Creation is beautiful. It is at the core of life itself; and at the core of us. All we need to do is look around us to see this. Every natural and living thing you see carries the very essence of creation. And every man made item was first a creative thought in someone’s mind.
But the pressure to create and be innovative has intensified. There is an ever-increasing expectation for you to create something magical and original. Something that causes you to be noticed; that receives an abundance of likes and shares, so that you can ultimately gain some form of higher reward. Creativity has in many ways become the currency of future relevance.
Can you feel it?
Can we produce our greatest work when our motivation is not the fire within, but rather the commentary others – most often whom we don’t even know? This kind of dependency, so often linked to digital recognitions, depletes desire.
It’s a conundrum – surely, we must create and innovate with a mindset focused on what sells, what the need is, what the market wants and the problem we want to solve. If we don’t, our creation might be for our imagination and delight only. But if we do, creation might become a transaction, an obligation, a goal to achieve, or a measurement to meet.
What are your thoughts?
As I wrestle the above, I remind myself that I find a happy place in the creative process. Here I find moments of FLOW, a state described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, where you are so absorbed in the work and everything else fades. Here, the reward is the work, and the process is the delight. The inner child is at play and the world is a place of opportunity. And yet, I can’t deny that I desperately want my work to have impact and reach, to make a difference, to be spoken of by many and ultimately, to sell. What do I do?
I don’t know – but here are some guidelines I try and live by.
- Be curious about much – make observation and wondering a habit
- Don’t overthink – be the child and create with passion
- Love the process – create for the sake of creating
- Ship out your work – give your gift and put your work out there
- Surrender – let what happens next, simply happen
- Be the student – ask some good questions
- Be gracious – find space for laughter, forgiveness and return
Another asset worth mentioning is to have a well-rounded team by your side. How this looks is personal, but each person should play a role in connecting you with the vision (passion), returning you to the mission (impact), reminding you of the goals (reach and sales) and as a collective, you strive to reach and maintain balance between all these elements.