Rethinking Structure as Artists and Creatives

An invitation to imagine structure as personal, holistic and intentional.

Hello artists and creatives — happy New Year!

Are you feeling compelled, like many of us at the start of a new year, to create more structure: stricter routines, better systems, stronger habits? If so, how are you going about that?  In my own work and in nearly ten years I’ve been coaching artists and creatives, I’ve come to appreciate that structure isn’t a neutral concept for many of us. It can be a loaded one. Shaped by schooling, workplaces, capitalism, and cultural ideas of productivity, structure often feels imposed rather than supportive. Something that limits us as artists and creatives instead of nourishing us. And yet, many of us still crave it. Clients often share that they know they need some structure to thrive, but don’t know how to create it, in part because their idea of what structure is remains quite limited.

In my coaching work, I see many artists and creatives struggle when they try to impose structures borrowed from other contexts such as mandatory work hours, rigid routines or productivity measures. These approaches don’t always translate to creative practice or reflect the realities of our lives. Instead, they can box us in, making our work feel unsustainable or turning parts of our practice into chores. We then spend precious mental energy judging ourselves for not sticking to routines or avoiding tasks that would actually move us forward.

What’s one assumption you hold about structure that might be worth questioning?

While many of us value spontaneity and freedom in our creative work and lives, that doesn’t mean we need to avoid structure altogether. Establishing some structure within our creative work can be vital and actually freeing. Without a framework, it’s easy to become overwhelmed or lose focus. But structure doesn’t have to be rigid or restrictive. We can get creative. Structure can be custom-built, look different for each of us and adapt over time. 

I often find myself coaching clients to use their imagination and creativity to envision what structure could look or feel like—especially artists and creatives who rely on deadlines in the absence of self-designed support. Structure, when it truly works for us, supports creative flow and development, the sustainability of our work and careers and our well-being as individuals. It should respond to and serve our needs, goals, and personalities and leave us room for flexibility. This means looking beyond the familiar structures we’ve inherited and instead approaching structure as the creation of intentional, personal practices within our creative practices and lives. Structure isn’t just calendars, time-blocking, or rigid daily routines. It can live in how we organize projects (like Twyla Tharp’s practice of beginning every project with a box, which she shares in The Creative Habit), in where or how we do certain types of work or the personal rituals we create to begin or end a work session, day, or week. Structure doesn’t have to be complex. As one former client who struggled deeply with structure shared, “Since committing to a start time of 9:30am during the week, I’ve felt more productive—and much happier with where I am in my creative practice.” 

As you move through this season of renewed intention, I invite you to gently question what structure means to you. Not what you should be doing or what has worked for others, but what might actually support your creative priorities, personality, and sustainability. 

If structure were something you could approach with curiosity rather than perfection, where might you begin?

Image Credit: Michael Evans

In my next piece for paid subscribers to Ways To Be A Creative on Substack, I’ll share practical frameworks and experiments to help us explore how we can design structure that is personal, holistic, and intentional. Structure that works for us as artists and creatives, not against us.

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