Editor’s note: I recorded this as a podcast for Productive Flourishing long after I originally published this post. I hope you enjoy it, and if you’d like to hear more episodes of the podcast, you’ll find them in the show’s archives.
Creatives have a talent that perhaps exceeds our ability to create: the ability to convince ourselves that the props we’ve set up to keep us from creating are real. There’s always organizing, list-making, office-cleaning, chores, research, or toenail clipping to be done. But so often, we need to just start creating.
I often wonder if that’s why so many creative people resort to meta-doing so quickly – after all, we can always come up with creative ideas, lists, dreams, and next actions. That’s one part of what we do that we love. Ideas are fun. Doing something with those ideas and sharing them with others – well, not so much sometimes.
While we’re meta-doing and not creating, we’re in a comfortable space. No one is evaluating our work, that demon of a critic that we envision is at bay, and we can continue to tell ourselves that we’re doing something productive. We’re planning or organizing or clearing our head or whatever.
In other words, we’re crafting a believable fiction for ourselves that puts layers of obstacles between us and the creative work we do. And since the story has to be believed only by the creator, we can remain in our safe zone.
But I’m Researching!
The way I see this tendency manifest itself the most in creatives is with “research.” We read other writers’ work, we look at other painters’ paintings, other coders’ code, other peoples’ business ideas – and we do some more research. We collect research that discusses the research of others. And then we label the research, categorize it, file it, and put it in the other piles of research that we have – which, by the way, we need to come up with a better way of filing that research, and we need to see what that old research has to do with the new stuff, and… and… and.
It’s a prop, folks. Yes, part of the creative process requires that we research whatever we’re thinking about, but if you find yourself nodding your head at what I’m saying, you know that there’s a point at which you have enough information to do something and there’s a point at which you’re using “research” as a way to get around creating. No amount of information or inspiration is going to solve the problem – for the problem has nothing to do with information.
You are a creator, not a researcher. What you may not realize is that research, at a certain point, gives that scared part of you even more reason to be scared. Those “experts” and their “massive amount of work” dwarf your abilities and contributions – what’s the point of your trying? Yet another lie you tell yourself and believe nonetheless.
Just Start Creating!
If I’ve called you out, you’re no doubt thinking, “Oh crap – what now? Where do I start?”
Pick a topic or idea – it doesn’t matter which one – and start doing something with it. If you’re a writer, commit to picking a topic and write 300 words about it. If you’re a designer, commit to free-handing the frame of the idea in your head. If you’re a painter, start the broad strokes on the canvas. If you’re a coder, define a problem or function and code the solution.
Whatever you do, create something in the real world today, right now, for an hour. Even better, give yourself two hours to get some real progress on it. Make it crappy, but make it. You don’t have to keep it, love it, or share it, and you can undo anything that you’ve done. But you can’t undo or get back the time you’ve spent creating fictions for yourself.
Now go and create something. You’ll feel better.
This is exactly why I affixed a Dymo sticky label with “Hit Those Keys” to my typewriter, back in the day when typewriters weren’t anachronistic. Good reminders, all, Charlie!
And I’m digging the new site look….; – )
Lisa Firkes last blog post..Are you a foodie as well as a book-lover?
Dear Charlie, that would have hurt a whole lot more if I hadn’t been giggling in my head the whole way through. This is me to a tee.
P.S. Here’s your boot back from my ass.
James | Dancing Geeks last blog post..Day 2: Already getting bored!
Nice post! On Brian C’s recommendation, I started reading The War of Art, which is an extension of this very idea.
Nike has it right, amazingly. Just run. Just write. Just paint. Just do dance of Shiva. 🙂 I also like what my Zen teachers used to say, “Ah yes, don’t worry, that’s just laziness. Do it.” I didn’t much like it then, but it is good advice.
Sonia Simone | Remarkable Communications last blog post..Why This is the Best Time to Finally Break Free
Great post Charlie! I wrote something similar recently, but you knocked it out of the park as far as writing and creative types. You call it meta-doing – I call it metawork =)
@James – Charlie must have lots of feet because I had to return his boot too 🙂
Fortunately, I know myself well enough that this doesn’t sting. It just reminds of what I’m here to do and what I love to do.
Might have to print out sections of this and stick em in places where I see them all the time – a constant reminder to get off my ass and do something.
Sarah Marie Lacys last blog post..Big epiphany! Smiles all round!
Totally. I realized recently that my creative thing I’m wanting to practice now is facilitating a particular transformational process called Core Transformation.
But times are tough and my clients have bailed. So I’m thinking for now to just practice on people whether they can pay or not–I need to hone my skills, and there’s only so much I practice on myself.
Duffs last blog post..Beat the Recession/Holiday Blues with Core Transformation
I describe this problem as setting false dependencies. And yes, I’m as guilty or more so than most. I was thinking about this earlier in the week – were things I was prioritizing in front of major accomplishment projects really dependencies, enablers or just avoidance?
Mike Stankavichs last blog post..My Toronto Thanksgiving
“What you may not realize is that research, at a certain point, gives that scared part of you even more reason to be scared. Those “experts” and their “massive amount of work” dwarfs your abilities and contributions – what’s the point of you trying?”
Charlie, this is so true! It is easy to keep deluding myself that one day I will feel confident enough that the writing will just flow. Thanks for all you are doing to move me out of that place and into the doing.
It’s the simplest advice, yet SO often overlooked! I’ve been focusing a lot on this theme in my recent blog posts, because it’s one that I’m working through in my own life. It’s so easy to get caught up in consuming at the expense of your creation.
Zoes last blog post..Creating Time to Create
I love it! I can’t believe how easy it is to fool ourselves out of working. Well it is laziness, but still it’s much easier to push through and just do it! I am off to write now. 🙂
Nathalie Lussiers last blog post..7 Reasons Why Trusting Yourself Will Improve Your Health
I kept expecting the word procrastination to come up at some point in this post because that is exactly what all the research is. And the reason for it is not laziness -no offense to any of the commenters – it’s fear.
Fear is there to protect us from something we may not even be aware of. Fear of failure, sure but fear of success is even more scary. So many unknowns keep us in the safe research phase.
While I agree that just doing it is the way to go, it is so important to acknowledge why we haven’t just done it. And by doing that, we are not fighting ourselves but becoming aware.
And that usually helps us to get the thing done.
Lynn Crymbles last blog post..Where’s the Love for Canadian Internet Users?
@Lisa: Hit those keys, indeed! And when are we going to share the secret to this redesign?
@James: I’ll save this size 12 just for you – let me know if you need it again!
@Sonia: Nike has forever changed the world with their mantra. Whenever I get stuck, those three magic words pop up every time.
@Sid: Nice post, Sid! The degree of overlap we can come up with independently is amazing.
@Sarah: The great thing about virtual boots is that there are no limits to how many you can swing. And keep on keeping on, Sarah!
@Duff: You’ll make it through just fine, my friend. And it’s great that you’re offering your valuable services for free. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the qualitative differences between free clients and paid clients sometime.
@Mike: I’ve had a gestalt switch here recently that I’m still trying to process when it comes to the structured planning thing. I spent so much time building the box to put things in that I wasn’t putting anything into the box – I found that building a box around the stuff was fair more productive. I’ll definitely have to think about a better way to express this.
@Tamara: Thanks for allowing me to help you and trusting me when you stop trusting yourself. You have so much to give – please show it to everybody.
@Zoe: There really is a finite limit of information that we can process. We can decide to output or input – or, in your words, we can consume or create.
@Nathalie: Thanks for commenting – but, just as importantly, thanks for taking the baton and going to write. It’s exactly what I’d hope people would do.
@Lynn: I avoided procrastination for the reason you say – people will try to rationalize the hell out of it when really they’re using it as a prop for fear. And I so agree that acknowledging the fear is important – and critical.
Hi
So true!
I’ve become less of a productive person in order to be creative. I was always so busy getting things done on time as soon as possible, that I never had time for anything else. Now that I’ve stopped being so busy, I actually have more time!
Juliet
LifeMadeGreat | Juliets last blog post..Experiencing Fear As It Is Meant To Be
This is a great post and right on the money. Why is procrastination so darn easy to fall into? Sigh.
The Low Information Diet is a great tool for clearing away unproductive info porn, allowing you to actually create something instead of “researching.” I recently resolved to batch all of my discretionary nonfiction reading for Sunday, and only Sunday. No books, no blogs, no forums, nada. Nonfiction books get read from start to finish in one sitting on Sunday. The only reading allowed during the week is (a) fiction and (b) information that resolves a specific problem (e.g. “What’s Error Code 89779?”).
It’s tough, because until you’ve disallowed yourself to look up “stuff” when bored or anxious, you have no idea how much you’re doing it on a regular basis. It’s also hard to resist the temptation to keep up rather than catch up, especially if you want to comment on other people’s blogs 😉
Andre Kibbes last blog post..Mind Mapping a Behavioral Model
@Juliet: My friend Duff would call this the Paradox of Productivity – by not focusing on becoming more productivity, we become more productive.
@Ashley: Because it’s easier and safe.
@Andre: You’ve got me tempted – I think I’ll start by batching my reading to afternoons every three or four days, which seems to be my cycle. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Thank you for articulating so beautifully the struggle to value ones own talent. I give far too much away for free! I’m continually telling myself that it’s all good practice, and it is. But you have helped me realize that how I see myself is different from those who don’t posses my particular skill. I am told regularly that I should be getting paid or that I should start my own business. I have been paid but I charge much less than I should. Also, not charging enough at the beginning has made it uncomfortable and difficult to charge more the next time. Especially when it’s a referral from the last person. It’s a lightbulb moment. I have to stop hiding behind the research. Thanks again.