I was thirty years old with a big family, a busy schedule and debt. Every week my days and body wanted more from me than I could give. My role as a pastor and leader developer required me to produce valuable things every week. But I had a growing feeling deep in my gut; I wanted to write. I had every excuse not to, but I simply couldn’t shake it.
Through a twist of fate, I found myself with three book contracts with traditional publishers before I had released a single book. That’s a story for another day. I was terricited; mostly terrified sprinkled with excitement. I needed to shift from a one-hit wonder to a serial creative. I had no choice; I had to become a writer.
During this season on happened on five requirements of the creative life. In all my conversations with serial creatives (those who simply keep producing), I have found the same things. Creative bursts don’t come very often and you can’t count on them, but the creative life requires these.
The creative life requires team. You can’t continue creating over the long haul by yourself. You need to gather a team. Everyone’s team looks different. Look for a diverse group of people who helps you feed your creative genius. Some teammates might include emotional supporters, idea gifters, iron sharpeners, patrons, prayer buddies, and feed-backers. Friends often develop into partners and partners often mature into collaborators who will stay on your team for a long time.
The creative life requires structure. This feels like a four letter word to most creatives, me included. Serial creatives refine a creative process and keep working the process. The irony is most creatives despise structure, but they deeply need it. The myth of living off bursts of creative inspiration is alluring, but it doesn’t keep producing. Find your unique creative process, and live by it.
I hate to say it, but structure requires discipline. We have limited energy. Serial creatives realize they can’t throw their lives out of whack for every project, because another project is always on the way. They stay healthy so they can keep creating next week and next year. Serial creatives approach their work as a craft, not a hobby. Here’s a simple formula I’ve developed…
Hard work + Focus + Reps = Impact
The creative life requires stealing. I know, this one feels weird. Serial creatives learn to steal in two different ways.
Steal time from other areas. You can’t keep doing everything you want to do and take your creativity seriously. You don’t have unlimited capacity, so you’ll have to steal time from other areas of life that matter less to you. You’ll have to come back to priorities.
Steal ideas and inspiration. You will make connections from different areas of your life. You will grab an idea from a movie, a song, an article, a sunset, an awkward encounter, a conversation. You’ll also tastefully steal from others work (with proper citation, of course). Read others stuff, ingest others ideas, listen to others podcasts. Serial creatives meaningfully repurpose the work of others. Keep a small notebook around or make notes in your phone so these ideas don’t slip away.
The creative life requires a true medium. There are Renaissance creatives who have many different mediums, but most don’t. I have experimented with many different mediums. Each one was exciting for a moment but fell short. Eventually, I discovered the common connection between these mediums; people. My medium is the human heart, and these areas were just pathways to impact people. Sometimes you just haven’t found your medium yet, so keep experimenting.
The creative life requires purpose. If there is a purpose behind your creativity you’ll just keep giving to it. Your creative passion has a big appetite, and you need to keep feeding it. Keep experimenting with different areas and ideas, but there comes a moment when you need to choose a path. If you keep deliberating and brainstorming forever you won’t impact anyone. Work to identify your purpose behind your creativity and continue pursuing it. Without purpose, the creative life will feel unjustified and pointless. You’ll grow tired of it, and your work will drift away from you.
Questions to ask yourself if you want to live the creative life…
Who is on your team?
How will you keep creating?
When are you most creative? How will you guard that time?
Why do you truly want to create?
What is your true medium?