Category Archives: creative wednesdays

Overcoming our excuses: a post about cameras, cooking and creativity

Posted on by
Reply

www.sxc.hu/gozdeo

I’ve really enjoyed building a friendship with Tony Elliott for several years now. We are a part of the same small group and attend NPHX together. I am excited for the recent expansion of his photographic work and this recent post on his blog really challenged me. One section, in particular, was relevant to my work. Check it out below.

“‘Your camera takes really great photos’…As a photographer, I hear this a lot. I’m not really offended by it anymore because … ignorance is bliss. If you cook a great meal for me, I promise not to say, “This is delicious! You must have some really great pots and pans.” If you write a great story, I promise not to say, “This is fantastic! You must have a really awesome pen.” And if you paint an amazing painting, I promise not to say, “AH-MAZING! You must have some very expensive paint brushes!”

The truth is, if you are any kind of artist whether it be a chef, a recording artist, a painter, an author, etc., there is a purpose and an advantage for investing in more expensive and higher quality tools but those tools will not inherently provide you with the basic knowledge or foundations of your craft. They might provide a better sound or more control over your work or a cleaner finish but you’ll need to understand the basics of your art to really understand how to leverage that more expensive or higher-quality tool.”

Tony nails a common excuse many of us make – “I need better tools. I need better stuff to do my work.” This excuse of more or better avoids the issue we are facing. We are dissatisfied with the current conditions of our work and we are jealous of what someone else has; they have what we want.

So many of us, in a variety of fields and work, reiterate this excuse daily. We blame lack of (insert what we consider to be success) as a result of a lack of (what we wish we had and envy in others). While there are tools that help our work improve, Tony is spot-on when he said, “they (the things you lack) might provide a better sound or more control over your work or a cleaner finish, but you’ll need to understand the basics of your art to really understand how to leverage that more expensive or higher-quality tool.”

Let’s be honest: We want a shortcut. We want a quicker path to success and we don’t want to put in the hard work to master the basics of our craft.

I will use myself as an example. Sometimes, I look at the presentation someone else makes and I envy it. I envy their ability to make a crowd laugh constantly or their professionally designed slide-deck or their designer wardrobe. But I won’t necessarily become a better pastoral communicator after sending my slides to a design firm, shopping at the Buckle and Macy’s and hiring writers to pen my jokes.

What has made me a better communicator? Writing 500 blog posts. Constructing and delivering over 200 sermons. And then deconstructing the good and the bad (there are a lot more bad than good) of the blog post and sermon to get better the next time. Studying what makes a good message and what makes a good post made a better speaker and blogger. What has made the communicators I admire great at their craft? The same thing. Yeah, giftedness is probably different, but even the best have to practice, get coaching and work hard.

Even if photography, preaching and blogging aren’t your passions, I can promise you that you’ve made or are currently making excuses for why you can’t begin to do great work today. Yeah, you have boundaries you wish you could alter. We all do. Every person who has read or will read this post (including its author) is with you on that front. But, let’s embrace our boundaries and limitations. Let’s work what we have with all we are until God provides something differently. After all, throughout the Bible, God never entrusts bigger things to those who proved unfaithful with what they had at present.

Join me in naming your excuse(s) today and deciding that what you have is the best option for the opportunity you have. As my friend Tony said, “The best camera is the one you have with you. Most people have a camera with them most of the time; whether its a point-and-shoot camera, a DSLR camera, or a camera that also doubles as a phone and an internet device. Regardless of which one you carry with you most often, if you don’t use it, it’s worthless. If you are telling yourself that you can’t take photos without a pro-body camera, then you are missing out on a lot of great moments.”

Today, I am praying that you capture the moments God grants you to use what He has entrusted you with to change your part of the world.

(P.S. – If you ever need a great photographer, I can certainly recommend one!)

I thought you hated rules!

Posted on by
1

I follow Tim Schrader, a church communication guru. I read his blog and enjoy his tweets. Tim’s posts are full of insight and I like his spirit. Recently, he shared a picture that he found on Jeremy Cowart‘s Google Plus feed. (Cowart is an incredible photographer, the brains behind Help Portrait). The picture (which I have posted below) includes 9 rules for creatives.

Now, my first thought was “Creatives don’t like rules. So that title is ironic.” As I waited, I realized that rules are like boundaries, and creativity thrives within boundaries. Even sometimes in proportion to the amount of boundaries.

As I have reflected on these rules several times over the last week or so, the one that resonates the most with me is teach others about what you know. I am a verbal processor and so the longer I talk, the more I comprehend what I believe and the more I clarity I get. God bless my wife who is often the victim (or listener, however you want to look at it) in this process. My creativity grows and expands and I connect ideas as I share them with others. As I teach what I already know, and as others repeat back to me and reflect on what I’ve said, my ideas get better, clearer and more portable. Twice this week, I have pitched ideas to coworkers, airing the concepts outloud for the first time and by the time we were done, my ideas were more developed and my next steps were obvious. When I teach others what I already know, my energy increases and my creativity expands.

I know creatives and artists are supposed to hate rules, but we are also supposed to not shower, be poor, miss meetings and be unreasonable. Rules can guide us into greater art if we submit to them like the boundaries of a medium, a subject or a timeframe.

Question: Whether you are a creative, an artist or you miss drawing with crayons, which of these 9 rules resonates most with you? 

I can run faster and you can too! (a running post about much more than running)

Posted on by
2

Photo courtesy of sxc.hu/1090940

On October 30, 2010, I ran my first race ever. I ran that 5K in 25:20. I shocked myself. I had never run that fast before and I had only run that distance once in my life. After a round of the Insanity DVD program this spring, I began running seriously this fall. Some landmark days are listed below.

October 25, 2011. 2 miles, 25 minutes. (First day on new season of running)

November 14, 2011. 4 miles, 44 minutes.

December 9, 2011. 4.5 miles, 51 minutes.

December 14, 2011. 5 miles, 60 minutes.

January 6, 2012. 5 miles, 50 minutes.

January 10, 2012. 6.1 miles, 69 minutes.

The last three months have been me going further and longer than I ever have before. I have been challenging myself to regularly show up and give it all I have. Over the holidays, a friend pushed me; she told me that I could go faster than 11 or 12 minute miles. She was right! All it took was having to go to the bathroom VERY BADLY (sorry, TMI I know) with 1.5 miles to go to speed me up from 12 minutes to 10 minutes per mile on January 6. Yesterday, I ran further than I have ever run in my life. I never thought I could run that I could run a 10K, but I did today. It has been an incredible “run” (no pun intended).

As I run further and faster than ever before, I am realizing that in other areas my limits are not what they seem either. I can preach better and briefer. I can listen better, write better, plan better, prepare better. I can be more teachable and handle criticism better. I can withstand the pain of discipline longer and let go of things I thought I couldn’t live without. For instance, Dani have been without cable for nearly two years now and sharing one car for nearly three. When we got married, I wouldn’t stomach the idea of letting go of either.

I didn’t set any new years resolutions this year, but one change I decided to make before I got to “making resolutions” season was to push myself harder and challenge myself greater in the future. I don’t want this to be a year where I coast. I feel challenged and inspired in so many areas of my life. I am dreaming dreams bigger than ever before and I am believing God for greater things than I have a in long time.

You may be giving it all you got and you’re sucking air like I was at the end of that 5 mile/50 minute run last week. Awesome! Keep going.

But, there are a lot of us who hide behind fear and uncertainty and give less than all we’ve got. And that needs to end.

I have a friend who is “getting what he asked for” when he decided to stop just talking about starting his new company. He is still working his day job, but no his weekends are jammed pack and he has dealt with some double-booking scheduling madness. It is harder for us to get together than it used to be. But he is maximizing his gift. He is turning down the fear knob and leaning in with courage.

In 2012, go for it. Step out in faith. Go further than you’ve ever gone before. Set that personal record. Put that audacious goal on paper. Speed it up – run instead of jogging. Join me this year in leaving less in the tank and more on trail of life. Its really is better that way.

The holiday season is full of opportunity for creativity

Posted on by
Reply

One of the game-changing concepts for me in terms of creativity was embracing boundaries and limitations. I used to think the best thing in the world was a blank canvas. Now, “whatever you want to speak on” is the worst thing…EVER! Just tonight, I received confirmation with a speaking gig for the spring and asked for direction re: theme and their needs. I think my exact words were “Anything is better than a blank canvas”. 

The holiday season provides two different kinds of boundaries that can fuel your creative work.

First, the holidays can be a crazy insane crunch time. That was this week for me. I had two days in the office to get done what normally takes four. Focus was key and I cut out non-essentials. I didn’t have coffee or lunches with volunteers. I didn’t blog. I created new deadlines for weekly projects like my Crash talk, copy to our graphic designer, questions for discussion leaders, and an e-newsletter article. I think some pretty good stuff came out when I had some fresh urgency to get things done.

The frenetic pace of the holiday season can be a blessing. You can accept your limited time and focus like never before. You can stop distracting yourself with random internet surfing and actually make things happen by doing the work in front of you. You can give it your best shot, instead of constantly putting “more” into it believing better is just one tweak away. Sometimes, we need hard deadlines to make our best work happen. Yes, I think Ernest Hemingway was right about first drafts (google it), but sometimes there is very little difference between draft 5 and draft 10.

Second, the holidays can be full of unexpected quiet and dead time. For example, the offices at North Phoenix are very quiet the week before Christmas and the week before New Years. Due to our holiday schedule, I teach at Crash on December 4th and don’t teach again until January 1st. That’s almost a month off. And since I am already working on that talk for the 1st, I have carved time into those last two weeks to work on projects that have been “backburner items” for some time. I plan on cloistering myself in my office to make some things happen that have been too much talk and not enough action. Instead of filling the time with random conversations, I am going to create some things I have been planning for a long time.

I believe you will be surprised by an unexpected lull at some point this holiday season (unless you are an accountant closing out the year, then forget about it). If you are unprepared, that opportunity will be lost!

Whatever your creative bent, whatever your artistic expression, the holiday season is crammed full of opportunity. Maybe you have only seen an insane number of parties, the potential weight gone of epic proportions and sheer exhaustion just thinking about your social calendar. But if you are intentional about the days and weeks ahead, you could do some of your best work during the busiest of seasons. 

Happy Creative Wednesday to you!

you need more than talent to be successful

Posted on by
Reply

One of the best discoveries I made in the online community of artists and creatives is The 99 Percent. No, this is not the group that occupies Central Park and rails on the economic elite. This is a group that lives the words of Albert Einstein: “Creativity is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” The pieces being written and shared via their Twitter feed contain some of my favorite reading on the internet.

Last month, Jocelyn Glei shared about a great deal of research that has been focused on greatness, achievement, and talent. She describes the world of Harvard researcher Angela Duckworth. “Duckworth was also suspicious of qualities like talent and intelligence as reliable predictors for remarkable achievement.” Like many of us, Duckworth had seen incredibly brilliant and talented fail to produce great work and self-destruct, resulting in wasted potential.

“Duckworth isolated two qualities that she thought might be a better predictor of outstanding achievement (through her study of the work of various other researchers ).” Those two qualities are:

1. The tendency not to abandon tasks from mere changeability. Not seeking something because of novelty. Not “looking for a change.”

2. The tendency not to abandon tasks in the face of obstacles. Perseverance, tenacity, doggedness.

A New York Times article summarized her work this way: “people who accomplished great things, [Duckworth] noticed, often combined a passion for a single mission with an unswerving dedication to achieve that mission, whatever the obstacles and however long it might take.”
In life, especially creative projects, it turns out that grit and self-control are more essential elements to success than pure talent or intelligence. Now, what class can I take to learn grit? What can I study to develop this sense of discipline?
In the other half of this blog series, Glei unpacks the idea of coaching yourself through four habits that experts consistently manifest. I read this, recognizing how easily distracted I am these days. Focus can be a real challenge for me. Tenacity is becoming more and more important and how much grit is required to keep moving forward when it is easier to just entertain myself or coast. Disciplining myself is not easy or enjoyable but incredibly important.
Whether you take pictures, write songs, paint, draw, mentor children, imagine new initiatives, or solve interesting problems, your success as an artist relies on more than your raw talent and intelligence. Grit and self-control will be more and more important as you move forward. And in the second article I referred to earlier, Klei unpacks how you can coach yourself into greater tenacity and grit.
In a world where we have glorified multi-tasking, where we entertain ourselves to death, the relentlessly focused and undeterred win today, tomorrow and the next day. Join with me today in taking your next step towards grit and self-control. Reject distraction. Push through the temptation to start something new before you finish what is in front of you. 
I would love to hear your thoughts about these concepts and how you grow grit and self-control in your life.

Leave your hiding place behind

Posted on by
1

I listen to people speaking two different ways. First way. I am writing down everything they say, capturing a ton of notes. I review those, write the highlights somewhere else for future use. That’s how I listened at a conference I attended last week 22 pages of notes from 2 days. Second way. I am writing down maybe 5-10 statements from the talk but I am expanding on the ideas from the talk while listening to the speaker’s explanation of that point. That’s what my notes look like from Crash last week when my friend James Brown spoke.

One of James’ ideas that really connected with me was the idea that we hide behind the expectations of others. We do what is expected of us to please others because that’s our safest option. That is less risky than actually doing what we know we are called to do. That thing that terrifies us, leading us to run away and check Facebook again or waste another opportunity to put in the work to make the dream reality.

We can let other people’s expectations ruin our lives, crush our dreams, wipe potential future outcomes completely off the map. Yet, is not every person who God uses greatly in the Scriptures someone who refuses to hide behind the expectations of others and steps out into a risky or difficult path?

Gideon defies his family’s legacy, breaks down idols and leads 300 men to route 30,000 trained soldiers.

Jesse has decided that David is the runt of his children, only to see David trust God with radical faith and step out to become the greatest king Israel had ever seen.

Deborah could have hidden behind the role her gender was assigned and let the men cower in fear. Instead, she rejected passivity and took responsibility for leading the people as a great judge.

I have other stories closer to home.

When I met Rob Payne, he was known as a great guitarist. He doesn’t hide behind his guitar though. Now, he is working on a record and developing his ability as a worship leader.

When I met Kelly Young, she was an administrative assistant. She could have hidden behind a desk. Now she is ministering to hundreds of people as they serve in their community. She is meeting with community leaders and communicating our vision to thousands of people at North Phoenix.

There was a time when I hid behind my mentor, Dr. Maxie Burch. Teaching and serving with him was safer. I was responsible for less, when pressed I could defer to him. Now that it has been almost a year since God took Maxie on a journey that has included Colorado, Canada and Arkansas, I look back and see that I was hiding in his shadow. It took him leaving for me to step into my own.

To all you creatives, you artists at heart, you dreamers, those of you bursting with imagination and hope about the future, where are you hiding? What are you hiding behind? Where are you living for the expectations of others? Where are you settling for small stuff? Where are you avoiding the risk and danger for the safe and the stable?

God created you for a purpose and has given you an opportunity. He prepared you in advance to do good works. You are His masterpiece. You make Him easier to see when you reflect His image. When you create.

Come out of your hiding place. 

My friend – Ann McCulloch, the Artist

Posted on by
5

I have been on Facebook countless times today to read posts about my friend, Ann McCulloch, who lost her battle with cancer last night. I have read funny stories, poignant posts and emotional words about my great friend and mentor.

I created a page on Facebook last night, not knowing that her passing was hours away. I felt moved to create a place for people to share the impact of Ann’s life as a way to process their grief and remember her life. I had to pick a category for the page, so the best option seemed to be Artist. So the page became AnnMcCullochTheArtist. Ann believed Ephesians 2:10 with all her heart. “For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do.”

Like Her creator, Ann made masterpieces with her life. We are her masterpieces, our lives were her canvas. She drew sketches on the souls of children in camps. She wrote poems on the futures of college students. She painted with acrylics on the dynamics of broken people looking for hope.

God prepared Ann in advance to do good works and she did those works. In the days and weeks to come, we will reminisce about our favorite stories. We will hear back stories and pieces we never knew. We will lean forward in wonder as new stories are revealed for the first time.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

Ann wore out computers with the words she wrote and the plans she created for awe-inspiring experiences of wonder and worship. But even greater than the words she wrote were the things she did. Every one of us felt the weight of her presence and her love. She made us feel valued, important, loved, known. That’s her legacy. That was her art.

Today is Wednesday. On this blog, that means it is Creative Wednesday.

So, as you create your art today, as you do the work that makes your soul come alive, as you do the good works God prepared you in advance to do…do something worth writing. Your time here is not going to last forever, opportunity may be gone before you know it. Seize this moment, so that in a moment yet to come, you will have the experience my friend Ann was destined for – standing in front of your Maker to hear His affirmation of your good and faithful service.

Well done, Annie!

Do the work that is in front of you!

Posted on by
1

Sunday night at Crash, I spoke about what it would look like to Be Focused. I talked about how we often distract ourselves to death when we are in a funk, avoiding the very thing we need to help move out of the funk and into a more meaningful, connected season. One of the key concepts of the night was the idea of doing the work that is in front of you. 

You know what I am talking about. That phone call you have been putting off. That meeting you keep pushing back. That hard conversation you are avoiding. That project you are delaying because it scares you. That risky “ask” you won’t make because you feel you have too much pride to lose.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” ~Thomas Edison

So often we miss the opportunities in front of us because we won’t do that hard thing. The chance comes to introduce the conversation but we are scared. The openness to a new idea comes but we did not do the hard work to write the proposal. The door cracks and we can see the light, but we defer to another day when we feel like pushing through and when we come back, the door is closed.

Earlier this year, I heard this powerful idea in a video from Pete Wilson, a pastor and author. He said, “The opportunity of a lifetime has to be seized in the lifetime of that opportunity.” In other words, today there is work in front of you and an opportunity to put that work into action that tomorrow does not guarantee. You and I do not know if we will get tomorrow to do this thing. Our time on this planet comes like the end of a great book…much faster than we expected. We protest, “but there was so much more I wanted to say/do/read”…but it is futile.

I believe God created you with the potential for incredible creativity, unique gifts, powerful strengths and passion in your gut. I believe God is easier to see when we live to our full potential as His creations. A mediocre life does no honor our creator. When we begin doing the work God called us to do, we gain countless opportunities to talk about the one who is the Ultimate Creative, who bestowed us with gifts, breathed His strength into our bodies, and lit the fire in our bellies from His great light. 

Pick one thing that you have been putting off and do it today. And another tomorrow. And another Friday.

Photographer? Commit to take a picture everyday.

Musician? One riff, one verse, one melody.

Writer? One blog, one thousand words, one scene, one poem.

Friend? One email, one text, one voicemail, one gift, one “how are you..really?”

The Apostle Paul made a powerful statement in his letter to the Church at Ephesus. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. -Ephesians 2:10

I think he is calling us, as God’s works of art, to create art with our lives.

If you are lacking momentum and focus, do one thing that is right in front of you, one thing you have been putting off. And do that again tomorrow. And the next day. Watch the momentum build and build and build.

What is one thing you did in response to this point from my message on Sunday night? What is one thing you are doing today?

Steps to move you from idea to action

Posted on by
Reply

“Creativity is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

-Thomas Edison

If Edison was right, then we all need some help with how to do the 99% well. As someone who constantly has new ideas, the secret sauce is making those ideas happen on a regular basis. For a long time, I struggled with the following experience:

 

“I have a great idea – Oh, crap, I have to work on this right now. It’s due in an hour – Okay, glad that is finished – I was thinking of something earlier; what was that again? - Oh well, I will remember it later (And I never do).”

Well, when that idea could be a game-changer or make a major difference, “Oh well, I will remember it later” is a bad strategy. I have five questions for you that have helped me get better at that “99% perspiration” part.

1. Ask “Where do you lack discipline?” 

I attended the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit this August. One of the presenters, Dr. Henry Cloud, shared this nugget when talking about having hard conversations with people you serve. “Where your maturity isn’t strong enough to do something, add external structure.” This powerful insight is relevant to our creativity conversation. Where do lack maturity, experience, discipline? You need structure in that place. Get distracted by the internet? Leave your phone at home when you go work on your project or go work somewhere that doesn’t have WiFi.

 2. What is your system for moving your ideas to action?

Many creative types fight systems. They instead rely on organizational chaos and a mess that they claim to know their way around. However, many creatives have discovered great assistance from David Allen’s Getting Things Done system or the Action Method from Behance or web-based software like Remember the Milk. A few months ago, one of my teammates came to me frustrated and overwhelmed with her current situation. The amount of work to do was very high and she did not see a way through. Sharing her burden helped, but what has helped even more is implementing a system to track the next steps she needs to take to make her ideas happen.

 3. How do you capture your ideas?

One of the biggest problems many of us have is capturing our ideas when they come to us. I recommend carrying a journal (I prefer the ones from Moleskine or Ecosystem). Last night, I attended PhoenixONE, a worship service for young professionals in their 20s and 30s. In the middle of the service, an idea for a blog came to me. I quickly pulled out my journal, jotted down the idea and then was able to quickly re-engage the service. This step enables me to keep a steady flow of new ideas for posts going.

 4. How do you capture the things that can inspire your future work?

A sign that you notice while driving. A story that inspires you. An editorial that fires you up. A piece of art that stirs your spirit. Inspiration comes at surprising times and in surprising places. Are you ready to capture it? Because of Evernote, I am. I have come to become a raving fan of Evernote. Evernote is an incredible piece of software that enables you to capture and tag everything from notes, photos, links, and audio recordings. Evernote can be accessed via their website, an extension for your browser, an app for smart phones like iPhone and Droid, and an application for your PC or Mac. All of these versions sync with one another wirelessly. I can capture inspiration at a moments notice, tag it with a title and a category and then check it later for future use.

5. When are you the most creative and/or motivated?

One of the best ways to make your ideas happen is to consider when you are the most creative and set aside time to capture ideas and do work then. For me, I have begun to set aside 30 minutes or an hour each week (typically Monday morning or sometime over the weekend). I cull through my list of ideas. I add further thoughts to a blog post ideas. I listen to music that inspires me. I plan out my schedule. I ignore my phone and the internet for 15 minutes and just write about the main points I want to communicate in my next sermon.

I hope these steps help you move from idea to action. If you have steps that help you, please share them with me and others in the comment section below.

5 myths about creativity

Posted on by
3

In the last year or so, I have claimed the title of “creative” as something that describes me. In the process of coming to terms with this descriptor, I plowed through many myths about creatives and creativity. Busting these myths propelled me into successful changes in the way I work. These myths hold creatives back from doing great work. These myths hold people back from acknowledging the fact that they are a “creative” or that they “create” on a regular basis. I hope identifying and disarming these myths helps you as much as it helped me!

1 – “Creativity is only for artists. You know, people who draw, paint, write poetry, and do music.” In this myth, creativity is a special class of people who are somehow set apart by the work they make. Think disogranized, messy, late, flannel-shirt-wearing, obscure-music-lovers. Hello…sterotype! Creativity is not the area behind red-velvet ropes where the cool kids hand out. Creativity is the work so many of us do when we solve interesting problems. When we bring together disconnected elements and make something new, useful, and helpful. When we bring order to chaos. When we imagine and implement a simple solution to a complex problem. All of that is creativity. There is no V.I.P. area here!

2 – Boundaries are evil. Whoever said this lied. The worst service one can give another in a creative process is a blank canvas. Limitations, boundaries, “no’s” are a gift to someone exercising their creativity. With each boundary, the art grows. Just as each stroke or color choice brings the art one step closer from imagination to implementation, each boundary pushes the creative to work harder, communicate more clearly, or commit more passionately to a direction. Embrace your boundaries and you are one step closer to success.

3 – The muse is uncontrollable. In mythology, muses were goddesses who came and visited artists to inspire their work, often poetry and music. While many creatives don’t use the word “muse”, they blame the muse for a host of problems. “I just wasn’t inspired today.” “I can only write when I feel my mind gets moving.” “I sat down, nothing came to me; what am I supposed to do?” NO! The muse doesn’t come visit you. You go knock on the door of the muse until she lets you in! Inspiration may come and do, but you show up for work every day (or every time you set out to do your creative work). I guarantee the muse will be more regular if you keep showing up. Blaming your lack of discipline and laziness on muse does no one (including yourself) any good. I know this from personal experience.

4 – My greatest enemy is out there. If you do creative work, if you are a creative, if you are a person, I have to let you in on a secret – your greatest enemy is in your head. It’s that voice that tries to backpedal whenever you get gutsy. Whenever you get ready to hit publish on that blog. Whenever you get read to hit “SEND” on that big request of a friend. When you get ready to make that decision that “burns the ships” on one set of options, moving you in a direction with no way back. When you keep saying your greatest enemy is out there, you avoid taking responsibility for the self-sabotage you commit on your own work. In this area, you can be your greatest enemy and until you start identifying the Resistance within yourself, you will keep destroying your art before it even goes public.

5. “I just have so many great ideas”. Sometimes, “another great idea” is code for “lazy” and “wimpy”. The enemy of your art is another great idea. The only ideas that truly matter are the ones that you make happen. You can die with a casket full of great ideas. The question that must be asked is, “Which ones are you going to show up day after day to make happen?” When I write messages, I have to cut many good ideas to land on one great big idea. Many great observations to pick a few that matter most. Tons of illustrations and stories, only to remember the point isn’t to share ten great illustrations and stories. Sometimes, we get to the edge of the diving board, prepare to jump, realize how far down it is, and then come up with another idea and head off in search for another diving board. Just jump. There are plenty of chances to discover new diving boards; you still aren’t wet yet, and the point isn’t to see who can stay dry the longest. 

(Today was the first in a series of posts that I am calling Creative Wednesdays, where I will share lessons, personal stories of success and failures, and wisdom from other creatives with you. I hope that you will claim your role as a creative and regularly offer your work to others. This is who God made you to be and the world gains nothing while you hold back in fear.)

I leave you with the words of my good friend, Tony Elliott…

own who you are and offer it to the world.