Aphantasia Creative Tools
General • Target: 45 mins

A session with no destination

You can't see the finished piece ahead of time, so use that and focus on the process.

Steps to follow:

  1. Choose a medium you enjoy and set a timer for 40 minutes.
  2. Don't decide what you're making.
  3. Make one choice, then make the next choice based only on the one before it.
  4. If you notice yourself chasing a result, return to the next small decision.
  5. When the timer ends, spend five minutes writing down what you noticed, not whether it was good.

CJ Stewart's book on aphantasia and creativity has a chapter on this process-over-destination idea.

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Cover of How to Be Creative with Aphantasia
Recommended Reading

How to Be Creative with Aphantasia

by CJ Stewart

A working account of how creativity happens when the mind's eye isn't there. CJ Stewart, a lifelong musician, painter, VJ and video producer who learned he had aphantasia in his forties, walks through the creative channels that stayed open for him (sound, working on real material, live and immediate work, and AI-generated references) and ends each chapter with something you can try. It is a practical, personal book, not a medical one.

Get the book on Amazon