DING!
A new email comes in.
DING!
A new notification pops up.
DING!!
A new text message or voice mail……
How many different ways can you be pulled in a day?
There’s the latest news story, the 50% off sale at your favorite store, the endless notifications from every social media market out there,
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pintrest
All saying,
LOOK AT ME NOW!
TAKE CARE OF ME NOW!
It feel SO URGENT.
So, you read each email, you check each notification, and you bounce from each new thing, like a ping pong ball.
You get to the end of your day, and you are exhausted. And the question arises,
What do you have to show for it?
Is your symphony closer to being written?
Your book sent to the publisher?
Your painting complete?
Your calendar booked out with new paying gigs?
It’s true you may be taking care of what’s urgent, but I’m curious if you are taking care of what’s IMPORTANT.
Urgent versus Important.
What’s the difference?
Well, let’s begin with what is Important to you. When was the last time you connected to this? So often, we operate on auto pilot without remembering who we really are and what we truly want.
We forget what’s Important.
Importance is going to be tied into what makes you feel most alive, passionate and fulfilled. Consider times that reflected your greatest feats and achievements; when you pushed through your greatest fears; when your life had the most meaning or you were making a difference of some kind.
These actions you took were tied to your passion, and nourished you. They fed you, and fed your dreams and aspirations.
In these moments, you are tapping into your actual life energy as a Creative, into your Artistic drive, and it feels incredible.
You inspire others, make a difference, and hear the crowd roaring! How you feel about yourself?
Jazzed
Jubilant
Recharged
Stirred
Joyful
What’s important aligns with your highest Creative aspirations.
So, now ask yourself this question,
What do I do daily that’s Urgent versus Important?
Binge-watching a whole season on Netflix may FEEL urgent, but is it actually important to your Creative aspirations?
Answering every notification on social media may FEEL urgent, but is it actually allowing you the time and energy to complete your projects and make a living from your art?
Many times, what feels urgent is really something far more insidious,
Distraction.
And once we are distracted, then we will feel like life running us, instead of the other way around. We will feel helpless, and when we aren’t seeing results, continue to believe we actually are not capable.
And then we’ve lost faith in ourselves and completely lost sight of that beautiful passion that led us to become Artists in the first place.
And I imagine you are here to share your brilliance.
So, come back to center. Take a look at HOW you are spending your time. Look at your tasks and ask the question,
What is Urgent and what is Important?
Prioritize what is important, and allow the rest to just be. Turn off the endless notifications and spend your time in a way that feeds your dreams, instead of putting them on hold, day after day.
“We don’t tell ourselves, ‘I’m never going to write my symphony.’ Instead we say, ‘I am going to write my symphony; I’m just going to start tomorrow.”
-Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
Running around crazy is draining your creative vision. There’s a way to stay inspired AND actually be productive.
If you are not seeing the results you want in your Art, come back to what is important to YOU.
Your raving audience is waiting.