What good are hopes, dreams and desires?
If you’re not expressing them, then they’re no good. Keeping the lid on your dreams – where the world can’t see or hear them keeps us all stuck. Your creative progress encourages other artists and powers your own success. So when you hide those dreams, it gives fuel to the naysayers, causes other artists to struggle more and squashes your confidence before your ideas can even grow wings. Why would you want to do that?
The challenge for artists is to not let anything stop you from releasing your dreams. The world needs YOU, needs dreamers and crazy ideas so the realists will have something to work on.
Creative expression is the new economy – you can read more about why in Richard Florida’s book The Rise of the Creative Class and in A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. Now’s YOUR time – a new frontier where you can shine. Creative expression drives us through days like today and punches through darkness, letting in the light.
I just watched an inspiring video interview with Marie Forleo and Brendon Burchard that is worth a look. One of the nuggets from this bit is that an incomplete project creates conflict. Ouch! Your ideas and projects you’ve started – and not finished – all of it begins to grind to a halt and starts festering and if left there long enough, begins to create conflict in your own mind, life and perhaps even for those around you.
That should provide enough fuel to get moving on your abandoned ideas – because who wants anything ‘festering’ right? Gross.
What if you’ve forgotten how to move on? What if you’ve lost your energy and desire?
Sometimes, To Find Your Dream, You Have to Step Back
First, take a step back – my motto here on Creative Tempo is take a step, find your rhythm and keep moving – but sometimes that step is a step back. Back away a little or even backward, not too far – just enough to catch your breath and remember why you started your big idea in the first place. Why did it get you so fired up in the beginning – when you created stack a post-it notes in 10 seconds just to get it out quickly? Can you step back and conjure it up again? Try.
3 Secrets to Fuel Your Dreams and Gain Confidence
In order to have constant fuel for your dreams, you need to complete your creative project. Be bold and begin. You never start a painting half through someone else’s work, right? You always start with a blank canvas – splash the paint on and get moving.
Then, focus on it with clarity (you know where to focus, you need to figure out how to focus). Make it magnetic, sticky and heavy by getting your heart into it – which drives your project forward.
If you work on more than one painting at once, fine, but don’t let them all keep sitting there unfinished. What good is that to anybody?
Create blocks of time and chip away at it consistently. Creatives don’t typically like schedules, but a little structure will propel you forward – don’t fight it. Like Marie said in the interview (did you watch it?), “If it’s not scheduled, it’s not real.”
And then, complete it. The finishing of your painting or project brings closure and a feeling of accomplishment, satisfaction and confidence – you did it and can do it again. So the finishing of your thing will bring you the fuel and the energy to generate more confidence and more great work. Let’s recap:
- Be bold and begin. It’s part of the process.
- Give your idea ‘thought focus’, magnetic clarity and intention to serve.
- Finish it. See it from beginning to end.
Another tip from the video I put into action immediately is to put an entry on your phone calendar: “what shall I be thinking and feeling right now that will serve others?” Set the alarm to remind you every few hours – like a beacon in the ocean to keep you on track. Brilliant.
Go ahead, be a dreamer!
Challenge yourself. Block out time for your creative idea. Consistently work away at it. Finish it. Share it here, with your people, your website. Begin the next one. Help the realists out by releasing your dreams – then the realists can see the dream, talk about it, bring it to earth and ground it, make it practical, sensible – maybe even make a system out of it. Cool – working together, playing nice. Let them go do that while you begin working on your next one.
Think about it so you that know going into it where you need extra help. At what point is your idea the most challenging for you? The beginning, the middle of working on it, the finishing it or sharing it? Let it out – share it here.
If this posts helped you in some way, please share it. If you know someone this post may help – please send it to them.
Thank you.
