Solving creative equations
Treating creative production like math homework that you'd wish would go away only gets you a big zero in the end.
A lot of great freelancers and creatives are stuck on fly-paper by waiting for the time to do things. It’s as though there has to be some magic alchemy, some unobtainable mood, some shift in the zeitgeist to be ready to release ideas.
BUT…
The more you hold back your creative production, the more you don’t produce.
That’s it. Nothing else happens.
Nobody is waiting for your creative pot to boil, eagerly anticipating your slow cooked artistic recipe.
Your competitors don’t stop and stand around waiting for you to finish tying your shoes or chill out in the refreshment tent so you can enter the race again.
The process of creation doesn’t become easier. If anything, the lack of momentum becomes a giant self-corked bottleneck that gets harder and harder to shift.
The idea doesn’t go away. It stands like a shadow over everything else that starts begging to be birthed, too.
No. What happens is you get stuck in place, surrounded by the remnants of your idea, taunted by time, teased mercilessly by a lack of progress, and a fermentation, a souring, of your motivation.
So, knowing that you end up with:
(Zero + 1000lbs of Pressure) x Missed Opportunity(x3) = Nothing But Melancholy
OR
(Idea x Production) + Joy of Creation ÷ What’s Good = Possible Success
What is the creative equation worth completing?
Image: (Zero + 1000lbs of Pressure) x Missed Opportunity(x3) = Nothing But Melancholy
(Idea x Production) + Joy of Creation ÷ What’s Good = Possible Success
Side by side.