One of the reasons learning a new language with Duolingo is so effective (in terms of practicing if not fluency) is the idea of streaks. The app creates a streak for you to link together, treating the learning as a game instead of a tedious task. The longer you continue the streak, the harder it will be for you to give up and break it.
Start a streak with your creativity. One of my friends is attempting to draw every single day; another is hoping to read a little every day. The key is to just do it, whether it’s five minutes of reading or doodling something in your notebook. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece or an entire novel – you get to make the rule of your game.
Find a way to start a streak in an area of your life you wish to improve and keep it going.
Get one. Seriously, everyone needs a hobby (and no, vegging out in front of the television after a long work day doesn’t count).
Learn a new language. Pick up a musical instrument you have always wanted to play. Start drawing or painting. Take one of the thousands of online courses in a subject that has always fascinated you (hard to go wrong with history).
Whether you are making a living as a creative or not, you need something creative and stimulating in your life that is purely for fun and pleasure. It’s just for you.
Find out what resources you need in order to get started. Write them down. Write down how the hobby will benefit you personally. Write down any obstacles in your way to making the hobby a reality, and if necessary, find a teacher.
Anyone looking to be great needs a hobby. Maybe it will make some money, too. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Have you ever copied something? For instance, if you were learning to draw, you probably traced or copied some other piece of art in order to practice. Or maybe if you are a musician, you have emulated or copied something that one of your favorite artists played on a record or put up on YouTube.
Here’s something to think about – even if you copied it “perfectly,” it still wasn’t exactly the same. The note you played was probably infintismally sharper or flatter than the note the musician played; the line drawn probably had one or two atoms difference in the width or the length. So, in a certain respect, the art was original – it was yours.
You are quite similar to these “copies” – similar in many ways to those that have come before you or to the people working in your same career. Even if you try to be exactly the same or to strive for perfection, you will be different in some minuscule, perhaps microscopic, way.
At the very least, genetically you are one of a kind. I am paraphrasing Robert Greene here, in a book he wrote called Mastery, in which he says that each one of us has never happened before and will never happen again. We are original works of art, no matter how similar we may feel to others.
This is wonderful, because it means that each one of us has the potential to become something great, something different, to bring something to the world that has never before existed.
So go ahead and copy, emulate the people you admire, and learn from as many different sources as possible; each time you do it, whatever you do will be ever so slightly different. Eventually you will become who you were uniquely made to be, and you will give your gifts to the rest of us.
P.S.
Mastery is one of my all-time favorite books. It studies the great masters of many different crafts in varying periods in history. I highly recommend it for those of you interested in finding some inspiration on mastering your creativity. Find it here.
A number of weeks ago, my wife and I went out to play some pick-up soccer with folks in our community; it didn’t quite go as planned. After a flurry of text messages, it turned out that a flat soccer ball and someone’s annoying brother had wrecked our hopes of playing soccer that evening (yes, there is more than one obvious solution to this problem, but that’s not the point of this story).
We refused to let those issues stop us, and we had an idea (and luckily, a frisbee). We decided to teach the folks who were originally going to play soccer with us how to play Ultimate Frisbee. One hot, sweaty, muddy, grass-covered hour later, our group collapsed on the ground, exhausted and exhilarated. Not only did they all have a blast, they all wanted to know when the next game was happening. Since then, we’ve been playing 2-3 times a week, we have created a subscription calendar that anyone can get to see when the next game is, and our interest and attendance in the group has been steadily growing.
So why I am telling you this story? It’s really quite simple:
Start something.
Do something. Write something. Play something. Call someone and see if they are interested. Send them a text message. Put up a flyer.
Start something.
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
– Walt Disney
We all have ideas that could start something – it may not be a new career or financially lucrative, but it could start a community league, or a charity, or a movement (and it could also be a new career AND financially lucrative).
Just so you know – it might not work.
WHO CARES?
If you never try to do it, then it definitely won’t work.
Do you play guitar? See if you can go teach someone else the basics. Do you draw or paint or sculpt? See if there is someone you know that might want to try a new hobby. Are you an awesome chess player? Find a friend that always wanted to learn or start a group that meets each week to play a tournament.
Start something. It might not work; it might be a bad idea. Do it anyway. And then do it again tomorrow. It might not work.
If you had all the money in the world, or if money was not an issue, what would do all day?
Cats on stacks on stacks!
In the search for a meaningful career, most everyone has been asked the question, “What would you do if money was not a factor in your decision?” I have been wrestling with that question ever since I had to declare a major in college.
For the past year, I have been struggling not to define a career, but to understand my vocation, my calling in life. This question was one I asked of myself over and over again, with rather disappointing results. The answers are always the same: read books, learn new skills such as jiu-jitsu or computer programming, study history, play music, increase my education, spend time exercising…countless other hobbies and passions could be added to this list, so I will not bore you with them. The problem I have with that question is that money is a factor in this sort of decision, so I have never really been able to take money out of the equation.
This idea took on new life for me when somebody added a twist to the question. A friend of mine named Lindsey Strahan, who is a fantastic artist and up-and-coming graphic designer, had this same discussion with me. However, she added something to the question: if money was not an issue, what would you do all day long to help other people? The moment that she asked the question a switch flipped in my brain.
Serving other people is what a person does with his or her calling; we cannot work or exist in a vacuum without others. We live in an interdependent world, to take a word from Dr. Stephen R. Covey and his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Therefore, our callings, and by extension our careers and jobs, must serve other people in some way. I am not saying that we must all be involved in customer service, but to be viable in the market, our ideas and passions must help another person.
With that in mind, I started brainstorming about what I would do all day. I realized that while on the surface all of the ideas I listed above seemed unrelated, they had a common thread weaving through them: I would spend all day learning and researching new things, new ideas, and new passions. My DISC personality profile, my StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment, and every other aptitude or personality test I had ever taken all become much clearer. I already knew my strengths, and I have always known my passions, and so I had a clearer answer than I had ever had before: I am called to be a fountain of knowledge for other people.
This simple statement could be satisfied by so many different careers – I could be a teacher, a professor, a researcher, a librarian, an information broker, a consultant for people who need to learn how to combine this skill with that area…the possibilities are seemingly endless. There is no need to be tied down by a specific job title or role. I now know “who I want to be” instead of “what I want to be,” an idea presented to me in Dan Miller’s 48 Days to the Work You Love. Now I can make decisions on how I will make money based on my newly refined idea of my own vocation.
I hope that my struggle to answer this seemingly easy question will help others to find their vocation. So I will pose the same question to you, the reader: if money were not an issue, what would you spend your time doing to help other people? Think on that, write it down, and please feel free to let me know. I would love to hear what you’re called to do in this world.
Until next time, keep digging!
P.S. If you would like more help finding your calling, I highly recommend Dan Miller’s book 48 Days to the Work You Love as further reading. One of my college professors referred it to me, and it has radically changed my life! It’s one of the best things I have ever purchased. Also, I really encourage all of you to follow Lindsey Strahan on Instagram @very.lindsey. She is a great artist and a wonderful friend. You will love her work!
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