Create for Some - Not All

I would love it if everyone came to my party, but if I'm honest I really want those of you who want to be there. Because if you want to be there then you get it, you understand, you have a connection, a desire to be part of what I'm doing and celebrating.

August Burns Red isn't music for everyone, and if they start mangling their style in hopes of attracting more people... they'll most likely do the opposite.

The Puffy Shirt isn't for everyone, pirates I guess, but you'll lose the pirate crowd if you try a one-shirt-fits-all-tastes approach to puffy shirt making.

Create for the people who want your creation and two things will happen:

1. As they love it and live it they'll attract and invite people into the tribe,

2. As you create what only you create the way you create it and find ways to connect it with the world you'll find your tribe and your tribe will find you.

So, don't worry about connecting with the haters and the disinterested. Cast your vision, set out on mission and live your values through your art and you'll find a tribe to party with.

Let Go / Grab Hold

Grabbing hold of our mission happens in between letting go.

Letting go of past failures haunting our dreams. Letting go of hurts that poison the well and weaknesses that don't define us.

But also...

Letting go of future outcomes, unhealthy and unhelpful expectations and all the hand-wringing we do about what could be.

In between letting go of the past and the future is that divine sweet spot in the here and now. This is where God has us. And this is where we hold on for dear life because it's a wild and bumpy ride!

Scheduled Inspiration

Connecting with and studying the habits of creatives (artists, songwriters, chefs, designers, speaking pastors and makers and shakers of all stripes), two aspects of creating continue to stand out:

1. They schedule time every week, every day if possible, for creating. Whichever part of the creative process they're in - studying, researching, writing, sketching, drafting, brainstorming, shipping - they do it routinely and systematically.

2. When inspiration strikes beyond scheduled creative routines... they run with it!

What does this mean? If we don't bake the creative process into our schedule, we may never actually produce anything. At least, not as much as we'd like.

On the other hand, daily creative habits (wake, cold water on the face, write for hours - V. Hugo OR hot tea and writing in the morning - C.S. Lewis) inevitably produce fruit in between bolts of divine inspiration. The routine keeps us limber, oiled up and ready to run with a great idea at a moments notice, planned or unplanned.

So, when are you most clear-minded and jazzed to create during the day (or night)? How much entertainment, distraction or sideways energy do you need to clear from your schedule in order to plant, grow and ship your own fruit?

Schedule and inspiration, two sides of the same creative coin.