Spring Forward into Creativity Walks

Creativity walks are what I turn to whenever I feel depleted, stuck, flooded with ideas, or even celebratory. They’re my reset button.

Sometimes I reach a point in my work where the ideas simply stop. I’ve given everything I have and my mind goes blank. Other times it’s the opposite problem: too many ideas. So many possibilities that I can’t tell which one deserves my attention. And sometimes I take a walk before or after an intense creative session, just to process what happened and make space for what might come next.

When any of those moments hit, I stop what I’m doing and go for a walk in nature.

Not a power walk. Not exercise. Not a multitasking walk.

A creativity walk has one purpose: to let my mind unravel so something new can form.

There are a few personal rules. I don’t listen to music or podcasts. I don’t bring a friend. I don’t take calls. My phone stays in my pocket. I’m not tracking steps or trying to raise my heart rate. The only commitment is to move my body through nature and give my mind permission to wander.

And something remarkable almost always happens.

Ideas reorganize themselves. Questions start to soften. Solutions that felt impossible begin to appear. I return with a clearer perspective, renewed energy, and often the exact next step I needed but couldn’t access while sitting at my desk.

If I begin the walk with a burning question, I almost always come back with an answer.

There’s also usually a time threshold before the magic happens. For me, it’s around forty minutes. The first part of the walk is often just mental noise—replaying conversations, rehearsing tasks, clearing the clutter of the day. But somewhere past the halfway point, my brain settles. That’s when the deeper thinking begins. Your threshold might be shorter or longer, but I’d bet you have a similar moment where the mind shifts from busy to open.

This isn’t just a personal ritual—it’s something supported by research. In The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain, Annie Murphy Paul explores how thinking doesn’t only happen inside the brain. Our bodies, our movement, and our environments actively shape how we generate ideas and solve problems. Walking—especially in natural environments—has been shown to increase creative thinking, improve problem solving, and help new insights emerge.

In other words, stepping away from the desk isn’t procrastination. It’s part of the creative process.

As winter begins to thaw and the first daffodils start pushing through the dirt, it’s a perfect time to experiment with your own creativity walk. If you’re hitting a wall, or about to dive into an intense project, give yourself the space to wander. Leave the noise behind. Let your feet move through the trees and see what your mind starts to say when it finally has room to speak.

You might be surprised how quickly the path forward appears.

A Third Path…

I’ve been working to shift the assumptions around what artistic training looks like. Outside of major hubs like NYC and LA, young singers and actors are usually given two options: private lessons or signing up to put on a show. Both are valuable. But they’re not the whole picture.

At TCE, I focus on adding a third path: group process-based training. Here is why I think this approach matters…

1. You learn the tools to become a coach for yourself and others.

When you’re asked to respond to someone else’s work, you have to:

• Clarify what you’re seeing.

• Identify what’s landing.

• Articulate what feels disconnected.

• Offer solutions.

The moment you can clearly explain why a moment feels emotionally vague, you deepen your own understanding. You learn the important lesson of how to give and receive feedback generously and with empathy. You stop performing on instinct alone and start performing with creative awareness.

2. You develop accountability.

In private lessons, it’s easy to hide. It’s just you and your teacher.

In a group environment:

• You show up prepared because others are showing up.

• You contribute because silence is noticeable.

• You commit because your growth affects the room.

• You use your colleagues as your coaches to hold you accountable to progress and showing up fully.

Accountability starts being about commitment to community and using that community to fuel your growth.

3. You build emotional stamina.

Watching someone else work through resistance gives you perspective. Being seen while you’re still figuring something out builds resilience.

In a showcase-based model, you present the finished product. In process-based work, you let people see the draft. That vulnerability builds emotional strength.

4. You learn how to define your own process and develop your personal creative discernment and aesthetic.

When you have to discuss your process out loud and with others, you have to get clear on:

• Why you made a choice.

• What you were experimenting with.

• What your so that statement is.

• Who your work is for and what it is for.

You develop language for your work and sharpen your eye and ear to attune to the kind of work you want to engage in and how you want to engage in it. You develop a sense of your personal creative aesthetic and knowledge of the kinds of rooms that allow you to thrive.

Private lessons matter.
Productions matter.

And I think group process-based training is the missing piece in the artistic training trifecta.

*Disclosure: I was feeling stuck in articulating my thoughts and ChatGPT helped me define them. Please forgive me, but some of the points were so well expressed that I struggled to veer from them and included them because they are worth repeating and so clearly articulated my sentiments. In retrospect, I should have just taken a walk to get my thoughts clear.

So that…

So that statements are one of the most powerful practices I have in my creative tool kit. I first heard about this practice from acting coach Jen Waldman. Jen challenges us to use so that statements in goal setting, however I will yes and… her and add that there are many more ways to integrate so that statements into your creative process.

So that statements are a way to set an intention and attach meaning and purpose to your work. I encourage my students to use them anytime they are creating something for someone and anytime they are working in front of others.

For example, before students get coached in the Studio, I ask them to declare a so that statement for their work that day. One person might say, “I am working today so that I can be more precise in my storytelling and ensure I am clearly activating my objective.” Another simpler so that might be, “I am working today so that I can just put this song on its feet and feel more confident.” Establishing a so that statement for where you are in your process helps you to be clear on what it is you are trying to accomplish and also helps me, as the coach, to meet you where you are that day and to view your work and give feedback through a specific and purposed lens.

I also use so that statements for all my various creative projects. On my desktop, I have stickie notes with tasks for each work stream and at the top of each stickie I have a so that. For example, my Actor-Singer work note has the following so that at the top, “so that I can continue my personal artistic growth, experience joy and flow, collaborate and find community, and deliver meaningful stories.” My Event Concerts work stream has this so that, “so that I can use my voice to share the hopeful and positive stories of good work and good people.” As opportunities or tasks come along, I always refer to my so that to make sure the task or opportunity supports my purpose and intention.

As we round into February and continue to refine our 2026 goals and practices, I encourage you to attach a so that statement not only to your goals, but also to your process. I hope it imbues your work with meaning and purpose and keeps you motivated as you work toward building a more fulfilling creative life for yourself this year.

using your Win wall to make space for more success in 2026

Back in April, I wrote a post about the benefits of creating and using a WIN WALL. We use a collective group Win Wall in the studio, but this year I started my own personal Win Wall so that I can see physical proof and reminder of my progress. As I begin to assess 2025 in order to set up 2026, I intend to use the posts on my wall to take stock of where I found the most success in 2025 and link which efforts led to successes and which did not. Here is what I plan to do:

1. Take all the sticky notes off my wall and line them up on the floor each on a separate sheet of paper.

2. Write a stream of consciousness, no filter, brain dump list of all my creative efforts in 2025. Everything from taking a class, reading a certain book, starting a blog, reaching out to a certain individual, auditioning for a show, developing a daily voice practice (these are just vague examples, your list should be more specific). Look back at your calendar or credit card statements to get a sense of where you invested your time and money as insight into where you placed your efforts.

3. Then, I will look at my WINS and start to connect my WINS to my specific efforts, listing under each WIN each and every effort that helped me to achieve that marker. For example, a win for you might be landing the lead role in a show. You may link this WIN to efforts like working with a coach on your audition material, trying a new mindset technique to assist in feeling confident for your audition, working with a vocal coach on your range so that you could hit higher notes, etc.

4. Assess which efforts come up again and again under your WINS? Which efforts don’t seem to find a space to attribute to a WIN?

5. From there, use that information to inform where you should double down on your efforts in 2026. Which were your most effective efforts? Then make a plan to do more of that in 2026 and less of those efforts that didn’t lead to any WINS.

It may surprise you which efforts led to your biggest successes. In which case, it is worthy information to help you to do less of the efforts that don’t push the needle for you so that you can make more space for the efforts that do make the difference.

Building a creativity bridge

One of my favorite habits from Twyla Tharps’s book The Creative Habit, is what she describes as building a bridge to the next day.  She advises us to take on a new posture for the end of each day and instead of creating until you have nothing left to give, quit a little early when you still have some juice left in the tank, a few ideas left unexplored.  Ask yourself what is that idea, that impulse, that expression that you are leaving in the tank? Define it and write it down on a notecard as you finish your work and then don’t think about it the rest of the day.  Sleep on it and then awaken refreshed and anew and revisit your note.

“When you start the next day with the note, you’ll be tapping into that reserve from the day before…you will approach the impulse behind the note as a new person.  At worst, the note will give you something to start with.  More likely, the new you will find a way to improve on it.  With methods like these are grooves formed.” Thanks Twyla.

Give it a try tonight and see if after a few days you return to your work with creative juice leftover to get you started and a fresh perspective to add.

Defining your creative special sauce

Every creative brings with them a unique blend of traits, perspectives, skills, and passions.  Defining them for yourself and others is a generous act that can connect you with other individuals and projects where you can add creative value.

In the studio, we spend time in explorations and exercises that help us define what I call our “creative special sauce statement”.  A compelling special sauce statement should communicate not just what you do, but how and why you do it in a way that only you can.

We start by asking a few trusted friends about our creative essence and strengths.  In one class, I had a student who saw each student as a fabric and explained why.  One person was silk, exuding old world glamour, another was corduroy, expressing something old, worn and safe that you come home to again and again.  See if you can do the same and ask a few collaborators or fans how they see you and your work.  What strengths do they see, what is the essence of your energy, in what creative environments do they see you thrive?

Ask the same questions of yourself.  Think about creative endeavors where you found yourself in a state of flow or roles that really allowed you to express yourself fully or times when you felt you were standing in your power.

Once you have that information, start to see how it informs these prompts.  Start with the phrase, “I am an artist who…”, talk about what you do.  Fill your statement with words explaining what kind of work you enjoy, “I am drawn to work that…” or “I am drawn to stories that…”.  Describe your unique gifts, “I bring to my work…”.  Add a bit about your approach, “ I approach my work with…” and “My work wouldn’t be mine without…”.  Finish your statement with your personal intention and aspirational purpose for your work. “Through my work, I am aim to…”.

I find having this kind of clarity is really empowering and generous to share with others so they know how to empower you and how to best utilize your skills.  I encourage you to put your statement at the top of your resume or college essay.  How amazing would it be for the person on the other side of that resume to be met with someone clear, empowered and purposed?  What a gift.