If you are a creative, an artist, or a maker then you’re familiar with the ping of a new idea, the rush of excitement to work on it, and the inevitable anxiety that often follows. Because you’ve been down this road before.
You have an idea but then you get busy and it fades into the shadows. Or you start big only to fizzle out.
The tricky thing about this kind of project you feel called to create?
It comes from within you.
No one is waiting for it because they don’t know it exists.
No one is bossing you because it’s your own idea.
You have to be both the idea-maker and the project-creator.
You are the boss and the employee.
You are the engineer and the artist.
And you’re worried.
You’re afraid this great idea will go by way of all your other great ideas: you’ll get excited, have a brainstorming session, hit a roadblock, and lose all of your courage and motivation.
I’m convinced that the world is teeming with great ideas hiding in the shadows and that beautiful art is locked inside the minds and hearts of people like you.
Here are four reasons why it hasn’t come out yet:
1. You’re not convinced your project matters
After years of writing on the internet about creativity, after publishing a book about living life as art, and after nearly a year of leading an online membership site for writers, one thing I know for sure is that artists, creators, and makers are the most professional self-doubters I know.
We start to make something and then look around and see all the other cool stuff people are making and we get discouraged, we get twisty, and we stop.
It’s not because we actually want to stop, though. It’s because we aren’t convinced the end result will be worth it.
Who do I think I am anyway?
It’s our theme song. And it’s debilitating.
But what if there was a way to know for sure this work matters?
2. You can’t find the time
We are students and mothers and full-time workers. We have laundry and bills and trash to take out.
We have real jobs with real problems and real people who need clothes and food.
We are busy and we are tired and we don’t have time or space to think seriously about that project we dreamed up last year.
To spend time creating feels like it might be a waste, especially because it might not work.
But what if the real waste is having a creative vision for something that no one ever knows about?
3. You don’t know who it’s for
Great work isn’t just about something, it’s also for someone.
It doesn’t always feel like that at first, though. At first it’s just an idea, a story, a possibility. When the newness of the idea wears off, it’s easy to convince ourselves it isn’t worth the work because no one knows about it or cares, anyway.
But what if this project you can’t seem to ignore is waiting to be made by you so that it can be a gift to someone else?
4. You’re not sure how to organize your ideas
This one is straight up utilitarian. We’ve learned somewhere along the way that creativity is free and whimsical and la-la-la! We think if we are real artists, the process won’t be hard and confusing and take discipline.
So when our creative endeavors start to feel like math or smell like spreadsheets, we get scared and give up.
I must not be cut out for this because it doesn’t come naturally and also it’s hard.
But what if you had some clear steps and a solid framework for moving forward with your work?
***
Here’s the thing.
Every work that has ever touched our lives, no matter the medium, has one thing in common: someone finished it.
I believe there is art in the world that isn’t being made and I’m making it my personal mission to change that.
So I’ve created a way to help artists, creators, and makers like you finally finish a project that matters.
We’ll take all of these reasons, look them in the face, and walk on by. It’s time to get that great work out of you and into the world. I can help. Find out more right here.
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