What Nobody Says About The Creative Process

Last updated on February 17th, 2023 at 06:38 pm

Dreaming big is a creative endeavor. One part about thinking about making your dreams come true that nobody bothers to say is what the creative process will actually be like.

You start out with this calling or vision of something you can’t ignore–an exciting idea–that hopefully, you eventually use to begin your dreamer’s journey. But no one really knows exactly how long the journey toward completion or success will take or how difficult it is. There’s no guide to making your dreams come true that has all of your answers.

There’s no big dream road map.

We hold this vision of who we want to become, like me wanting to be an International public speaker, but there is no magical 8 ball telling me exactly how long this dream will take to achieve or what will and won’t work for me as I navigate the public speaking world.

Many dreamers, like me, have to work at other jobs to finance their passions, spending years working for someone else while toiling at our big dreams on the side when we can fit them into our busy schedules.

I think that the worst thing you can possibly do is quit during these years of toiling and side hustles.

It’s in the toiling, the working at your dream that you become the person capable of achieving the dream. It’s not like you have a fairy godmother who waves a magic wand, and POOF you are an International public speaker equipped with four white horses and a pair of glass slippers.

You must grow and become more than you are now and that growth comes from working through setbacks, heartaches, trial and error, more errors, feeling lost, learning, and continuing when you feel like quitting.

I stumbled across a video by This American Life’s host Ira Glass on Storytelling and what he says in this video is EXACTLY how dreaming works.

So this Thankful Thursday I am grateful for discovering Ira Glass and his words on storytelling. Underneath this video, I’ve changed his words to reflect what I would say to dreamers just starting out or those who are ready to quit —

 

 

Nobody tells this to people dreamers who are beginners, I wish someone told me.

All of us who do creative work are dreamers, we get into it our dream because we have a strong vision and good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple of years, you try to make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.

But your strong calling taste (vision), the thing that got you into the (dream) game, is still killer.

And your strong vision taste is why your (dream) work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit.

Most people I know who do interesting, creative (dream) work went through years of this. We know our (dream) work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this.

And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of (dream) work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one more step towards accomplishing your dream and getting better at its story.

It is only by going through a volume of (dream) work that you will close that gap, and your (dream) work will be as good as your dream vision ambitions.

And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met.

It’s gonna take a while (for your dreams to come true). It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through (all the crap that gets thrown your way).

Thank you Ira for putting into words what needs to be said to all dreamers seeking to make their dreams come true. Your words will inspire many dreamers to stick with their dream and carry on!