“The world is full of ideas, but to make an idea work, you have to see it through to completion.”—Michael Dell
DEVIL ON YOUR SHOULDER
Every creator has a devil on their shoulder. In the book The War of Art, Steven Pressfield calls this force Resistance. It’s the voice in your head that speaks with one goal in mind: to kill your creativity. It won’t rest until you cut your creative process short. It tells you people will hate listening to your music, they’ll laugh at your dance style, and they won’t read your book. It exacerbates the imperfections in your art and tries to convince you that your flaws are the defining factor of your work. It makes you feel crazy for dropping out of college to pursue a business idea, acting gig, or apprenticeship while nobody else sees your vision.
This devil on your shoulder is the number one reason the world may never see some of the greatest creations ever made. His defeating whispers are your biggest threat in your creative process. It’s understandable, though. He’s offering the easy way out. Quitting is more convenient and more comforting than criticism from others, releasing a subpar product, iterating, and improving. It’s safer to have a hard drive with your unreleased songs, a basement filled with your incomplete paintings, and a prototype of your invention collecting dust. That’s where your comfort zone is.
There’s a famous quote that says, “A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.” At the end of your life, when you’re looking back on your journey as a creator, how do you think you’ll feel? Will you pat yourself on the back for avoiding all of your potential failures, judgment, and imperfections? Or will you regret spending your life trapped in a cycle of self-sabotage, repeatedly conjuring up brilliant ideas, only to falter before seeing them through?
THE ONLY FEAR
That voice in your head is a universal struggle for all creators. Creative people are in a constant battle with their fears. For some, it’s a fear of failure or rejection. For others, it’s the fear of the unknown or being misunderstood. Here’s the thing, creative geniuses only have one fear: unfulfilled potential.
The fear of unfulfilled potential is powerful because it trumps all other fears. Instead of having to overcome the other fears, it fights fire with fire. If you prioritize this fear over all others, it doesn’t get rid of your other fears, but it does force you to make a choice. You either finish your work in the face of doubt, or you die unfulfilled. This fear should keep you up at night because the only way to fulfill your creative potential is by seeing your visions through to the end.
THE 20/60/20 RULE
Every creator started a project they know should see the light of day, yet they haven’t touched it in months. Well, I have some good news. I’m going to share a three-step framework called The 20/60/20 Rule that you can use to see your projects through to the end. Each number represents the percentage distance you’ve gone in your creative journey, and each phase has a key phrase you can tell yourself when you hear those criticizing whispers in your head.
0% to 20% = “I’m just going to play around real quick.”
Mark Zuckerberg once said, “Ideas don’t come out fully formed, they only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started. If I had to know everything about connecting people before I got started, I would’ve never built Facebook.” The first 20% of your creative journey is when you need to start, but the voice in your head tells you you lack the time, inspiration, or skills. You combat this by telling yourself you’re playing around. You’re here to have fun. Nothing has to come from what you’re doing. Jump straight into writing, drawing, or whatever the first step of your craft requires. The beautiful part about creativity is once you start, your mind gets lost in your creation, and soon enough, inspiration will find you.