You don’t need the latest and greatest gear to become an exceptional creative.
A $3000 guitar will certainly sound better than a $50 one you bought at Walmart, but buying It won’t make you a better guitarist.
An $8000 Leica camera over a beat up iPhone 6 won’t make you the next Chase Jarvis if you don’t even know the fundamentals of photography.
Equipment is expensive (especially if you are like me and want to learn EVERYTHING) and It adds up. And don’t forget about the lifestyle that is attached to each item. The maintenance, the accessories, and other costs to entry. While I️ love a shiny new instrument as much as the next Shmoesph, I️ don’t need It to play brilliantly. The equipment doesn’t make the creative. A well-made instrument will enhance the creator’s ability, however, it’s still a reflection of their hard work and time they’ve put in.
To be a better creator, we must hone and practice our passions. Over and over again, until they become instinct.
Focus on what you have, instead of what you don’t. Work with what you can afford right now, versus waiting to express your creativity when riches fall from the sky into your bosoms.
Be the person who sets the stage on fire with a crappy beat up instrument rather than a ten thousand dollar one with no skills to back up the luxury.
Essentially, what I’m saying is
Don’t let your gear be better than you are.
Own your beat up gear with pride. And don’t let lack of resources stop you from pursuing your art. Get creative, find ways around it. Make lack of resources a part of your art form.
As long as It works, you’ve got what you need. In the meantime, hone your passion and save up for something beautiful and elegant, worthy of all your hard work.
How do I motivate myself to do the important things when I don’t feel motivated?
“I’ve noticed that my motivation to start my own freedom business is always at an all-time high when I’m at work, sitting at my desk, with the realization staring me in the face that I do not want to spend the rest of my life sitting in a cubicle all day every day… I feel a burning desire to take immediate action towards a freedom business. The only problem is that I’m at work so I can’t! When I’m finally on my own time and can focus on learning and creating the motivation is still there but not nearly of the same caliber.
Have any of you experienced a similar situation? If so, do you have any tips or tricks to channel, on command, that same level of motivation that I feel when I’m face to face with the reality of what my life will continue to be if I don’t take action now?”
Dear Creative Like Me,
I usually find myself in the same situations after work. A burning desire to work my pursuits — to write, learn, connect, code, design, write songs and build successful business — but also the need to rest.
Such a paradox —When I finally have time for what my soul is pining to do, I feel unmotivated to do them. (Heck!) Even more so recently since my energy hasn’t been great, and my three-headed demon.
The need of rest is good, but after resting, it’s easy for me to slide into mindlessness, which is the enemy.
Rest is equally important as effort, but mindlessness is the enemy to creativity.
I know I need to spend time creating and pursuing my goals, but I feel exhausted, obligated to other things and others, and reluctant to do so. (Even though I know doing so would create a better reality for me!) ‘Maybe Tomorrow’, I think. (But you know what they say about tomorrow.)
So what’s an motivated unmotivated creative to do?
One solution I’ve found is to
first re-energize yourself.
Go for a walk
Mediate
Talk to a friend / loved one
Read
Workout
or do something you enjoy that’s restful yet mindful
and second, sit down and
Start with purpose and intention.
It doesn’t have to be the best thing you’ve ever done, it just has to be something.
You just have to start and stick with it for as long as your able.
Oddly enough that lazy, tired feeling I have fades away once I start and keep pushing through. I think this idea goes along well with one of Dale Carnegie’s strategies for removing worry and despair by ‘losing yourself in doing.”
Taking action consumes your mind and leaves no space for exhaustion.
My feeling of reluctance and fatigue doesn’t completely go away, but I become more comfortable with it, each day I do it. I think that’s how most people find their success, they learn to thrive in un-comfort. They make the uncomfortable, comfortable and do so continuously.
Personal success comes to those with the largest comfort zone.
Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner, Renaissance Man. April 18th 10AM EST, Chattanooga TN
If this article helped, let me know in the comments below, or via email: josh@renaissanceamanlife.com.
“The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation.”
— George Bernard Shaw
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
— Zig Ziglar
“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
Whenever I purchase a new notebook, everything feels so fresh and clean. Each blank page has the potential to be my next great idea (such a bragger). A song, business idea, design, personal insight, or blog post (much like this one I hope). But then my jumbled thoughts and multi-disciplined life grabs its messy hands on it. I jump from one thing to the next. Sometimes I’ll leave a great thought on a nearly blank page unfinished. (dun tun dahhhh)
The mess itself doesn’t bother me (… too much 🙂
It’s the fear that my ideas will never leave the notebook. Ideas trapped in another book of ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybe somedays’ on a shelf gathering dust.
Your ideas are the path to your best-self, but if they only exist in your notebook or head, do they even exist at all?
Ideas are meant to be shared.
Ideas are meant to be made.
Ideas are meant to be challenged.
And ideas have an expiration date.
It’s okay if you have to start over. Sometimes you must step back before you can step forward.
We all need a fresh start sometimes.
A fresh starts can be exciting if you look at them the right way. Instead of a past mistake or failed attempt, you have a clean page, a new today.
A fresh start begins by pausing —
Seeing what’s working and what’s not, what needs improvement and what whale fails that need to be avoid in the future.
After all, life is a series of fresh starts, big and small, don’t you think?
Growing up, endless summers, high school, college, first apartment, falling in love, finding fulling work.. everything is a new beginning. Every day is a new chance to be someone better than the last.
Fresh starts are what The Renaissance Life is about.
I personally don’t want to be old and grey before I live a live of creativity and boldness.
No, I must start today. I must make each day a fresh start. I must push through any fear I face.
And when I am old and grey, I hope to remember that fresh starts never end, and are ultimately what life is about. If future me is reading this, I hope you look at my struggles and pursuits fondly and see a life well-lived. And remember old man, it’s never to late to turn the page.
Grab a fresh page and take action on your new life today.
Then do it again the next today.
Keep Pursuing,
— Josh Waggoner
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related wisdom
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
— Seneca
“Every day I feel is a blessing from God. And I consider it a new beginning. Yeah, everything is beautiful.”
‘What if I invest all this time into my idea that I’m really excited about, but it doesn’t get the feedback or engagement I would like?’
‘Would all my time invested matter?’
‘And if people actually like my stuff, how will I keep up with all the engagement and orders?’
Dear hesitant Creative Like Me,
I hope this letter finds you well.
I completely understand how you feel.
I was running through the same thoughts when I started my clothing company boldsheep.com (@boldsheep) and when I started this very site.
‘What if no one buys anything from me?’
‘What if nobody reads or comments on my blog?’
And you know what?
Nobody did.
Nobody bought any shirts, nobody read my posts. Nobody was listening.
(And mom’s don’t count)
Even though I implicitly told myself I wouldn’t, I made every mistake in the book.
Fffffff…
But here’s the thing: It was worth it.
Every mistake, every problem, every failure has made me a better and more capable person.
What if it doesn’t work? It probably won’t. Do it anyway.
Ask yourself, ‘would I rather try and fail or would I rather not try and be exactly where I am now?’
Failure is not an end-point, rather a turning point. It’s Life telling you that your idea needs some reworking and tuning.
What about this worked and what didn’t? What can I change to earn more engagement? How can I do this better next time? Okay that sucked. What went wrong, and how can I avoid it?
The biggest lesson I can give you about starting something isits okay to fail.
If your idea doesn’t work. Keep going. Keep pursuing your dream.
Every good endeavor needs to be honed and crafted.
Do whatever you have to make your idea and yourself better.
And if you must start over with a new idea, take what you learned on your last project and use it to your advantage on your next one.
When it comes to building an audience, focus on helping one person. Focus your efforts on impacting just one person who’s your ideal customer / client.
Because each additional follower count you gain is a person on the other end. Someone you might be able to impact.
‘And if people actually like my stuff, how will I keep up with all the engagement and orders?’
That’s a good problem to have. It means what you’re doing is working and having an impact.
Stay honest. Ask for help. Let your audience know. Remember, Vulnerability is Relatability.
Things to note and live by:
Every single person who made something wonderful started where you are — at the beginning.
On the ground. figuring out things. failing forward. stepping out of their comfort zones.
