If you want to have a long career as a creative, you’re going to have ups and downs -- the inevitable rollercoaster. 🎢 Even if you love it, you’ll experience frustration and wanna throw in the towel.
What can help?
It’s counter-intuitive, but stop while you have momentum.
When I unplugged last fall, I revisited a number of books (as I tend to do) focused on rewiring ourselves in all areas of life. I’ve found that the same book(s) can have a completely different impact depending on my season of life. And this most certainly did.
One of them (
The Art of Impossible) had a paragraph that gave me pause in a chapter called “Long-Haul Creativity.”
“Creativity isn’t a single battle; it’s an ongoing war. By quitting when you’re excited, you’re carrying momentum into the next day’s work session. Momentum is the real key.
When you realize that you left off someplace both exciting and familiar — somewhere where you know the idea that comes next — you dive right back in…”
What stuck out to me is, “by quitting when you’re excited, you’re carrying momentum into the next day’s work session.”
Picture this: You’re making great progress on a project. You’re in the flow. Energy is HIGH. You’re proud of the work you’re doing and are like “well, just another hour or two, then I’ll call it quits for the day.”
You work until you hit a roadblock, are tired, or tapped out that glorious creative energy.
You get back into it the next day and you’re kinda like… meh… even though you know it’s something you made great progress just yesterday. Then that carries into the rest of the week, and suddenly you’re wondering why tf you’re even trying to be someone who creates for a living.
What if instead, you stop while you’re at peak momentum for the day?
If you pause on a high note, you’ll be more excited to pick up where you left off rather than being frustrated or in “creative burnout” mode from the day before.
Give yourself a small reset and try this strategy. Sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest difference.
Lemme know how it goes!