Take a second to identify the things that distract you and keep you from reaching your creative potential. Is it television? Youtube? Facebook? Video games? We’ve talked about hiding your TV or putting filters on your computer to keep you from getting distracted.
But what about people that keep you from reaching your creative potential?
Are there certain people on your Twitter or Facebook feeds that discourage you? Do they make you feel inferior or make you wish you were them?
Hide them. Unfollow them. Mute them.
Even if they are great people doing great things. You have no business getting distracted by the stuff they post.
I’ve had to hide and unfollow some amazing creative people. They weren’t doing anything wrong. But they were making me feel inferior. I kept wanting to give up when I saw the sort of work they turned out. I had to hide them.
I’m not saying you should hide every creative individual. There are some that will inspire you. God bless them! They’re necessary to keep you reaching higher.
But those that drag you down…even if half of their stuff is inspirational…hide them. There’s no shortage of inspiration in the world. But there is a shortage of motivation. And your work is too important to let your motivation die.
Establish boundaries for your motivation. Get motivation killers out of your life.
Oh man, I totally do this! After catching up on people I can get discouraged and not even know it. Then I feel bad the rest of the day. Let’s be honest, it’s sin. Ultimately not trusting God’s hand in our lives. But let’s be honest, we do it! This is a great tip to help.
Oh man, I totally do this! After catching up on people I can get discouraged and not even know it. Then I feel bad the rest of the day. Let’s be honest, it’s sin. Ultimately not trusting God’s hand in our lives. But let’s be honest, we do it! This is a great tip to help.
Great post. Maybe I was born with the ability to not be discouraged or intimidated by others. Maybe it’s the drive inside me to continue growing in my creativity. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but I don’t get discouraged by other’s work. I use it as inspiration. If I see a lighting show or design I think “Wow. I hope I can create that one day when I have the available resources. I wonder if I can get the same effect with what I have now…” That’s pure motivation for me. But I can certainly understand how someone might be intimidated. If your palette is small like mine, it’s definitely intimidating to visit a church and see millions of dollars hanging from truss or sitting on the stage. I just have to remind myself that the benefit of working in a larger space is also the challenge to a smaller space. So I have to rely more on creativity than gear. That said, I’d still love to let my “small room” creativity loose in one of those “big room” environments!!
Tom, that’s awesome man! I’m sure God is using your confidence where you are. I can be confident at times 🙂 For me it’s usually a person thing and I fall into the comparison trap. Look where this person is, what they’re involved in, etc. Even though it’s totally ungodly, I get distracted by those thoughts. I think we can even subconsciously inherit others’ goals. Talk about frustration! Working along another’s path with the tools God’s given you for yours! That’ll kill your motivation. It’s an occasional struggle for me but I’m getting better.
I know what you mean. Seeing a large church do a massive set change over the course of 6 days sometimes causes me to think we are capable of more than we really are. I, like most of my production teammates, work on a volunteer basis. Meaning that most of us have a 9-5 away from the church and families at home. Trying to come to terms with the fact that we can’t pull off a 100 man hour set change with 5 people on a Saturday morning is tough. I have learned that the best way for us to do these type things is to shift toward designs that allow us to space out the prep work over a period of a few weeks and when the set change date arrives, that 100 man hours is down to about 15 or 20. Which is totally reasonable for 5 people to do on a Saturday morning. For me it’s a constantly shifting balance of form, function, cost (financial & time), and scale.
Working methodically…I like it!
Great post. Maybe I was born with the ability to not be discouraged or intimidated by others. Maybe it’s the drive inside me to continue growing in my creativity. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but I don’t get discouraged by other’s work. I use it as inspiration. If I see a lighting show or design I think “Wow. I hope I can create that one day when I have the available resources. I wonder if I can get the same effect with what I have now…” That’s pure motivation for me. But I can certainly understand how someone might be intimidated. If your palette is small like mine, it’s definitely intimidating to visit a church and see millions of dollars hanging from truss or sitting on the stage. I just have to remind myself that the benefit of working in a larger space is also the challenge to a smaller space. So I have to rely more on creativity than gear. That said, I’d still love to let my “small room” creativity loose in one of those “big room” environments!!
Tom, that’s awesome man! I’m sure God is using your confidence where you are. I can be confident at times 🙂 For me it’s usually a person thing and I fall into the comparison trap. Look where this person is, what they’re involved in, etc. Even though it’s totally ungodly, I get distracted by those thoughts. I think we can even subconsciously inherit others’ goals. Talk about frustration! Working along another’s path with the tools God’s given you for yours! That’ll kill your motivation. It’s an occasional struggle for me but I’m getting better.
I know what you mean. Seeing a large church do a massive set change over the course of 6 days sometimes causes me to think we are capable of more than we really are. I, like most of my production teammates, work on a volunteer basis. Meaning that most of us have a 9-5 away from the church and families at home. Trying to come to terms with the fact that we can’t pull off a 100 man hour set change with 5 people on a Saturday morning is tough. I have learned that the best way for us to do these type things is to shift toward designs that allow us to space out the prep work over a period of a few weeks and when the set change date arrives, that 100 man hours is down to about 15 or 20. Which is totally reasonable for 5 people to do on a Saturday morning. For me it’s a constantly shifting balance of form, function, cost (financial & time), and scale.
Working methodically…I like it!
Could not agree more with this !!!! So Let’s go out there and kill those motivation killers!
Could not agree more with this !!!! So Let’s go out there and kill those motivation killers!