Just Create: Start Working on Your Passion by Letting Go
If you're struggling to start writing that novel, or forming that band, or getting your business idea off the ground, you might be stuck overthinking it. Overthinking can keep some of us paralyzed for days and even years at a time. There is a solution, and it’s pretty simple. The answer is to just start.
Discipline leads to creativity.
If you wait for the perfect conditions and the perfect moment of inspiration, you will never get anything done. It takes discipline to cultivate your passion. Part of being disciplined is to not question every decision you make throughout the day. Set yourself up for success by automating your productive time. Don’t question whether you will write today. Just sit down and write. Don’t doubt whether or not you should play music today. Make it a rule that you have to play for an allotted time daily. Make rules to support your passion. Whatever schedule you set up, the number one rule is to produce for at least a small amount of time each day. If you skip a day of drawing practice for example, forgive yourself, move on, and keep going. Try harder to adhere to your schedule, but don’t give up because you didn’t do it perfectly. This is all part of the process. So keep going.
You can’t improve on something that doesn’t exist.
Do you want to start but don’t feel like you’re good enough yet? There is no magic pill for becoming great at a skill. It takes practice, and practice takes doing. You just have to sit down and start. Just create and keep creating. Nobody sits down and makes something perfectly the first time. You have to be okay being bad at something before you can be great at it. Improvement inspires more improvement. The more you produce, the more ideas start flowing, and the better you become.
I started my passion, my design business, by just putting my work out there and improving upon it. This was the only way I was able to get better. When I put myself out there, I was able to take criticism, absorb suggestions, and to learn from experience. I just created. And I kept creating.
The great artists we know and love were extremely disciplined about their creations.
Beethoven sat down everyday and composed until 3:00pm.
Mark Twain woke up at 5:30 am and wrote until 5:00 pm every day.
Andy Warhol said, “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”
The first step is to sit down and start. Only after beginning the process can a masterpiece be formed. When you start, you’re always going to wish you started sooner. I encourage you to stop overthinking and just create. I’m on your team, cheering you on. So, go! Get outta here.