![\"Acoustic](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.attorneyatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/creative-hobbies-for-lawyers.jpg?resize=770%2C495&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
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Table of contents<\/h2>\n\n- You Don\u2019t Have to Be Good At It<\/a><\/li>\n
- \u2018Flow\u2019 Helps Silence Your Inner (Art) Critic and Trigger Real Recovery<\/a><\/li>\n
- Your Assignment<\/a><\/li>\n
- More Healthy Lawyer Productivity Tips<\/a><\/li>\n
- Get the Power Zone Playbook for Lawyers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
You Don\u2019t Have to Be Good At It <\/h2>\n
Of all the objections I hear when I talk about creativity, the most common (and most stubborn) is this: \u201cI\u2019m just not creative.\u201d<\/p>\n
We often define creativity narrowly; it means making art, writing fiction, or being the kind of person who plays guitar at dinner parties. You either have it or you don\u2019t, and if you think you don\u2019t, the whole idea of creative rest seems kind of irrelevant, right?<\/p>\n
But this framing misses the point, and it\u2019s keeping a lot of lawyers from accessing one of the most effective recovery strategies available to them. <\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need to be good at a creative activity to get the neurological benefits of doing it.<\/strong> <\/p>\nIn 2016, researchers at Drexel University studied the effect of art-making on cortisol levels<\/a> (a physiological marker of stress) in 39 healthy adults. Participants made art for 45 minutes using materials like collage, clay, markers and paint. Cortisol was measured before and after. It was only a small study, but the results were striking: 75% of participants showed a measurable reduction in cortisol after making art. And critically, there was no correlation between prior art experience and the cortisol drop. The beginners benefited just as much as the people who had been making art for years, and participants reported that making art (even if they weren\u2019t good at it) was enjoyable and freeing. <\/p>\nThe recovery happens in the doing, not in the quality of what you produce.<\/strong> <\/p>\nThis makes sense when you consider what creative activity does to your brain. As I wrote in my last article, creative rest activates the brain\u2019s default mode network<\/a>: the state associated with insight, incubation, and the kind of background processing that lets solutions surface when you\u2019re not forcing them. That shift happens any time you\u2019re absorbed in an activity, not just when you\u2019re doing it well. A beginner working with watercolors is just as cognitively absorbed as someone who has been painting for 20 years. <\/p>\nArguably more so, because everything is new.<\/p>\n
\u2018Flow\u2019 Helps Silence Your Inner (Art) Critic and Trigger Real Recovery<\/h2>\n
This is also the essence of what psychologist Mih\u00e1ly Cs\u00edkszentmih\u00e1lyi called \u201cflow\u201d \u2014 the state of total absorption that reduces anxiety and restores mental resources. Flow doesn\u2019t require mastery. It requires engagement at the right level for where you are. A lawyer who picks up a guitar for the first time can experience flow. A novice gardener can experience flow. The activity just needs to be engaging enough to hold your attention and low-stakes enough that the outcome doesn\u2019t feel like a performance review.<\/p>\n
That last part matters. I want to say something directly to the lawyers who are thinking: \u201cBut I\u2019d be terrible at it, and that would be embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Terrible is fine. Terrible is, in fact, ideal<\/strong>.<\/p>\nWhen you\u2019re new at something, you have no expectations to manage and no standard to maintain. Your inner critic (that voice honed to a fine edge by years of legal training) doesn\u2019t quite know what to do with you. It has no precedent to judge you against. And in that gap, something useful happens: the activity becomes genuinely restful, because there is no performance to deliver. You\u2019re just making something that isn\u2019t a legal brief.<\/p>\n
A friend and colleague of mine discovered this when she fractured her dominant wrist and, unable to do her usual creative work, started making art with her non-dominant hand. The inner critic went quiet. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt had no expectations of my left hand,\u201d she told me. \u201cSo everything I made counted as art. For the first time, I felt completely free.\u201d <\/p>\n
That freedom eventually followed her into her professional life as well.<\/p>\n
The bar for what counts as \u201ccreative\u201d is also much lower than most people assume. Arranging flowers. Making a playlist. Trying a new recipe. Rearranging a room. Building something from a kit. Knitting, doodling, journalling, or even paint-by-numbers. None of these requires special talent. All of them qualify as creative hobbies for lawyers.<\/p>\n
Research on everyday creativity shows that ordinary creative acts, regardless of their scale or sophistication, deliver the same psychological benefits as higher-profile artistic pursuits.<\/strong><\/p>\nYour Assignment<\/h2>\n
So if you\u2019ve been opting out of this conversation because you\u2019ve convinced yourself you\u2019re just not creative, I\u2019d invite you to reconsider. Pick something you\u2019ve been vaguely curious about, something where being terrible carries absolutely no professional risk, and try it for 20 minutes this week.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need to be good at it. You don\u2019t need to finish it, share it or be proud of it. You just need to do it.<\/p>\n
Your cortisol levels won\u2019t care either way.<\/p>\n
Catch up on Karen Skinner\u2019s Lawyer Creativity Series<\/h2>\n
Read \u201cThe Law Firm Productivity Myth That\u2019s Burning Lawyers Out\u201d<\/a> and \u201cWhy Your Brain Needs Creative Rest (and What That Actually Looks Like)<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMore Healthy Lawyer Productivity Tips<\/h2>\n\n- Micro-Recovery: 5 Small, Realistic Ways to Reduce Stress During a Busy Workday<\/a><\/li>\n
- How Doodling Makes You a Better Listener (and 3 More Benefits)<\/a><\/li>\n
- Delegation Isn\u2019t Just a Work Hack, It\u2019s a Life Hack: 5 Personal Tasks to Delegate Now<\/a><\/li>\n
- Got a Process for Your Processes? Create Law Firm SOPs in 5 Easy Steps<\/a><\/li>\n
- Why Lawyers Need Boredom<\/a><\/li>\n
- Indoor Fitness Tips for Attorneys With Busy Schedules<\/a><\/li>\n
- Why Are You at the Office Until 10 p.m.?<\/a><\/li>\n
- Top-Rated Mindfulness and Meditation Apps<\/a><\/li>\n
- How to Be Productive When You\u2019re Depressed<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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You Don\u2019t Have to Be Good At It <\/h2>\n
Of all the objections I hear when I talk about creativity, the most common (and most stubborn) is this: \u201cI\u2019m just not creative.\u201d<\/p>\n
We often define creativity narrowly; it means making art, writing fiction, or being the kind of person who plays guitar at dinner parties. You either have it or you don\u2019t, and if you think you don\u2019t, the whole idea of creative rest seems kind of irrelevant, right?<\/p>\n
But this framing misses the point, and it\u2019s keeping a lot of lawyers from accessing one of the most effective recovery strategies available to them. <\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need to be good at a creative activity to get the neurological benefits of doing it.<\/strong> <\/p>\n In 2016, researchers at Drexel University studied the effect of art-making on cortisol levels<\/a> (a physiological marker of stress) in 39 healthy adults. Participants made art for 45 minutes using materials like collage, clay, markers and paint. Cortisol was measured before and after. It was only a small study, but the results were striking: 75% of participants showed a measurable reduction in cortisol after making art. And critically, there was no correlation between prior art experience and the cortisol drop. The beginners benefited just as much as the people who had been making art for years, and participants reported that making art (even if they weren\u2019t good at it) was enjoyable and freeing. <\/p>\n The recovery happens in the doing, not in the quality of what you produce.<\/strong> <\/p>\n This makes sense when you consider what creative activity does to your brain. As I wrote in my last article, creative rest activates the brain\u2019s default mode network<\/a>: the state associated with insight, incubation, and the kind of background processing that lets solutions surface when you\u2019re not forcing them. That shift happens any time you\u2019re absorbed in an activity, not just when you\u2019re doing it well. A beginner working with watercolors is just as cognitively absorbed as someone who has been painting for 20 years. <\/p>\n Arguably more so, because everything is new.<\/p>\n This is also the essence of what psychologist Mih\u00e1ly Cs\u00edkszentmih\u00e1lyi called \u201cflow\u201d \u2014 the state of total absorption that reduces anxiety and restores mental resources. Flow doesn\u2019t require mastery. It requires engagement at the right level for where you are. A lawyer who picks up a guitar for the first time can experience flow. A novice gardener can experience flow. The activity just needs to be engaging enough to hold your attention and low-stakes enough that the outcome doesn\u2019t feel like a performance review.<\/p>\n That last part matters. I want to say something directly to the lawyers who are thinking: \u201cBut I\u2019d be terrible at it, and that would be embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n Terrible is fine. Terrible is, in fact, ideal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re new at something, you have no expectations to manage and no standard to maintain. Your inner critic (that voice honed to a fine edge by years of legal training) doesn\u2019t quite know what to do with you. It has no precedent to judge you against. And in that gap, something useful happens: the activity becomes genuinely restful, because there is no performance to deliver. You\u2019re just making something that isn\u2019t a legal brief.<\/p>\n A friend and colleague of mine discovered this when she fractured her dominant wrist and, unable to do her usual creative work, started making art with her non-dominant hand. The inner critic went quiet. <\/p>\n \u201cIt had no expectations of my left hand,\u201d she told me. \u201cSo everything I made counted as art. For the first time, I felt completely free.\u201d <\/p>\n That freedom eventually followed her into her professional life as well.<\/p>\n The bar for what counts as \u201ccreative\u201d is also much lower than most people assume. Arranging flowers. Making a playlist. Trying a new recipe. Rearranging a room. Building something from a kit. Knitting, doodling, journalling, or even paint-by-numbers. None of these requires special talent. All of them qualify as creative hobbies for lawyers.<\/p>\n Research on everyday creativity shows that ordinary creative acts, regardless of their scale or sophistication, deliver the same psychological benefits as higher-profile artistic pursuits.<\/strong><\/p>\n So if you\u2019ve been opting out of this conversation because you\u2019ve convinced yourself you\u2019re just not creative, I\u2019d invite you to reconsider. Pick something you\u2019ve been vaguely curious about, something where being terrible carries absolutely no professional risk, and try it for 20 minutes this week.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to be good at it. You don\u2019t need to finish it, share it or be proud of it. You just need to do it.<\/p>\n Your cortisol levels won\u2019t care either way.<\/p>\n Read \u201cThe Law Firm Productivity Myth That\u2019s Burning Lawyers Out\u201d<\/a> and \u201cWhy Your Brain Needs Creative Rest (and What That Actually Looks Like)<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\u2018Flow\u2019 Helps Silence Your Inner (Art) Critic and Trigger Real Recovery<\/h2>\n
Your Assignment<\/h2>\n
Catch up on Karen Skinner\u2019s Lawyer Creativity Series<\/h2>\n
\nMore Healthy Lawyer Productivity Tips<\/h2>\n
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![\"Power](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.attorneyatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Power-Zone-Playbook-COVER-Low-Res-w-Rule.jpg?resize=412%2C612&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")