Making the Most Out of You

Kicking it around and around. That idea. Bouncing it off the wall, people, and your boss. Hesitating and wondering is this the right time and right idea to bring forward. Your best creative work, at the point of going dormant. We all get those creative pulses that we just want to share. There are several articles I could write, but very few make it to you. Sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. We need to stop caring what others think and just put it out there. Go for yourself and the audience you’ve wanted of many will not fail you or be far behind.

Don’t fight that inner voice you have. Give it room to talk to you. Come out. When I’ve created within the confines of others, rarely has that been my best work or the one that gets the most views. The ones that do get the most accolades, likes, or views are almost 95% of the time the ones I got no advice on and just felt a compulsion to put out. Don’t work so hard to make it compelling for everyone else. Create for yourself.

Somewhere along the way, we think to make it you need lots of likes. I gave that up for 2 years. I became more concerned in visits and views over likes or shares . My frame of reference for success is not how impressed people are with me, but whether or not what I write is helping them. I want it to be easier for humanity to get through the garbage of life as it sometimes presents itself. Do I like getting liked and comments? Of course. Kind of a paradox, I get that. But I’m staying true to my creative flow. Not letting likes or shares determine the content or impact I feel I can make. Ever post is my effort for myself at swinging as hard as I can the fences. Maybe I’ll knock it down, maybe I won’t. I really don’t care either way because I’ll learn from it.

Creating solitude for myself to create is an incredibly important way for me to be in a place to listen to myself as I create. I have to be able to trust myself and what I write, not be distracted every five seconds by passersby or noises. I need to be able to listen and be self-aware. I often shut myself up in my office at home far away from other family members, put on my noise canceling headphones, and turn off all notifications while I pound away on a topic. Being present I find is important. Cultivate solitude for yourself and most of the time you will find less blocks to your creative output getting in your way. Simply thinking is a chore and hard for me to do when there is to many distractions competing for my attention or creative fuel.

Overall health and well being are important as well. A healthy body makes for a healthy mind which you will need to be at your best. One of the best ways I find I can get unstuck creatively is to take a power nap when I hit any road block I cannot get through. Giving my mind time to unwind and loosen up with some rest is the best trick. If you want a bonus tip, I find if I ask myself a tough question I’m trying to figure out for my post before that power nap, by the time I wake up an hour later, it’s easier for me to problem solve through it. Just listen to your body. When it’s tired, that’s the worse time to create.

Once you’ve become a master of one creatively, you can begin to listen to others. The best creative artists I’ve known have been the ones that can listen effectively to themselves first in harmony with that of others. We can’t cut all voices out in the process to be creative. From time to time, I’ve found being a good getter and asking for feedback is a fantastic way to bring others into your creativity for critique. I think as well, you will find yourself amidst others just as creative to you, which can be incredible energy to feed off of for your own work. My creative social circle of friends are super important to me. They not only provide me with the feedback I need to become sharper and better creatively, they make me feel a part of something much bigger. Austin Kleon taught me to steal like an artist. Each work of art I’ve ever studied contains trace elements of artists before it.

Start by creating for yourself and the joy of creating before you go after advice from anyone else. In order for you to truly tap into your best creative self, you have to understand your best creative self by being present with it. It helps to be a part of this group of bloggers, writers, and poets I have on this stage. It helps me to be a part of such a supportive community and improves my lenses around the influences I see in it. In two more years from now, I’ll be even better and my reach will be even greater. Most importantly, I’ll be more in tune with my creativeness than ever before.

Thanks for viewing and checking IBtP out. Appreciate you always.

✌ Shawn