“Hope is a desire with an expectation of accomplishment."
The origin of this quote is unknown, but the words ring as clear today as whenever it was first said.
Unless we have hope that we’re moving towards something, progressing in a particular direction and that with consistent measured effort we’re going to get closer and closer, there’s very little motivation for continuing to make any effort at all.
In our creative lives, let’s consider our hopes as the bones, the raw frame on which we add the flesh and detail of our creative ambitions.
So what will these bones look like exactly, and how can we make them as strong and supportive a structure as possible to build upon?
The bones of your creative life are the goals, aims and ambitions you have for your creative work and your creative development.
Think about where you want to be in each of the areas of creativity that are important to you. Begin with a goal - an end point, the place you hope to reach - and then map each step towards that creative goal as a point on a timeline.
Or alternatively, start with the timeline, showing the next month, 3 months, 6 months, year, 3 years and so on, and at each of these points in time plot and describe briefly where you want to be in your creative life.
Even after taking this first step you’ll see how your creative life can begin to take shape in the future, and it’ll give you more clarity and focus.
Next look at each of the points on the timeline in more detail. Write them, or map them out as a diagram, individually in a much detail as you can. For each, think about what it will look, sound and feel like once you’ve achieved this creative goal. Connect with it as fully as possible.
Now, start putting flesh on the bones.
This is where we plan how we’re going to get there. It involves simply breaking each creative goal on the timeline into clear steps.
Depending on the goal, this may be a case of dividing it into even chunks to be achieved each month. For example if you had the creative goal of writing 12 articles this year, then break this down into writing one article per month. If you’re goal was 50 articles, this would be roughly 1 article per week.
If your creative goal needs to be based on an ordered sequence of steps, then break each of these stages down until you have clear “bite-size" chunks with a time frame next to each of them.
For example when writing a book you may have stages such as: Research, First Draft, Editing, Second Draft, Research Publishers, Submit for Publishing, and so on.
Now we have the flesh, the detailed plan of action, upon the bones, the creative goals and hopes you have for your creative life.
All that’s left is to begin taking action, so choose the first step on your plan and get started today!
Take the next step to increase YOUR creativity today. Get your FREE copy of Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s powerful and practical "Explode Your Creativity!" Action Workbook when you sign up to the FREE twice monthly ezine “Create Create!". Visit the website now: www.CoachCreative.com
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