Creative Cross Training, Pt III

In 2017, I wrote a blog post about creative-cross training and a follow up. I came across the idea on a blog post by Srinivas Rao on 99U. The premise is that in order to grow our primary creative pursuits, we should take on different creative hobbies. The theory is that an exchange of skills and ideas in a secondary medium will improve your ‘keystone’ creative skill. It blew my mind and I’ve been writing semi-consistently ever since.

After writing, I picked up pottery. And then during this past year, like the thousands of other folks, I started making sourdough bread. And then, out of necessity and thrift, I started sewing bike packing bags. After consecutive days in front of the screen, I needed to get into my body. I felt the urge to work with my hands and make something. As a kid, I was obsessed with lego’s. It was all I wanted to do. Working with my hands and making bread, or doing pottery or sewing, brought me back to those same feelings.

The idea of creative cross training is great. It’s intentional in advancing our primary creative pursuits - the things that bring in the money and help us make a living. Austin Kleon has a great chapter in Steal like an Artist that brings that idea to another level. In chapter 5, he writes that it’s important to have hobbies and side projects. Most importantly:

A hobby is something creative that’s just for you. You don’t try to make money or get famous off of it, you do it just to make you happy…While my art is for the world to see, music is only for me and my friends.

I feel like we’ve hit peak social media where ever aspect of our life needs to be shared. It’s like our lives have become content for our feeds. My first pottery teacher encouraged us to leave our phones in our coats when entering the studio. She wanted us to leave the distractions and our lives for just a few hours a week. It was a chance to be fully immersed in learning a new hobby.

In these times, it feels rare to do something just for yourself. Not try to make it your “side hustle.” Not try to make it achievement orientated. I feel like so many things we do get captured and posted on social media for the world to see. There’s something special about keeping it just for you.

From the outside, having a job where being ‘creative’ full time looks pretty sexy. But like many other filmmakers and creatives, there’s the constant battle of juggling the creativity with the practically of making a living in it. In these hobbies, there is no pressure for making a living. I get to keep these hobbies all to myself. The process feels sacred. It’s a chance to tap into the creative process.

I think some of this joy finds its way back into my filmmaking. It’s a chance for me to expand my creativity. To feel expressed. To relax. To try something new. To make things. Kleon ends with this nugget about our hobbies:

Don’t worry about unity — what unfies your work is the fact that you made it. One day, you’ll look back and it will all make sense.

In this new year, I encourage you all to find a hobby. Try that activity you’ve been wanting to try. I hear New Year resolutions tend to fail by the end of January. So why not start in February?