Get to Work!

unmentionable (57)in #creativity • 7 years ago

For many people coming up with a creative idea is not an issue. The 'roadblocks' if you will come when that idea has to be translated into action, especially if those actions tend to be repetitive and mundane.

Take writing as an example, especially creative writing. In order to develop a "good" novel, the writer has to spend many hours revising and editing what has already been written. An author may write draft after draft until he or she is satisfied with the work. Why do I bring this up? Because we all just need to GET TO WORK!

Many people with issues around executive functions, struggle with "doing the work" as professional writer Steven Pressfield phrases it. Distractions, excuses, and annoyances can derail any creative project but even more so when one struggles with executive functions issues. To that end, I highly recommend creative people who struggle with this issue to read Pressfield's "Do the Work." This is not a book filled with platitudes and pithy little feel-good encouragement sayings. Pressfield makes you charge this "resistance" (as he phrases it) head on and barrel through it, like a grappling athlete on crystal meth! He has some great ideas about pushing through the monotony and finishing your project. It is a true 'Call to Arms' for creative types!

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Another issue with translating creativity into reality is our own self-defeating thoughts. I have worked with so many people in the past who allow their own irrational thoughts to get in the way of their creativity. They allow those thoughts like "I can't do this" or "you're not good enough for this project" to take over and sap them of motivation and effort. However, in my experience, very little of what we actually think is actually real, it is usually just our fear distorting our reality. As the Benet Gesserit say in Dune: Fear is the mind killer!

So ignore those irrational thoughts and push those distractions aside and get to work!