[This is part 1 of a blog series called “Awaken the Artist Within: Overcome What Holds You Back and Create Your Best Work“. You can read the rest of the posts here.]
Have you ever sat down to create something but didn’t know where to start?
You realize your brilliant idea wasn’t so brilliant. You don’t know what you’re good at. You don’t know what to create.
Trust me, your best ideas are on the way. You’re just not allowing them to come out.
There’s a toxic excuse I’ve heard (and I’ve said) that we’re going to face today. Head on. Like an Obama/Romney debate.
It goes like this:
“My ideas have already been done before. I have nothing new to offer.”
How many times have you said that?
Ideas Become Brilliant
The truth is, anyone who’s ever created anything valuable had to start somewhere.
Brilliant ideas become brilliant. They begin as a tiny seed and grow to something beautiful, useful, and necessary. At the beginning, you’re not sure anyone will care.
That’s normal.
- Apple computers weren’t created after one brainstorming session.
- Fender didn’t sell 2,000,000 Stratocasters in 1954.
- Did JK Rowling have any clue that Harry Potter would become what it is today?
Creativity takes courage. Go ahead, say that out loud. Or, you can tweet that. (I won’t be offended).
We all start with the same raw material. We all have influences. Don’t disqualify yourself from creating without failing first. Get out there and try something.
Is failure a part of your resume? Wonderful. That means you’ve attempted something. You overcame resistance and put yourself out there.
What’s worse is sitting on the sidelines watching all the action take place.
The Secret to Getting Started
The secret? Start with what you have right where you are. Don’t compare your ideas to Steve Jobs. Know that you are unique and have something incredible to offer the world.
Maybe that involves a little pep talk you give yourself.
Maybe this blog post is what you needed.
Stop comparing and start creating. You have all that you need to get started.
3 Tips for Generating More Ideas
Got it? Good. Now let’s talk about how to increase our idea generating: Here are three quick tips:
1. Change your location – Routines are wonderful, but sometimes they can be the death of creativity. If you want to increase your idea generation, change your location. Do something different. Trick your mind.
2. Apply your life – Your best ideas will come from your life. Most of our lives are spent hiding from who we are. If you embrace your life stories, you’ll discover your best material.
3. Solve a Problem – Look at the world. Gaze into injustice. Do you see what’s wrong with the world? Perfect. Now, go and solve it. Create something that brings relief to the pain, even if it’s in a small way – a serene painting, a hopeful song. The problem with most people is that they look at the world’s pain and complain. But not you. You are a problem solver. And that’s where some of your best ideas will come.
If you say, “I don’t know what to create,” I would challenge that. You know what to create. You’re just afraid. You’ve lost confidence.
But since failure isn’t all that bad and ideas become brilliant as you work on them, you have nothing to lose.
Are you ready to get started?
Question: I’d love to hear from you. What ideas are you putting into action over the next 2 days? Join the discussion!
I’m going to put #1 into practice. I want to write new verses for an older chorus I found amongst my drafts, so I’ll go – without an instrument – to somewhere I’ve never written songs before, in the next two days.
Nice! How did that go, Andrew?