First Step First: Walking Over Creative Obstacles
Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.
~ Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
I just finished The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, which is an incredible read for overcoming resistance to tackling creative projects. It's an earlier, extended version of his incisive Do the Work. I used it the last couple weeks to help me establish a rhythm for a new project I'm launching.
I'm always amazed just how many distractions my mind will conjure up to avoid working on a project I care about, especially in the early stages. At first, these distractions make sense. They are, after all, things that need to be done ... eventually. And didn't Thomas Jefferson have Personal Rule #1:
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do to-day.
So it makes total sense that today will be the day that I sort my emails, organize my photos, and check my credit card statement for fraud.
Then a week goes by with nothing to show for it.
The project's at a standstill. Dark clouds start forming over my head.
Whenever I get one solid week like this, I know it; I feel it. Suddenly, all kinds of guilty pleasures creep in -- junk food, sugar, that cup of coffee after lunch. Life itself starts to feel imbalanced; the wheels are coming off the cart. My day job suffers. My sleep gets restless. I've had this feeling so many times in my life that I now have the name for it, thanks to Mr. Pressfield:
Resistance.
And when I know I'm battling Resistance, it's game time. It's time to lace up my shoes, pull myself up off the floor and get started. Even if it I only sit down for 5 minutes to write. Even if I just design one section of a web page. I win. Resistance loses. Half the battle is showing up.
Just like exercise, if you can run for 5 minutes, you'll probably run for a half-hour. If you start lifting weights with one set, you'll eventually finish all your sets.
It only takes one step: The first one.
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Great resource for developing patterns of productive creativity!
Thanks to @josephsavage, this post was resteemed and highlighted in today's edition of The Daily Sneak.
Thank you for your efforts to create quality content.
This is a much needed push for me. I’ve been really off of my creative form and I always blame it in my day job or anything I can point my finger at. Then, I couldn’t draw anything. In my head, I’m all “I have this idea but meh, I won’t be able to execute it the way I imagined it so screw it” and just rejects the very idea of creating something. But all I needed what to take the that one step, the first one. My day just started and you just made it. Thanks a lot.
Best wishes, @korinkrafting!
This approach has worked well for me the last couple weeks. I'm finally getting things done, fitting it in along with my day job and family life. And the more I look behind me and seeing the project take shape, the better it feels, the easier it gets.
When will we see your book? I think you have read and followed more content of building character and leadership than anyone I have every seen. You have to have one on the way, right?
That would be great!
I'm working on something -- a subject completely different than what I post about here. I've got to get this new project's website up and running. At some point, when I've got all my ducks in a row, I'll think about posting it on Steemit -- but only when I've got a stable site to direct folks to (a mitigation of my complaint about the Steemit not paying out beyond 7 days).
Or inside of 7, it that were ever possible, lol ebay does it, they of course are not based on blockchain technology. What about a 3day post that is erased fully after payout, lol? Now I am dreaming. You would get steem/steemdollar twice as liquid inside of the steemit economy I don't know if that's good or bad.
First step is always a very difficult step to take. I always think about doing many things but my laziness always comes in my way. I will try to mend myself. I read about your post on sneakyninja page and could not stop myself to read it. This post is very nice and full of inspirations for lazy persons like me. Thanks!
The best thing about laziness with anything is that it can change in an instant. You're lazy until suddenly you're not.
That said, there is always something I'm lazy about. I'm never able to be great about everything. Something always seems to be out of balance -- exercise, sleep, work, diet. One of these is off. Right now, it's diet. :-)
Best wishes!
Thank you!
Love this, wish we saw it when reward was still valid, now following.
One trick we use, is to just do a little bit of everything, keep toe in each pool. Certainly you have to focus on one thing at some point, but if that happens naturally...
The other trick we need to get better, is have our list of priorities out first thing in the morning.
Nothing makes a person feel better than checking off that first most-important thing, if its achievable in one day. The 2nd part of this, is pick one thing that's do-able TODAY, and get it fully done. If you work on the BIG project with 100% of time, you leave the day feeling overwhelmed spirtually, even if you make good progress. Achieving one small thing successfully is like food for the soul, it keeps the soul functioning at 100% for your long term projects!
Our 2 cents, could be worthless, but good to write it down.