is no exception. 

I began to form a new concept: the personal Creative Ecosystem. What inputs does a creative person need to keep their ecosystem in balance? What support, resources and opportunities will feed them? I turned to psychological research and to other creatives to expand and deepen my thinking,

My research surfaced truths we rarely say aloud. In a survey I conducted with creative professionals in 17 countries, 67% said they regularly experience a lack of motivation. The range was wide – people who have worked for nearly forty years, and students just starting out – yet the feeling was shared. If you recognise yourself in that, let it offer some ease: feeling stuck isn’t proof you’re failing, it’s a prompt to tend to the conditions that help you create.

Finding creative fuel​​

For the past couple of years I’ve given talks and workshops from Toronto to Tokyo, and realised how deeply my journey resonates. In fact, a worrying 70% of creatives suffer the same dimming of their spark.

The Creative Ecosystem model is a way to think about what balance looks like for you. It covers five areas that act as fuel for creativity: Connection, Wonder, Pause, Movement, Joy. The experience of each of these – their source, their importance, their availability – is as unique as your creativity. The framework is an opportunity to explore each idea in a way that is personal to you, in your own time.

Over time, I’ve worked out what creative fuel looks like for me. When I feel flat, I don’t force myself to grind through, I ask which input is lacking attention. Connection might be a quick check-in with someone I trust – not to fix anything, just to be seen. If I feel numb, I choose Wonder: a new route on my daily walk, ten minutes of drawing with no goal, sleeping upside down in the bed. If my focus is scattered, I prioritise Pause: one 90-minute block with notifications off and a single, clear task. If I’m tense, I choose Movement – a short walk before emails so my thoughts can stretch out. Joy can be tiny, a favourite song while I tidy my desk, but it changes the mood of the day.

 Make it happen

1. Keep curiosity alive Start a new scrapbook or digital folder where you collect fun, unexpected references from anywhere in life – something you can keep building and dive back into when inspiration’s running low. And if you work in a team, pool your inspo: run a monthly inspiration hour where everyone shares three references, including one from outside their usual bubble. 

2. Use your learning budget wisely Set aside a small pot and some time to explore new tools or skills, then jot a one-line weekly takeaway so it actually sticks. If you work in a team, set up a rotating five-minute show-and-tell, and collect everyone’s takeaways in one shared doc so learning becomes culture, not a perk.

3. Talk while you walk Turn one weekly review into a walk-and-talk. Fresh air helps honest feedback flow more naturally – and you’ll return to your desk with clearer thoughts and fewer loops to close. Record a quick voice note or scribble a two-line summary when you’re back so you can capture actionable takeaways.

4. Keep it light and lively Practice clarity of thought and delivery by timing yourself for three minutes to explain “one thing I broke, fixed or learned”. Just you, no slides. If you work in a team, host monthly lightning talks – three people, three minutes, no slides. Pick themes like “a design mistake I learnt from” or “a tool that saved me hours.” It’s an easy way to build confidence and spread good ideas.

5. Start a creative wellbeing book club My new book, The Creative Wellbeing Handbook is a hands-on guide to keeping the creative spark alight – with bitesize sections, insights from science, and plenty of simple exercises. You can order it here! You can use the free downloadable book club kit to run it. You’ll get chapter prompts, check-ins, and simple ways to track progress – ideal for cross-discipline learning and building habits that last.

The world needs your creativity, and your creativity needs fuel. Where will you find yours? I encourage you to start seeking it out – you may be surprised by how easy it is to find, once you know where to look.