Beyond Sunday Worship

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The Scary Truth About Your Creative Projects

Do you know who your enemy is?

The enemy to your creative projects isn’t lack of talent, passion, or skill.

It’s giving up. The only way to truly fail at any creative project is to give up.

Photo Credit: Drew Coffman (Flickr)

We are in the middle of a live recording project at my home church, Allison Park Church. In just a couple weeks we will record an evening of worship with our church family.

Yes, I’m excited. But the truth is, I’ve been overwhelmed numerous times. One creative breakthrough seems to lead to another impossible wall.

Refuse To Give Up

I’ve learned that creativity isn’t just about waiting for inspiration. It’s about forcing ideas, failing, reevaluating, and trying again. And you must fight your way through to overcome.

Creativity doesn’t come naturally. It’s not reserved for the especially gifted. It’s not a perk of the professional. Everyone can be creative, but your greatness depends on your resilience.

I’m reading a book on creativity right now called, “Imagine: How Creativity Works.” Listen to author Jonah Lehrer as he explains this phenomenon:

“Every creative journey begins with a problem. It starts with a feeling of frustration, the dull ache of not being able to find the answer. We have worked hard, but we’ve hit the wall. We have no idea what to do next.

When we tell one another stories about creativity, we tend to leave out this phase of the creative process. We neglect to mention those days when we wanted to quit, when we believed that our problems were impossible solve.”

Also, take a cue from Eric Owyoung from the band “Future of Forestry”

“90% of the time music is stress, and work, and slaving away at something. But then there’s that 10% of the time when music is emotion. It’s everything inside of me coming out. It’s everything I feel. Everything I see – the way I see life, the way I see God, the way I see myself and the world around me.”

Wow. 90% of the time music is good old fashioned work. How does this reflect your creative journey?

3 Truths About Your Creative Projects

Want to know the truth about your creative projects?

1. It’s hard – Don’t think for a second that creativity will come easily. That block you’re facing? The wall you’ve hit? That just means you’re on the verge of something incredible, if you keep working.

2. It’s never done – For the creative, their work is never done. You could spend the rest of your life tweaking and never actually release anything. You need to realize this, set up deadlines, and get your work out there.

3. You need to pick yourself – Seth Godin is famous for this phrase, but it’s so true. Don’t wait for someone to “discover” you and label your art worth mass appeal. Pick yourself, get to work, and make it happen. As Seth says, the only permission you need is from yourself.

Facing a wall? Good. You’re on to something. Join the ranks of greatness by staring that problem in the face. Stare long and hard until you come up with a solution.

Go and be the genius you were meant to be.

Question: What creative projects are you currently engaged in? How are you pushing through the difficulty? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Comments

  1. Jenna B says

    Thank you for thinking this post through and sharing it. Creativity IS hard work. Right now I’m working on a video to recap a project our church did in Haiti. It’s hard to tell a story like this one in 4 minutes or less. The biggest challenge is taking a project with a thousand great elements and picking just a few to tell a good story and inspire someone. And I work full time (video projects are all volunteer) so juggling my schedule and working when I don’t ‘feel’ creative can be a challenge too. Thanks again for the great post. You inspire me all of the time, even when I don’t take a moment to comment on it.

    • David Santistevan says

      Thanks for the comment, Jenna! You communicated your struggle well. I can already see you staring at your computer with loads of footage, not knowing where to start. I’ve found when I take a step and just test a random idea, more ideas flow. Starting is the hardest part! Come back and share the video when you’re finished!

      • Jenna B. says

        Well-I finished it before my deadline but just remembered this morning to come back and share it. Thanks, David, for the encouragement. 🙂

  2. Paula says

    David- your first paragraph (It’s about forcing ideas, failing, reevaluating, and trying again. And you must fight your way through to overcome) hit me hard. I laid to rest a project I started years ago and have been grieving over it. It’s time for resurrection!! Thank you SO much for this post! God bless you HEAPS!

  3. Moses Aleman says

    We are also gearing up to record a live recording of some original songs. Your comments definitely ring true. There have been several times I have felt overwhelmed by the immensity of his project. I think the biggest hurdle is a lack of know how audio world. I have knowledge in sound and mixing but not to the extent of his project. I do believe this project is directed by God, and His timing because of how He has already been providing the finances, but sometimes those speed bumps can be exhausting.

    Thanks!
    Moses

  4. Lisa Deaton says

    I write songs as well and this article really speaks to me! Sometimes they come easily and other times they just struggle to get written…..but pushing through it helps so much. I always remember that it can always be revised and rewritten and I have to just push through and get something down on paper….Thanks David for always helping us see that we are not alone in our creative endeavors! 🙂

    Lisa

  5. Rhonda Sue Davis says

    What I want to know is what happened to that guys head…and where did the lamp’s shade go? It must be pretty dark under all that crumpled paper. On second look the paper mass reminds me of the thing that tried to suck in and devour the Star Ship Enterprise.

  6. Gangai Victor says

    I am in the middle of finishing up some songwriting for a recording project later this year – so ur post spoke a lot to me…again!

    Giving it time and allowing song ideas to take shape has been a struggle for me. Waiting upon God in prayer has helped me a lot – end results were better though it took longer at times!

    Great post and fantastic tips David, thanks!

  7. Don Simpson says

    David, you really pick some great topics. As you have seen, I can be long winded. I am new to blogging and old enough that it is against my nature to write in “text”-ese. I seriously want to give back, as I have been a church musician all my life.
    In regards to #2, There is a “Murphy’s Law” for almost everything. One that applies to creativity says, ” A project will expand to consume all of the time and resources allotted for its completion”.
    One of my music teachers said time and again, “creativity needs restraints and parameters”.
    I went to a symphony concert to hear a world premier of a new composition. There was a reception with Q&A afterwards. Someone asked, “Maestro, where do you find inspiration ?” His response, “A deadline and a check.” Parameters!
    Christian musicians may have a higher calling, but we still struggle with who we are. Human. Pray, read the Bible, work hard. As David and the Maestro said, “SET A DATE!”

    Don Simpson

    P.S. I think this one was shorter!

  8. Tony Smith says

    This rings true whether you’re working on a big project or small. What you said about hitting those hard walls only means that you’re breaking through to something great really got me fired up again. I have been working on a small simple project of building a new pre-service page that would include a Twitter feed to inspire people to communicate about the service http://warshipworship.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/its-the-final-countdown/. I have been met with a lot of “Why?”, “That’s dumb”, “How is that helpful”, and I really felt that what I was being inspired to do was not a good idea. But I’m going to keep moving forward, finalize this, communicate my vision, and see where we end up. As long as we never lose sight of Christ we can’t go wrong (well, to an extent lol).