When you invest your heart and ingenuity into developing your brand – even if you come into developing your brand sort of through the creative back door as I have – you feel you have a lot at stake when you hire someone or train someone to carry out that brand. How do you let that brand grow with a little love, trust, and wonder instead of so much fear?
It’s when circumstances challenge your sunniest disposition that you really know what works to stoke and sustain your best creative efforts month after month, year after year.
And it’s those tools and systems I’m eager to share with you in a compact series.
You’ll come away not only with a creative’s tool belt that runneth over. You’ll also come away with a plan and system to implement significant changes to your work flow and your mindset for the long haul.
Creatives age. Even by your late twenties if not sooner, the body creaks and falters. The mind’s microprocessor slows down. And the physical energy that propels your sheer will and volition gets sapped.
So you push through your work, knowing that you’re not creating at your best but “good enough” and that faking it really well will have to suffice.
What to do?
Note: This is the follow-up in the Be Possible Writing Project series. The introduction to the Be Possible Project will get you up to speed on the science behind the project. Day 1: Symphonic Activity Day 2: Creative Dexterity Day…
Most creatives I know and work with have some variation of this conundrum: how to get optimal doses of solitude and of social interaction. Today’s writing invitation – the final one of the Be Possible Writing Project – takes us into this conundrum.
Most creative success comes from something kind of un-sexy and quiet –relevant rhythms. Rhythms of creative action.
When challenged, the Dexterous Creative knows when and how to use both (or all six!) hands and the best tool at her disposal. When blocked, the Dexterous Creative is adept at finagling a way under, around, or between a rock and a hard place. And she also knows when to step back and let the challenge resolve itself or the block to remove itself. This writing prompt actually works to help you achieve your creative goals this year.
Today’s prompt revolves around Symphonic Activity. Symphonic Activity is an activity that brings together your mind, body, and aspirations like players in a symphony. The activity might challenge your wits in an optimal way, but all facets of your self move harmoniously. Examples include conducting your daily business and enterprise with elegance, giving a dynamic talk, orchestrating a party or social gathering, facilitating an event, writing a book or story, designing a project.
You can craft vision boards, find a year-long intention word or three words or phrase, perform a New Year’s Eve I Ching reading (that would be my wife and me), plan and plan and plan, and tell yourself 108 times each morning for a month that you’re a good person who deserves a fulfilling life.
And still, 12 months later, little beneficial change happens. Little gratification ensues. In fact, some of the above might be counter-productive.
So, what gives?
Is there a science or an art to manifesting our dreams and goal completion?
The economy’s in flux. Lightning-speed changes in technology dizzy you. And yet your mind teems with ideas. And yet you want, want, want to sustain your creative productivity. But you and I know the problems.
You lose your focus.
Your time slips away.
Your vision fades into a packed scheduler. Your confidence dissolves into a pool of “I’m a fraud and a fool!”-ness.
How can you keep up with let alone innovate in your field?
Imagine your creative momentum like an arrow. What keeps it suspended in air and on-target? What makes the shooting and executing feel effortless?
Discover the inspiration behind Tracking Wonder. When life (literally) goes up in flames, learn to use the transformative power of wonder to find hope and even thrive in challenging times.
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