Creativity

In creative projects there is a tendency sometimes to over complicate and accumulate, rather than slim down and simplify. Creative nature is resplendent with ideas and projects can soon take on a wild life of their own.

It happens in life, in family, and it happens in business.

But sometimes more is not better, and simple systems and processes can be the most liberating adjustments to your creative endeavors you will ever make.

Yes, I did use two expletives in that last sentence, “systems” and “processes”. I’m creative and prefer the language of spontaneity, but have found that systems lead to freedoms that fortuitous accidents never will.

A creative life can sometimes a lonely business. Some creative flows thrive on solitude, and there’s no problem with that. The problems arise when the art side of what we do spills over into the business of being an artist.

The comforts of the lonely road can lead to wanting control of every aspect of the process. An example from my own life as a writer would be the danger that from writing to editing, covers to promotion, my hand is firmly on each and every part. Because our art is so much a part of who we are, not just what we do, it’s difficult at times to let go of the baby and trust parts of the packaging process to be handed to others.

But to grow you must let go.

And to let go you must simplify.

Press The Pause Button and Reassess The Stresses on Your Time and Business

The most productive thing I ever did in my business was to press the pause button on production and take time to consider the process.

Get granular with your profit-producing activities, and document them carefully and clearly. This needs to be done in a way that someone else, with little or no experience, can follow. Develop a documented pathway from inception all the way through to shipping the end product.

In doing so, you will realize that there are elements in your process that are not easily reproduced. Your job is to determine which ones are essential and non-negotiable, and which ones are merely preference and icing on your creative cake. You need to wipe away any complicated frills and make duplication of your creative pathway from heart to the hands of your audience is as easy as humanly possible, without sacrificing essential qualities.

You will also be inspired to conceive new ways to do things, to discover new tools and apps and procedures, that extract the complexities that may have been easy for you but would certainly prove troublesome for others without the same level of experience. Constraints provoke the discovery of creative solutions.

It actually led me to develop quicker more intuitive pathways that require less effort to fulfil the core components of my publishing and promotional pathways. I’m certain the same can be done for your creative business.

It has helped me to bridge the different components and consider how they can flow more seamlessly one to another – so other people can take on each part, and one part of the process can be completed and handed to the next person without cause for question or confusion.

The ‘me’ Factor

The greatest benefit I see is that it has increasingly taken the ‘me’ factor out of the ‘business’ side of my business so ‘I’ am free to concentrate more fully on creating, unhindered by the frustrations of all the machinery that goes along with balancing art and business, passion and profit.

I urge you, fellow creatives, take a long hard look at your processes. Make them as simple and seamless as they can possibly be.

Determine them.

Document them.

Outsource to other capable hands the elements that do not require your direct control.

At the outset this may seem burdensome. Time spent doing things other than making or profit producing. But the fruits of the exercise will lead to a greater liberation to pursue your passions, and to live the liberated creative life you always dreamed was possible.

Simplify to multiply.

Simple.

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. When the final bell sounds the outcome of their skirmishes can determine whether your value goes unrealized or not.

Truth is, most of us do not want to find ourselves in the midst of an ongoing battle. Too many potential writers, product creators, and artists have backed off and stepped out of the ring. The questioning of self and the quest for perfection has left their dreams in shreds on the canvas floor.

But then there are the brave and the bold. At least that’s how it looks. One of my favourite definitions of courage is that it is not so much the absence of fear, rather it is acting despite your fears – standing in the face of your insecurities and stepping forward, even with trembling steps.

Here are 3 ways that I have helped the inward wrestling turn to my favor – how I have lifted the hand of inspiration in victory (at least until next time there’s a rematch).

3 Ways To Overcome Your Fears and Create Something Magnificently Imperfect

1. Recognise that the process is just as important as the product

I witness this all the time. People get so hung up on perfecting the product or publication that they never actually pluck up the courage to publish. Face the fact that perfection is an illusion. It is an unattainable goal that none have ever reached. Good enough really is good enough. We can strive for excellence, but at the end of the day 80% good enough and published is way better than 98% perfect and sitting on your hard drive scratching around for that final 2% tweak.

At the end of the day, there is much to be gained from the process that carries a project from conception to publication. The creative lessons we learn are not complete until the product is in the hands of someone other than ourselves.

These lessons are only learned when we step beyond our comfort zone and put ourselves out there in rejection’s pathway.

2. Boil your idea down to an MVP

Take the idea you have and boil it down to an MVP – a Minimum Viable Product or Publication. That way instead of pouring all of your short resources into one make-or-break novel, or gargantuan online course, you first get to test the market.

I have made mistakes in the past where I poured a great deal of time and energy into creating a product, or writing a book, only to realise to my dismay that there was no audience for them (or that I did not have the means to reach the audience sufficiently). Sigh! That’s a tough lesson and one I don’t want to repeat too often.

It is much less intimidating to come up with an idea and consider how you can, with the least resistance and minimal effort, create and publish something that will bring value to an audience and readership, yet not demand that you lay your life on the line to give it to them.

Instead of writing a 600 page novel, publish a series of short stories. Let those stories find their readers and determine from there whether the investment required to pen an epic is really worth your time and effort.

Instead of a comprehensive 16 module, 23 hours, in-depth video tutorial teaching all the bells and whistles, how about a one hour training that focuses with expert precision on just one important aspect of your chosen subject. Create several of these over time. If the audience clearly enjoys your tuition, bundle them into your ‘one course to rule them all’ at a later date.

3. Consider Your Days

The Bible encourages us to count our days.

“Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.”
Psalm 90:12, New Living Translation

Take stock of the value of every moment you have on this planet. Each day is one more opportunity to make a dent in the universe. To affect a change. What legacy do you want to leave?

The fact is, your legacy begins today. What you produce now to help and entertain others will become the body of work that you leave to the world at your passing. How many people check out with all of their rich experience and value still locked inside? All that has been placed in you to share with others needs to find expression before it is too late.

If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for others. Not putting yourself out there is not only selfish, it is robbing from future generations the unique inheritance of wisdom and experience only you can leave behind.

I ponder often the simple reality that what I put off until tomorrow may never see the light if day. If I don’t make the decision to disciple myself to write at this moment, to produce and publish today, the body of work I could develop over the coming years will remain lean and starved.

182,500 Words Later

Throw your fears to the wind and do it anyways. Just 500 words a day, and 365 days from now 182,500 words will have been left for generations to come.

Make that movie. Create that course. Post to that blog. Create that website. Publish that book. Sing that song.

Don’t hesitate. Seize the day. Quit vacillating. Stop with your excuses.

Create something marvelously imperfect. Today.

It is important to stay full. Your audience does want not the scraps of your emotional energy on a plate.

Remember, as a Christian Creative you are a life giver! The vitality of your creative output depends on one key thing.

You must take care of yourself!

As creatives, this is sometimes something we do not readily do. We are wired to keep pouring ourselves out with martyr-ish abandon until the emotional bucket runs dry. Even then we try and squeeze out a few stray drops.

But that’s not God’s best plan.

He wants your stewardship of His creative gifts to be pouring from the overflow of His life coursing through your being. His plan is for you to be a rich fountain that never runs dry.

Writers. Artists. Dancers. Singers. Film makers. Actors. Painters, Poets, Preachers, Teachers.

You are valued!

Your contribution to the world is important and should be protected. Not protected in the sense of ‘lock this away and throw away the key’, but protected as in ‘this gift that Papa has given me stewardship of is precious – it is as tender and beautiful as a baby and needs to be loved with passionate vigilance.’

Perhaps a better word than protected is nurtured.

You must diligently feed and tend to yourself and the gifts that you carry.

It is so easy to focus outwardly all the time, putting work out to the world, yet neglect the inner world of our own heart and emotions. Tiredness and burnout can quickly creep up on you if you are not careful.

Before I share three specific ways in which I refill my creative tank, let me lay a foundational truth on your doorstep…

“And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment. The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 AMPLIFIED

Love God. And let Him love you!

It all begins by going to the Source.

Being vitally united to the vine is a no-brainer. If God is the Creator, connecting in with Him is an obvious must.

But my emphasis, and one I think you may need to hear if you are an active and passionate creative in any field, is the second part of this equation. This is not about your vertical relationship with the Godhead, but your horizontal relationships with other people (and especially the man or woman in the mirror).

Love others.

With our art we do our best to continually give. I am not going to comment on the quality or quantity of our love in the broad sense. With respect to our creative gifts being expended to bless and build up other people, we don’t need to be prompted. It is impossible for us not to pour ourselves out into the world. Like Jeremiah, there is something that burns within our very bones that cannot be denied expression.

But if I say, “Forget it! No more GOD Messages from me!” The words are fire in my belly, a burning in my bones. I’m worn out trying to hold it in. I can’t do it any longer!” Jeremiah 20:9 THE MESSAGE

As artists and creatives we are givers. It comes with the territory.

In that respect you may have the “love others” bit down, but for too many the “love yourself” part is often sadly neglected.

It is essential that we do not exhaust our capacity without coming to the table of the Lord to refill and refresh. The creative cycle is not just about production.

For the cycle of creativity to work in fullness it must also include receiving.

Here are three ways that I enjoy recharging my creative batteries…

1. Pray and Meditate

Prayer, and by that I simply mean spending heart-to-heart time with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the life of the believer. It is not a duty to be performed, but a privilege to embrace. Coming and spending time with the Father and immersing yourself in His Words is essential to maintain a positive and powerful creative flow.

God’s wisdom is described as multi-faceted – it can shed light and bring life to places you least expect it to.

Ephesians 3:10 talks about the manifold wisdom of God.

The Bible in Basic English translation is not one I turn to often, but I do love the rendition of this life-charged verse. It speaks of how the Father will…

“…make clear through the church the wide-shining wisdom of God” Eph 3:10 BBE

Like a flower needs sunlight to flourish, so our spirit needs His light to nourish. His wisdom is wide-shining, and His words can speak new life into our heart in a way that nothing of this earthly realm can match.

2. Let Nature Minister To Your Soul

Right there at the beginning, the perfect environment was carefully honed for humanity.

It was a world that ministered nothing but life, and life abundant.

It was not an office, or a sports hall, or a movie theatre. It was a garden.

The Bible speaks of trees lining the banks of the river of life – trees whose leaves and fruits feed and heal the nations.

Why wait for your taste of that infilling?

As creatives there is a danger that we spend all of our time focussed only on what’s in our mind – the inner world. But Father has designed certain environments to infuse us with fresh vitality.

I am no tree hugger, but I am always amazed how loudly a silent tree can sing creative healing to your spirit.

Take time to get out of your head, away from your screen or studio, and drink in the wonder of our Father’s gallery called nature.

This is even more delightful if you share the experience with a friend.

3. Let the overflow of other’s creativity pour into you

If you are a writer. Read.

A painter or artist? Go to the gallery and view other’s work.

A musician? Attend a concert or shut out the world with noise cancelling earphones and be transported for an hour through the sounds and songs of another.

The key here is to be an open, unjudgemental receiver. Not a critic, but a child.

You are not listening or looking or reading to assess, measure, or compare.

You are doing it for sheer pleasure.

The point in all of this is simple. Tend to your soul. Take time to fill your own vessel so it can overflow to others without drying up.

Love your self a little. You will thank yourself for it if you do. 🙂

What do you do to recharge your creative batteries? Let me know in the comments below…

I love to create. The power of bringing new things into the world to share with others is a compelling addiction that I cannot get enough of. I believe it is wired into us as human beings to create, multiply, go forth, and be fruitful.

We were created to be… creators!

That creativity takes many forms. I am always amazed at the rich diversity of human creativity. The unbounded nature of mankind to bring ideas to life and realise imaginations is simply stunning.

I watch the cook or the chef and wonder at their ability. They take their produce, the substance of their craft, and transform it into delicious meals to satisfy and sustain weary travellers.

I look at the seamstress and stand amazed at her ability to change a simple piece of textile into a glorious garment. Cloth and thread are the stock of her trade and talent.

For me, words are my core material. The clay that I work with.

I shape words to fit the hearts and minds of readers. I build worlds and open doors with word keys shaped and cut by experience and imagination. Words allow others to step inside my world and wander at will.

Because we are far bigger on the inside than out.

Our creative output opens to the door for others to step into and traverse our inner world.

The vast ocean of possibility does not reside outside of us (although many people vainly chase it there) – it lives inside your heart.

That is where you will find what you have been looking for.

Take time to tap your heart for ideas planted long ago.

Jesus said, I am the vine, and my Father is the gardener.

Your Father is the one who planted those ideas. They are ready and waiting to be realised.

Spend time in the garden of your inner man. Catch and harvest endless ideas and bring them with you into a world that never tires of new expressions of life.

The creative life is not one that resides in the world of ideas, it lives and breathes in the realm of action. Application is where the rubber meets the road and visions become reality. It is no use to have a notion roll around in your skull endlessly without it somehow finding a vent of expression. Only in its outing can an idea find an audience. And with an audience it takes form.

The earth was formless and void until Spirit and Word stirred things into existence.

A void is made to be filled. And you are called to fill it!

The creative life is one where things otherwise formless are packaged for consumption. An idea cannot be consumed, chewed, or offer nutrition to a soul, if it remains unspoken.

It can be spoken as a song, an image, a website or a webinar. It could be a live feed or a food-review. What matters is that the idea takes form. Your skills and limbs are weapons in the hand of the Creator to breathe through. Offer them to Him.

Let your hands scribe the words, your fingers or lips play the sounds He sings. This life we live as children of God is one of co-creation.

He is speaking today in ways that we previously had no conception of. Who would ever have thought you’d be able to broadcast live to the planet? Publish a book? Design and create using print-on-demand? Things that are everyday practices today were impossible dreams just a decade ago. Not only that, but many are also free to use.

What a privileged time of opportunity. Money making and value-adding opportunities are available today that did not even exist even a few short years ago. The very notion that you can turn your passion and personality into an income-generating mission is beyond amazing. The question is, are you taking advantage of it?

Are you a creator, or a consumer? On which side of this spectrum have you pitched your tent?

When God speaks things become. The Hebrew word for ‘word’, dabhar, means a speaking that enacts what it says. Not just a sound or a symbol but an action. Our words are an active force. Ideas are designed to become!

Way too often we are heavy on IDEA and light on IMPLEMENTATION.

Shift the balance and tend toward becoming the expression of inspiration, not just the recipient of it. God-breathes in, we breathe out. He inspires, we explore and express.

Become a weapon of mass creation. Quick to act on ideas, translating them into something that can be shared.

Don’t get too hung up on outcomes, just make stuff. Not all ideas are equal. But how will you know which ones are the winners if you don’t let them ride a little?

Even in the act of procreation God did not design just one seed to be dispensed in the quest to bring something new into existence, His method is mass-creation. An army of seeds commissioned into action with every orgasm, knowing that one will find its target.

So it is with ideas – send them out and see what spawns. See what works. Learn what doesn’t. Refine and refire as necessary, but never stop making.

The law of probability demands that at some point one of the many will stick. It will resonate with others. And the creative process will continue.

Right now, these are my experiments…

• I’m writing and illustrating a book called ‘CO-CREATE’ (a working title)
• I’m learning how to design and sell t-shirts through Amazon-Merch.
• I’m developing an online mentoring and course membership program to coach other Christian Creatives to get their value massively out to the world through their own products and publications.
• I have five writers currently working on books for which I had ideas.
• I have over 50 audiobooks in preparation working in partnership with narrators through ACX.
• I blog and create a podcast each day.
• I’m reading a different book and different version of the Bible each month armed with my coloured pencils to engage with the page.
• I’m coaching a friend to create a powerful email series, another to create a course, and my son to hire writers to turn his ideas into novels.
• I’m running 5km every day, and listening to Audible books as I do – sweat and learn!

What are you up to? Let me know by dropping a comment…