When should you start working on your idea?

The instant you have an idea it is time to get to work; there is nothing to be gained by waiting for further inspiration or clarification.  The first step should be to involve your senses in the process of communicating the idea - even if it is to yourself.  Seeing, tasting, hearing, smelling, and feeling your idea will give it momentum.

• Details of a painting will manifest themselves no sooner than when an artist begins to sketch her vision.
• The true form of the code evolves as the programmer is typing, not at the whiteboard.
• A tangible variation of the melody in a composer's head will crystallize only when it is sung or played on an instrument.
• Interesting new questions that beg for answers are only revealed to the researcher through experiment.
• A recipe evolves through tasting, smelling, and refining.
• The characters of a story come to life as the writer lives them out on paper.

A laborer cannot stare at a field and expect it to bear fruit.  Neither can the creative worker expect the seed of an idea to grow without rolling up his sleeves and planting it in its proper medium.

"Vision without execution is hallucination." - Thomas Edison

Contradictions in Productivity - Part 1

It seems that in order to produce creative work, one must be o.k. with the cognitive dissonance that comes with accepting two seemingly opposite viewpoints at the same time.  I'll share a few examples that we face when doing creative work.

Part 1: Making It Perfect vs Getting Started
You certainly wouldn't want to launch your new software product without first testing its primary features.  On the other hand, if you're determined to work out all of the bugs then your project may never see the light of day (and you'll never truly get started).

We've all heard about writer's block, lack of inspiration, paralysis of analysis, and the fear of permanence as being barriers to producing creative work.  However, the process of just working on your art* is likely to spark the muse and cement your conviction in what you have to say.  If the fear of not perfectly expressing yourself stops you from getting started then you're missing out on the refining, constantly perfecting nature of just working on it.


*Art, as defined by Seth Godin's brilliant book Linchpin, means "emotional work".

Why do creative work?

I believe that we were all created.
Take that at face value; I'm still undecided as to exactly how we were all created.

I believe that we were all created on purpose.  No "accidents", no "surprises" but purposefully created in the image of the creator.

It seems obvious therefore that there would be such a huge divide between humans and the animal kingdom; we're created to be creators.

Rick Warren (@RickWarren) tweeted this week: "A society cannot teach its youth they are merely animals then be shocked when they act like it."

So why do creative work?  Because that's what you were made for.