The Heart To Start: Stop Procrastinating & Start Creating

by David Kadavy

People who believe they can learn, actually can (“growth mindset”). People who don’t believe they can learn, struggle to learn (“fixed mindset”). We used to believe that the brain stopped changing at a certain age, but now we know it never stops changing.

“no matter who you are, you really are the only person with that voice. And that is the thing to really lean into, even if it’s weird.”

When we create our art, it’s a process of self-actualization. Your true self is constantly in conflict with the expectations of the world around you. Is it okay to do this? Will this make someone mad? Will I embarrass myself? Will I be stripped of my “best behaved” award?

When our true self doesn’t get a chance to follow its desires – when it doesn’t get the creative exercise necessary to arm it with a vocabulary in which to express itself – it acts out in strange ways.

The only way to become your true self is to find the art inside you and make it real. Your art is the best expression possible of who you really are. You make art when you take your passions, your interests, and even your compassion for others, and combine them to make something uniquely yours.

Ego doesn’t just make you act arrogant or criticize others. Ego also causes you to make excuses for yourself.

Your ego fears your art because if you follow your art, you will self-actualize. You will become your true self. But to do so, you will experience failure, and rejection, and fear.

One of the best forms of that fuel is your own curiosity. If you learn how to connect with your curiosity, not only will it propel you through the hard work of getting started, it will be there to keep you moving.

You have to find the right balance between exploitation and exploration.

To overcome the Linear Work Distortion, get a feel for your process by creating whatever comes easiest to you.

This brings us to a subtle but important detail of the martial art of Motivational Judo: You have to apply just the right amount of force in your commitments. If you make too small a commitment, you won’t gain enough momentum to keep moving. If you make too big a commitment, you’ll just end up cheating yourself.

Understand that your art is a journey of self-actualization. To create art, you have to blend your own personality, experiences, and curiosities to make something uniquely yours. To do this, you expose yourself to discomfort. You will have to live outside of the template that others try to set for you. You may fear judgment, or you may just simply find yourself procrastinating without even knowing that you’re avoiding getting started. Your ego is there, distorting your thoughts to protect you from this discomfort.

To get started, you need to find the fuel to break through the gravitational pull of the ego. If you follow your curiosity, you will be able to work longer and harder than anyone else. Your curiosities may seem to take you off course, but when they converge, you’ll be untouchable.

Fortunately, your own consciousness is a part of this collective consciousness. If you have the courage to listen to the voice inside your head, it will lead you to ideas that puncture the vacuum between the status quo and people’s true thoughts and desires.

In the journey of the many starts it takes to make your masterpiece, you will run across tough moments, or times when something other than working on your craft feels more appealing. Try to identify what makes your work important to you. It will fuel you when nothing else can.