{"id":2191,"date":"2026-03-02T16:06:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T15:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2191"},"modified":"2026-03-02T16:06:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T15:06:43","slug":"pause-before-the-first-note","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2191","title":{"rendered":"The pause before the first note"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How taking time before you begin can elevate your creativity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The temptation when someone asks me to play or sing something is to dive straight in.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Too often I&#8217;m halfway through the first melody before realising, even as I&#8217;m playing, that it&#8217;s too fast, too loud, too something. And it&#8217;s also too late.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/katepainecreativityhelm.substack.com\/p\/the-pause-before-the-first-note\">This week&#8217;s newsletter is about how I\u2019ve learnt to pause before the first note or the first step, and why taking a moment before you begin can transform the way you create.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-opt-id=770779936  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:726\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Creativity-Blog-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:726\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Creativity-Blog-3.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:300\/h:213\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Creativity-Blog-3.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:768\/h:545\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Creativity-Blog-3.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:1521\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Creativity-Blog-3.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:1522\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Creativity-Blog-3.jpg 1748w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@katepainethecreativityhelm\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How taking time before you begin can elevate your creativity The temptation when someone asks me to play or sing something is to dive straight in.&nbsp; Too often I&#8217;m halfway through the first melody before realising, even as I&#8217;m playing, that it&#8217;s too fast, too loud, too something. And it&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-practices"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The pause before the first note - The Creativity Helm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"how pausing and taking time before you begin creating something instead of diving straight in can elevate your creativity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2191\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The pause before the first note - The Creativity Helm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"how pausing and taking time before you begin creating something instead of diving straight in can elevate your creativity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/?p=2191\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Creativity Helm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-02T15:06:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-02T15:06:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlalw4dkwpur.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/creativityhelm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Creativity-Blog-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1748\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2191#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2191\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/424a2ab3244205c0c279aaa5b6a55843\"},\"headline\":\"The pause before the first note\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-02T15:06:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-02T15:06:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2191\"},\"wordCount\":99,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2191#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/creativityhelm.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2026\\/03\\/Creativity-Blog-3.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Creative practices\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2191#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2191\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativityhelm.com\\\/?p=2191\",\"name\":\"The pause before the first note - 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