Isn't it surprisingly easy to put off your creativity? Even when you know how much it means to you?

Prompts, courses and challenges can be an effective tool to kick-start your creativity.

• Ideas that come from outside yourself, can break your creative routine, expand your thinking and get you started creating in exciting and different ways. 
• A cut-off time can be a useful tool to help you make time and space for your creative expression.
• Community. We tend to gain confidence when our work is validated by our peers, and it's helpful to connect with supportive fellow creatives, to learn from each other. 

I've been participating in Breaking New Ground, a monthly-ish challenge or prompt hosted at iPhoneArt and it's a lot of fun! The image above is one of my contributions, and I wouldn't have made it without the prompt. Now that I have, I rather like it. 

Do you participate in prompts, courses or challenges that you feel further your creative expression? 

How do you feel these activities help you in your creative journey?