How to grow as an artist

For while now, I have been thinking about making some intentional changes and exploring new techniques, tools and materials in my creative process. Back in the days, my professor at university would talk to us about intentionally sabotaging our paintings in order to create a puzzle in the creative process. I understand where he comes from; when we let go of the fear we face in the process of our work and are being open to making mistakes along the way, the magic happens. As artists we can get caught up with the same habitual techniques, methods, materials, and concepts and forget to push ourselves. In order to grow, we need to sabotage our repetitive habits and surprise ourselves.