In today's world, we have access to almost everything, anyone can be a writer, anyone can be a film maker etc with all our modern technological advances. Geography doesn't even restrict us anymore thanks to the invention of the internet. These are all great things, however, sometimes knowing all this stops us being creative. Sometimes having it all is too much. Too much pressure to do something huge and perfect. If you had a billion dollars right now, how much would it change the way you expressed yourself? Would your creativity suffer under the weight of expectation?
What if, instead of trying to be a master of anything and everything, you simply chose what to leave out - what if having
constraints could make your work better? The idea that we can do almost
anything is a scary notion for some people, enough to make them feel overwhelmed not from lack of choice, but from too much choice.
Example: Say you want to create a product and you know you could do a CD, a book, a webinar, a book, an e-book, a website, a magazine, a movie, a tele-seminar, a mail out, an online program, a workshop, a presentation, a guide, a how-to product etc. All are possible in this day and age.
So where do you start? If it's possible you can do all of this right now? WOW. Technology.
Or do you instead step back, choose one thing as a start - leaving out all the other possibilties for one moment and just simply begin one thing until it's finished?
One thing. One chunk. One piece of a bigger picture. That way you can start and finish something. Satisfaction guaranteed! In most cases of overwhelm this practice works. (exams, promotions, new job, etc, all these things have a step by step process which cannot be skipped, sorry!)
1. Start at the beginning: Say you write an article. It doesn't have to be a major production, just use what you have right now. Don't open your Twitter, your Facebook, your Tumblr to write it, this is not an instant process. Don't wait for the bigger office, the better computer, the best software etc, don't wait until you know how to use the latest version of an editing program... just grab a pen and paper and write, free associate. Pick any topic you like. Write for at least 10 minutes without stopping.
2. Once you have finished writing your article, do a quick edit, nothing elaborate, make sure it's written in your voice, so people can relate to your unique identity.
3. Type it up.
4. SAVE it. (important!)
5. Have a look now at how many other ways the already written article can be used. You may transcribe it, make an e-book out of it, make it a flyer etc. It could be made into anything.
Take one thing and then see how many other ways you can apply it.
Recap: Avoid being deterred by the sheer amount of possibility there is in front of you at any one time, that is a sure way of becoming overwhelmed before you even begin.
Your article could end up being 32 different products! In time, you can tweak your article to have even more impact and carry even more value, this will be a result of feedback and noticing its impact in your target market. Nothing is static, you can change anything at anytime. It doesn't have to be perfect now or ever, it just has to be what's real for you right now. People relate to real over perfection.
Knowing this, go ahead and begin creating products. Just take it one step at a time and know that the learning is in the process.
Take your time and enjoy your NOW.
Until next time :)
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