The path to creative success: what does it look like? Creativity isn’t linear. It curves and loops around. It wanders about. Creative practices serve to illuminate and focus your attention. You will start to notice patterns, things that were confusing (I’m stumped!) begin to make sense, and you will have an “Ah Ha!” moment. A new direction has emerged, and you have opened yourself to new horizons.
“Creating is taking steps, not making leaps: Find a problem, solve it, and repeat.” She who takes the most steps wins. ‘The best artists, scientists, engineering, inventors, entrepreneurs, and other creators are the ones who keep taking steps by finding new problems, new solutions, and then new problems again. The root of innovation is exactly the same as it was when our species was born: Looking at something and thinking, “I can make this better.”
Being able to ping lots of seedbops (ideas) is only one part of the creative journey. Without taking the next step, most ideas never grow into anything meaningful. “Having ideas is not the same as being creative. Creation is execution, not inspiration. Many people have ideas; few take the steps to make the thing they imagine.”
So what does that mean? It means starting the hard work toward bringing the best ideas you have to fruition. Which means delving with confidence into the world of uncertainty, making big mistakes, being wrong, and doing bad work.
My own journey in creating this business is filled with all of the above. I know how to communicate (public relations?) for government and land development. Now I’m selling myself and marketing my coaching, speaking, and teaching skills. Here I am at nearly 67, learning new approaches. I’m back “in school,” learning how to copy write, market, and sell myself. Eek!
Business experts tell you to just to start, know you will make lots of mistakes, and get better as you go. They know that perfectionists like me will never get there if we want things to be just so before going public.
So I put up my first website and am constantly revising it. I write my blogs and wonder if anyone is interested. I post my social media graphics and see very slow growth in followers. No one has signed up for my offering, “The Seedbop Navigator.” I’ve been official in business for two and a half months. Most experts say don’t expect results for at least six months.
What is essential in the starting out phase is to create useful information for people so they will trust you. And to be consistent. Persist even if it doesn’t look like you are getting much traction. This all can feel futile, but I believe in myself and I know that even when it looks like you are lost, you are on the right path. I have to believe that when I got this idea and knew this will be big in my life. Even when I’m seeing very little interest from the outside world. (In truth, some of my social media followers seem to be “men” catfishing for what they think is a lonely, old, rich woman; or, bots!) Sorry guys, not interested and not rich…
“Creation is not a moment of inspiration but a lifetime of endurance. …Creating is more monotony than adventure. It is early mornings and late nights: long hours doing work that will likely fail or be deleted or erased – a process without progress that must be treated daily for years. The beginning is hard, but continuing is harder. Those who seek the glamorous life should not pursue art, science, innovation, or invention … Creation is a long journey where most turns are wrong, and most ends are dead. The important thing creators do is work.”
“The most important thing they don’t do is quit. The only way to be productive is to produce when the product is bad. Bad is the path to good.”’
Oy Vey! So why in the heck would anyone want to be creative? Because it is the most meaningful, original, authentic, true, and rewarding way we can live our lives. It is the way we leave a legacy that enriches the future.
“If your idea succeeds, everybody says you’re persistent. If it doesn’t succeed, you’re stubborn.” – Judah Folkman
Be stubborn and persist!
Inventor James Dyson (yes, the vacuum guy) says, “I wanted to give up almost every day. A lot of people give up when the world seems to be against them, but that’s the point when you should push a little harder. I use the analogy of running a race. It seems as though you can’t carry on, but if you just get through the pain barrier, you’ll see the end and be okay. Just around the corner is where the solution will happen.”
We often hear of creators and innovators once they have become so wildly successful (and rich) that no one can doubt their value anymore. What we don’t hear about is the months, years, and decades they worked alone – through doubt, rejection, criticism, and failure. What got them to be wildly successful was not necessarily extraordinary talent or intellect but persistence and belief in their vision even when everyone else poo-pooed it.
If you think you can’t succeed because you aren’t smart or talented enough, consider this: there is no scientific evidence that creativity is related to talent or IQ. “the best way to create is to work alone and evaluate solutions as they occur.” And persist!
Working through the web of practices leads to seedbops – when the solution just pops into your brain, and you know at every level, this is the open door to where you want to go. You’ll gain the confidence that you can move forward and achieve the life and work that makes your soul sing. You’ll learn the skills to execute the best ideas, navigate through inevitable rejections, and refine and persist until you reach your goals.
The 10 steps to Magic are:
1. Get clear about the thing you want now
2. Retreat
3. Self-compassion with every step
4. Wander about in a world you don’t know
5. Capture seedbops, plant, and cultivate
6. Stash materials, research, skills
7. Navigate rejection; refine when you need to
8. Honor your gut and persist even when it seems futile
9. Stash materials, research, skills
10. Begin the journey from idea to revelation!
All references are from How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creatition Invention, and Discovery, by Kevin Ashton, 2015, Anchor Books
Related posts:
Expert Skills and Training Not Required For Creative Innovation & Problem Solving
The Value of Not Knowing What You Are Doing
Stop Judging the Process and Clear the Way for Magic!
