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September 11 - September 29, 2024
“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.” – Anais Nin
Creative masters keep a schedule, they treat their work seriously, and get to it whether they’re inspired or not.
Because when you sacrifice the non-essential parts of your day, you’ll gain the momentum you need to progress your big ideas.
Leave visual clues about your work and ideas. Write notes to yourself each night about what to work on the next day.
Open up your calendar, set a deadline for your creative project and, working backwards, block out time on your calendar each day to create. Then hold yourself accountable to this routine.
You will make steady but determined progress towards your goal if you nudge your big ideas along in some small way each day.
Before I go to bed, I read a section of what I worked on that day. I hold this thought in my mind for a few seconds before going to sleep. I do this because keeping an idea in my mind passes it over to my subconscious, which will continue to work on the idea while I sleep.
The goal here isn’t to work on an idea solely for a reward; it’s to build a mental link between your new creative routine and positive experiences.
Admit it. You’re afraid of spending so much time alone with ideas that might never pay off when you could be earning real money and experiencing more success in a regular job. You’re afraid of the disapproving looks from your friends and family when you go into your room or studio alone, again. You’re scared of wasting your time, of making the wrong decisions, of failing and, when you’re honest with yourself, of not listening to the inner voice that whispers in the middle of the night, create, damn it.
Step 1: Map Your Life
Step 2: Draw on External Resources
Step 3: Ask Clarifying Questions
Step 4: Consider the Wider Canvas
Step 5: Bring It All Together
“I believe . . . ” “I am happiest when . . . ” “I stand by . . . ” “I am at my best when . . .
Step 6: Put Your Mission Statement Into Practise
“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.”
Instead of letting life sweep you along, cast an oar into the river and guide yourself in the right direction. Do you have trouble making big decisions? Then, refer to your mission statement when you must make a decision as small as whether to practice when you don't feel like it or whether to invest in additional training.
“Begin challenging your assumptions. Your assumptions are the windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile or the light won’t come in.” – Alan Alda
“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.”
Come out of your bat cave, go and meet your audience and show them what you’ve got. Study their reactions intensely.
Start tracking your progress and what you’ve learnt about your craft.
“No one is really going to help you or give you direction. In fact, the odds are against you.” – Robert Greene
Say to yourself: Onwards!
Write down a hit list of people you would like to have as your creative mentor. Remember, they can be alive, dead, accessible or inaccessible. Next time you face a creative challenge, visualise your mentor and ask what would they do.
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” – Haruki Murakami
Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.”
Cultivate physical and mental strength and endurance so you can approach the blank page or virgin canvas without fear. Your pursuit of physical and mental strength and endurance should support your creative work, not the other way around.
Here’s the thing: Your main gig is giving you a fantastic opportunity to play with a side project early in the morning or late at night. Even if it doesn’t fire you up, it’s keeping the lights on at home. You have freedom and licence to work on your side project without fear of failure because your main gig is taking care of business.
Start a side project today and give yourself permission to fail.
Is your main gig turning your hair grey? Take out an old idea, dust it off and play with it a while.
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho
Quit Facebook. Delete the email app from your phone. Watch television only on the weekend. Turn off notifications on your computer. Disable your internet access while you work on your ideas.
Protect your free time and concentrate on developing a habit of creating every day.
Become aware of your negative self-talk and listen to it. If your mind is a blue sky, negative self-talk is nothing more than black clouds that you can watch as they pass. Accept negative self-talk for what it is – just talk. If this is a struggle, ask yourself: Was there a trigger that precipitated this negative self-talk? Am I looking for affirmation from someone else? Can I acknowledge my imperfections for what they are: part of the shared human experience? Indulge for a few minutes in this self-reflection.
You wouldn’t say to somebody who is first learning to play the guitar, ‘You better think really hard about where you put your fingers in the guitar neck before you strum, because you only get to strum once and that’s it. And if you get that wrong, we’re going to move on.”
“How would a great novelist and storyteller write this?”
“How would a world-class musician play this?”
Work on your idea for just 10 minutes today, 15 minutes tomorrow and 20 the day after that. Through the power of small daily wins, you can accomplish more on the blank page or virgin canvas.
If you haven’t accomplished anything in a while, finish just one of your creative projects, however small. Through finishing, you’ll discover more about what to create next.
“Art is the triumph over chaos.” – John Cheever
Start by finding out what you feel passionate about.