10 Feb Let’s Get Messy (Creativity Hack)

Embarking on a any big creative or work project can be outright daunting because it’s messy and without a doubt, you will find yourself in unchartered territory. But it is precisely this mess which leads you to your creative brilliance. In fact the mess IS your creative brilliance.

In Fact……

Many years ago, I knew an artist who was well known in San Francisco for designing restaurants with gorgeous paintings and 25 ft. sculptures.   And almost every job started with wonder at the designs laid out and excitement for what was to come.

Once the designs were approved, then came the demolition of the walls, floors and ceilings.  Sometimes entire rooms were demolished.  And it was dusty and dirty and it would stay that way for a while.  Days, weeks, sometimes months.  Then came the anxiety.  What is happening?  Is the project even being worked on?  Will we make it to our grand opening deadline? And that they would start freaking out.

All hell would break loose and the owners and my friend would argue laced with threats of lawsuits and wanting their money back.  Sometimes it would be that way until everyone was kicked by the artist who knew without fail that everything would fall into place.

5 Steps to Help You Embrace Your Mess

1. Know Your End Goal: When you know where you are going, it is much easier to embrace the creative process which at times will make it seem like there’s no end in site.  Whether that is a work report, re-org of a department, an office move, a writing project, an artistic venture – whatever it is, hold that destination up and keep it within site at all times.  It is your compass.
2. Give Yourself Permission To Make A Mess:  For all of my perfectionist friends out there.  Let. It. Go.  And submit to the messy creative process.  Allow yourself the journey to explore all corners of your mind and think outside the box.  Dare to put out 100 ideas, knowing you may only use 1 or 2 of them.  Dare to fall down, brush the dirt off of your knees and keep going.  Creating anything takes hard work, courage, time and the willingness to make a mess.
3. Be Willing To Part With Ideas:  Once you do have ideas and tangents on the table, it is crucial to be willing to part with many of your ideas.  Not all of them will make it to the finish line.  Some may be spawns for new projects and if that’s the case, place a marker on those ideas for later – and stay focused on your project.  Or……if your ideas in the messy phase, take your project in a new direction, don’t be afraid to go with it.
4. Be Decisive:  At the end of the day, in ALL creative projects….you will have decisions to make.  This is where so many of us can get stuck.  We hem, we haw, we fret and we. get. stuck.  Don’t do that.  You can always back track later if needed and correct…..but be decisive and go forward with those decisions to see your project to completion.  Which leads us to…..
5. Cross the Finish Line: This is where courage comes in.  Half baked and abandoned projects are all too common.  We get too busy.  We lose interest.  We don’t know what happened.  That is called resistance!  And recognizing that is so so important.   That is part of the mess as well.   Your job is to see what’s coming up for you emotionally and push through anyhow.   Not only will you be glad you did, but so will anyone on the receiving end of your work.

Now, go do your thing and embrace the mess!

Until the Next Time!

Vivienne