Do What You Love. Your life depends on it.
Creativity can be partially defined as the results of someone doing what they love. Anyone doing something they absolutely love to do will typically do that task much more creatively and efficiently than someone drudging through it out of necessity.
Creativity blurs the lines between work and play. When you are "working" at something you love, you may work "25" hours a day and though physically tired, you feel you haven't worked at all. It is absolute pleasure. There is an energy, (adrenaline? passion? dopamine?) that carries you outside the natural limits of your own stamina. There is an unconscious, (eternal) sense that you are doing what you were created to do, therefore any idle moment outside the realm of the creative work can feel secondary, draining or even depressing. (This is not to say that experiences outside of the creative realm do not give life or contribute to the inspiration of the work, but those events which seem to pull the artist out of the creative "zone" are most challenging until you find a way to discover wonder in the most trivial and mundane encounters. When this discovery is made, our lives become integrated and holistic. We see the glory of the Lord present in everything.)
Creativity reveals a commitment to the work itself that is not ultimately concerned with the results. In other words, you create because of the sheer joy of creation, not because of the praise or the reward the finished work may bring. You create because you don't know how to do otherwise. You don't sit down to create and think "What will bring the most money or fame or praise?" Certainly, we all hear various voices pulling us one way or the other. "What would they think of this?" "What would grab these people's attention?" However, the purest form of creative expression is that which comes as an effortless, natural outflow of the artist's passion and untethered inclination.
In short, lovers will always outwork workers. Do what you love. Your life depends on it.
Creativity blurs the lines between work and play. When you are "working" at something you love, you may work "25" hours a day and though physically tired, you feel you haven't worked at all. It is absolute pleasure. There is an energy, (adrenaline? passion? dopamine?) that carries you outside the natural limits of your own stamina. There is an unconscious, (eternal) sense that you are doing what you were created to do, therefore any idle moment outside the realm of the creative work can feel secondary, draining or even depressing. (This is not to say that experiences outside of the creative realm do not give life or contribute to the inspiration of the work, but those events which seem to pull the artist out of the creative "zone" are most challenging until you find a way to discover wonder in the most trivial and mundane encounters. When this discovery is made, our lives become integrated and holistic. We see the glory of the Lord present in everything.)
Creativity reveals a commitment to the work itself that is not ultimately concerned with the results. In other words, you create because of the sheer joy of creation, not because of the praise or the reward the finished work may bring. You create because you don't know how to do otherwise. You don't sit down to create and think "What will bring the most money or fame or praise?" Certainly, we all hear various voices pulling us one way or the other. "What would they think of this?" "What would grab these people's attention?" However, the purest form of creative expression is that which comes as an effortless, natural outflow of the artist's passion and untethered inclination.
In short, lovers will always outwork workers. Do what you love. Your life depends on it.
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