A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
A couple of weeks ago I got my first book published. It was the result of a long, daunting process but I had a sense of predestination about it – I knew sooner or later it would happen. The only person who could stop me was myself – my doubts, the lack of free time, the limits of my self-confidence. Once I realized creativity was all about overcoming these, I knew there was nothing to stop me.
Creativity may come in many forms – it could be everything and anything around us. A friend of mine loved to polish pebbles and make small, picturesque compositions with them. As time passed by she became better and soon her works caught the eye of the people around her. She got the strangest of suggestions – perhaps she should make a website of her own and present her hobby to a wider audience.
Then all of a sudden she got an offer from a person she never met to buy one of her pebble pictures. One thing followed the other and now, two years after she started the website she has left her daytime job and makes a living out of her hobby. And guess what – she earns more than she used to at her former workplace.
There are a few tips that can help you channel your creativity into something really productive. Do not think of them as rules – rather as guidelines to make your journey smoother.
Find out what you are really good at
That is probably the easiest thing to do. Look back to your childhood and remember what you loved doing the most. Was it writing, drawing, singing? Or perhaps taking pictures, or repairing some stuff? You can turn all of these activities into something creative. All you need is a bit of free time and the courage to do it.
Do not forget that practice makes perfect – so even if you have lost your edge you might need just a little bit of sharpening to become really good. The more time you spare about something the greater the chance is to become profecient in it.
Welcome any sort of feedback
For me there are two types of hobbies – the introvert and the extrovert ones. I must admit I have never understood people who do something just for the sake of doing it. What’s the point to create something if you are not going to share it with the world?
So getting feedback for your creative output can be very productive. It can encourage you to go on and invest more time and effort in it. It can also give you a much better perspective about the quality of your work. And when you come to think of it – getting such a feedback is not that hard a thing. It is natural to share what you do with your friends and family – so there is your first audience. Then you have the circle of colleagues and people you communicate with on a daily basis.
Nowadays social media makes it very easy to have your voice heard. Truly, you will have to invest some time to build up a following (if you are interested in doing so), but then your audience will be much larger and their opinion – much sharper than the few positive nods from close friends.
Do not be afraid of critics
It is perfectly natural to be protective of your work – after all you put a part of yourself in it, no matter if it is a text, a song, a drawing or a picture you have taken. So when someone dislikes it you may feel the negative energy is aimed personally at you.
In the vast majority of the cases this is not true. Of course there will be people who dislike something you have created – even if it is really good. After all we are all different, have a variety of tastes and notions of what is good and qualitative. That should not discourage you from doing what you want to do, on the contrary. How about proving your critics wrong by coming up with something even better?
It should not be about the money
If you can turn your hobby into something profitable – good for you! But that should not be your driving motive. Very few people manage to do it and in most cases they have a plan B – either financially or professionally. So they are willing to quit their regular jobs because they are already well-off or because they are certain they can easily find another job.
If that is not the case with you, think of your hobby as just the thing it is – a relaxing, inspiring way to spend your free time. Besides, if you decide to turn your hobby into your full-time job there is a great risk the routine and responsibility of it put off your creative drive.
Bottomline – enjoy yourself. Interact with the people around you and listen to what they have to say about what you create. And last but not least – do not doubt your creativity. You never know where it might take you!
