“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
The critic and the creative co-exist within each of us. We give too much credence to the critic, drowning out the voice and the call of the creative. Bound up and tangled in old narratives of “not good enough” and “unworthiness,” the critic stops us before we dare to start. Ignore the critic – both the internal and external ones. Create, execute, deliver.
We make the creative process unattainable by making it illusive and magical, requiring inspiration before starting. Daily work, repetition and practice are the required ingredients. Inspiration is a byproduct of the work rather than the fuel. Start and the inspiration will follow where first drafts make their way to final work ready to be released and set free.
“If we condition ourselves to work without flow, it’s more likely to arrive. It all comes back to trusting our self to create the change we seek. We don’t agree to do that after flow arrives. We do the work, whether we feel like it or not, and then, without warning, flow can arise. Flow is a symptom of the work we’re doing, not the cause of it,” states Seth Godin in his new book, The Practice: Shipping Creative Work. He continues, “The time we spend worrying is actually time we’re spending trying to control something that is out of our control. Time invested in something that is within our control is called work. That’s where our most productive focus lies. The practice requires a commitment to a series of steps, not a miracle. We don’t ship the work because we’re creative. We’re creative because we ship the work.”
Each day, we need to do the work by putting in time with a commitment to habits and rituals. “It’s vital to establish some rituals – automatic but decisive patterns of behavior – at the beginning of the creative process, when you are most at peril of turning back, chickening out, giving up, or going the wrong way.” – Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life.
“Creators create. Action is identity. You become what you do. You don’t need permission from anybody to call yourself a writer, entrepreneur, or musician. You just need to write, build a business, or make music. You’ve got to do the verb to be the noun,” states Chase Jarvis, author of Creative Calling. He continues, “Fear is a gift, a precious instinct. Your primitive “reptile brain” is there to protect you and keep you alive. You can’t reason with it; it learns through action. But if you take action despite the fear and survive, it learns a tiny lesson. Over time, action by action, the volume of the negative voice goes down.”
Outline a plan this week. Put an hour on the calendar to start, to create the framework, the habits and rituals to start creating. Allow the process and work to unfold and guide you to the next step. Dwell in possibility and start again and again.
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe