“Unused creativity is not benign–it metastasizes. It turns into grief, rage, judgement, sorrow, shame. We are creative beings. We are by nature creative. It gets lost along the way. It gets shamed out of us.” ~ Brene Brown

I saw a funny tweet last year — a picture of a mug that said, “Everyone has the same number of hours in a day as Beyoncé.” When you evaluate exactly how you spend your 24 hours in a day over an average week I assure you that you can carve out at least two to four hours for the most important thing you possess: your creative passion.

Before we are employees, parents, spouses and friends, we are individuals.

Our gifts and talents, the ones we revelled in exploring as a child, are still as present as they ever were. And they silently beg us for release (sometimes we quieten them with over-spending, alcohol, food and other temporary but not lasting fixes) . It is our obligation to make our creativity a priority like we do with exerise, our work and our relationships. Our creativity is a gift to be USED.

Tweet! Tweet! – “We are all creative beings. We are, by nature, creative. It gets lost along the way. It gets shamed out of us.” @brenebrown via @susiemoore

These tips are for the majority of us whose passions make a rare appearance in our frantic lives.

1. Stop lying about your time.

How many hours a week do you spend at the bar, or watching TV, or drawn into the proverbial social media suck? If you just watch your favorite shows (two or three, maximum), only go to the social events you really care about and limit Facebook to 10 minutes a day, how many hours have you saved?

2. Double up!

Say your creative release is something like pottery. Why not take a class with your friend or spouse? This counts as creative time and an awesome, different way to spend time with someone you love. A client of mine spends her Saturday mornings painting with her children as a local arts centre. This is cool parent-child bonding time and a fun artistic release for her!

3. Use your wait time well.

Commutes, waiting in line, any time you might be early for an engagement (or someone else is running late) all adds up time-wise. I use times I need to be patient to write my articles on my iPad.

4. Say no.

No is one of my favorite words. If you are uncertain as to whether or not to attend something, chances are your time could best be spent doing something else. You don’t need to explain yourself either. A simple, “Would love to — but sorry, I can’t” will suffice. Think of the hours saved!

5. Create a vision board.

I host these events regularly and people LOVE sitting on the floor, rolling up their sleeves, and cutting and pinning down beautiful images that “call” to them.  In fact some of the most popular feedback I hear is “I loved being creative tonight, being intentional about what I want and feeling like a kid again!”

As many of you know, one of my favorite sayings is, “Don’t prioritize your schedule, schedule your priorities!”

Now tell me… is your dormant creative passion?