#HelloEarthlings,
I know I haven’t written in a while, mostly because I’m trying to finish my book The Jobless Guide to Money Making which is now reaching the final chapters. The amount of resources I’m jam packing into this book will give anyone the ability to “Go Jobless” and make a living doing what they love. My main motivation for this book is to help people who are struggling to either find a job, have been made redundant, have too little experience in the “real world” and creative people who want to have enough time to work on their art, while not having the “starving artist” lifestyle.
Which brings me to the Struggle of the Creatives.
Yes, Creative People struggle intensely with a few issues constantly. One of my biggest struggles is procrastination, which lately I have had under control. Why we procrastinate and how to get through your horrid procrastination will be saved for another blog post as I wish to focus on another issue instead.
The issue I find most creative people struggle with is “choosing a topic”. Your mind goes a mile a minute, ideas are popping in from all sides, you want to do them all but simply can’t. How do you choose one project over another? When does one idea become more important than the other?
I am not just a “One-Track Artist” either. I am a Writer, Musician/songwriter, Video Maker, Amateur Photographer, Performer and so on, so for me this problem comes in heavy doses. Take all of these creative “wants”, measure them up to “what I have to do to make a living” and you suddenly find yourself with your back against the wall forced to choose only a handful of the ideas swarming in your brain.
Nonetheless you have to choose, because by not choosing you don’t get things “done”. And by not getting things done, you don’t get the chance to work on “other things”. So no matter how hard it is for you to choose only one or two activities you will focus your time and energy on, it is imperative that you do so – Choose and Commit.
So this is what I did:
- Write down every idea bobbing in your head
- See which ones you can complete with relative ease
- Create a Check list of activities that each idea requires to be completed
- Find balance between your “breadwinner activities” (jobs, paid projects etc) and your “Creative Projects”
- Execute from “Most likely to complete” to “Difficult to complete”
Let me give you an example on how this works.
I am currently working on an album which I want to complete by 2015 May-ish. The album will have ten tracks on it. So I divided all of the album into ten main points. I have to record the song, send it off to my producer, pay him then work on the next track. But simultaneously I have made a commitment to myself to write like all hell is coming down on us. So I also created a check list of each of my upcoming books, and every step I need to do to make it happen. After these lists have been made, I simply go down one by one until they are all completed. My “Work Tab” always gets updated since my clients continually request more work from me.
I am using a FREE APP called “Wunderlist” which is great for organization. I got it from the Chrome Store. I believe it’s also apt for mobile devices but since my Phone is currently broken and I have not gone to replace it…it’s on my computer.
Anyhow, let’s wrap this up and get to a point somewhere.
Creative People struggle on many issues, procrastination, lack of resources, influx of ideas and of course…mood swings! People who can work in a systematic lifestyle don’t understand that the struggle that we endure is for their own good. The song you like didn’t write itself. An artist poured their heart into it, they had to live to be able to capture a moment that will be immortalized by music. The painter didn’t just slap some paint on a canvas. The technique and time dedicated to perfect the art, usually unseen by the public, all worked to make that piece of art happen.
But for the Creative the two biggest struggles are, Picking a Topic and Getting Shit done. Hopefully this blog can help you with the latter.
Anyhow, Thanks for reading. I’ll be posting the #JoblessGuide soon for all those who want to know how to make money when you don’t have a “Traditional Job”. Until then, continue to explore the furthest regions of your own imagination. Your consciousness is your domain, never fear to tread the deep end of your creativity.