In the life of a creative there are two opposing forces. In one corner is procrastination and his tag team mate, perfectionism. In the other, inspiration and his/her coach called faith. Many a writer or artist has fallen prey to the raging battles that these inward foes wage with one another.
TRANSCRIPT
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Today, I want to talk about one of the things that I see as the biggest hindrance to people moving forward with their creative projects, whether that be publishing a book, whether that be starting a blog, whether that be singing a song, whatever it may be, actually, that the thing that stops us moving the wheels forward so we can actually get our work out to the world. And I think that there are really I’m like imagining I just watched one of the most recent kind of Rocky style movies recently called Crede, too.
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And of course, it’s all about these opposing forces in the ring. Yeah. Fighting against one another. And I see that there are two opposing forces often that are at war in the ring. And in one corner you’ve got procrastination and his team team-mate perfectionism, and in the other you’ve got inspiration and his or her coach called Faith. And, you know, many, many, many a writer and artist has fallen prey to the battle of these inward foes and the war that they waged with each other.
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And when the final bell sounds, it really will be the outcome of the skirmishes that these two forces engage in that will determine whether your value goes unrealised or not. You know, really, if you are a normal creative human being, you will probably be very much like most other people. Most of us are like the rest of us. And, you know, we don’t really want to find ourselves in the midst of an ongoing battle. And really too many potential writers, product creators, artists have really backed off from stepping into the ring because, you know, once we do all the questions about our self worth all of the doubt that we face, all of the insecurities that putting ourselves out to the world dredges up, all of the dreams that we put on the line, there’s a fear that they’re just going to be left in shreds on the canvas floor.
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And to be honest, sometimes in the journey from round to round, we want to go the full 13 rounds. I have made rounds. It is sometimes there are some rounds that we feel like we are like fighting a losing battle. That’s true, I believe, for anyone who has ventured into this life of courageous content creation. But I just want to share a three ways in which we can infuse the inspiration corner to turn things to our favour and lead us on to victory.
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Yeah, or at least at least next time until we kind of climb in the ring again with these opposing forces that quite honestly do sometimes come across as very, very stubborn and say, I’m going to just share three briefly, share three ways that you can that will help you maybe overcome your fears and create something magnificently imperfect. You really just lay perfectionism on the on the carpet there Lee perfectionism on the canvas strike that knockout blow and just step out and do this thing anyways.
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Yeah. Number one, we need to recognise that the process is just as important as the product. And I witnessed this all the time that we get so hung up on perfecting the product or the publication that we never actually pluck up the courage enough to publish. You know, and just facing the fact that perfectionism is perfection is never something that we’re going to attain is really a good fact to face and to get over in order to set ourselves unattainable goals that no, quite frankly, no one has ever reached in a is really detrimental to us moving forward.
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Good enough really is good enough. And of course, we can strive for excellence. But at the end of the day, 80 percent good enough and published is way better than 98 percent perfect. And then sitting on your hard drive, scratching around, trying to find that final two percent tweak because it just doesn’t happen. At the end of the day, there’s so much to be gained from the process that carries a project from conception to. Publication that there’s value in the process, not just the end product, the creative lessons that we learn.
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Yeah, not really complete until the product is in the hand of someone else who can be helped by and benefited by it, you know, and these lessons are only learnt when we step beyond our comfort zone and put ourselves out there in rejections pathway. And I say rejections pass way, because really, if you are stepping into this creative life, if you’re moving forward in your creative projects, there is always going to be the possibility either of incredible success and victory or at times things may not work out the way we we expect or we want to.
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We’ve got to be in a place where we value enough the process, the creative process, not just the outcome, because if we fixate on the outcome all the time, we’re going to be hindered in our courage to actually just take those steps that are necessary. The entrepreneurial life, my dear friend, the creative life is one of continual risk. We put ourselves on the line on a daily basis, you know. And then secondly, number, to boil down your idea to an MVP and minimal viable product or publication.
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And instead of pouring all of your resources into one, make it or break it, product, publication, novel, online course or whatever. Break it down into something that is much more easily attained. Yeah. So instead of doing like some 600 page novel, why not just publish a series of short stories instead of writing the comprehensive, you know, one cause to rule them all type online course. Why not just do something that is laser focussed?
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Yeah, just a short one hour and 90 minute training that will help people with one aspect of your chosen subject instead of every single aspect of whatever that subject may be, you know, and in doing so, you may be able at a later date to bundle all of those short courses up into your own course to rule them all. And then finally, I think this is probably one of the big things for me is and it’s it’s a little more kind of philosophical, esoteric, spiritual, if you like, is that the Bible encourages us to count our days, teach us to realise the brevity of life so that we may grow in wisdom.
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Psalm 90:12. So teach us to teach us to realise the brevity of life, how short our time on this planet. And each day is a day in which you get the opportunity to make your dent in the universe, to affect a change, to leave a legacy, you know, and your legacy, the legacy that you leave begins today. What you produce now is really going to be the body of work that you leave to the world at your passing.
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And people may benefit and will benefit in the here and now, but they can also benefit way beyond kind of your exit. Yeah, to the next stage and the next the next chapter of your glorious life in Christ. So what are you going to leave behind and what are you going to do today in order to begin or to continue building that creative legacy? You know, if you don’t do it for yourself, you know, because you know, all of that all that God has placed within you to share with others needs to find expression, you know, before it’s too late.
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You don’t want all of your history, all of your rich experience, all of the wisdom that you’ve accumulated over the years to go into the casket with you. Yeah. You want to leave that for someone. You want to leave that for future generations. And so if you don’t do it for yourself, do it for others. You know, not putting yourself out there is not only selfish in some ways, but it robs future generations of the unique inheritance of wisdom and experience that only you can leave behind.
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You know, I ponder often this simple reality that what I put off tomorrow may never see the light of. If I don’t make the decision to discipline myself, to write today, to produce and publish today, the body of work that I could develop over the coming years will remain starved of what it could have been. And I just just for example. Yeah, if you throw your fear to the wind and just do it just 500 words a day, you know, whether get like maybe just start a blog, 500 words a day, 365 days from now, that’s one hundred eighty two thousand five hundred words that have been left for generations to come.
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That’s one hundred and eighty 2500 words that you can then share with the world, whether that’s a novel, whether that’s a book, whether that’s a series of trainings, blog posts, whether that’s a memoir. You can do this. You can dedicate a year of your life to commit to produce this kind of work. You know, really just if you’ve got whatever you’ve got in your heart, make the movie man, create the cause, post the blog, create the website, publish the book, sing the song, don’t hesitate seise.
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The day today, quit vacillating and stop excusing yourself. Just create something however magnificently imperfect it may be. Begin doing it today and don’t back off because you really don’t know where it will lead you and you don’t know where those seeds will land and bear fruit. Well, thanks for listening, hopefully it’s been an encouragement to you today, if you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.
