My brother is an artist, entrepreneur and an extrovert. He makes a living thanks to his talent, designs, creates and sells. Sometimes, however, in the middle of a project he experiences a moment of crisis and feels like throwing everything away and starting something new. This was what happened with one sculpture he started on the balcony in 1997. To this day it stands unfinished. Moreover, it stands in the middle of his apartment, like an altar.
Everyone has experienced his/her 'sculpture' moment, or two.
Unfortunately the problem is that everyone in the middle of any project feels like shoving it into the bin. And everything due to an internal 'resistance', which deprives us of the sense of pride and fulfilment associated with completing a project. This internal selfish 'resistance' will make a half finished sculpture look disgusting to us and make us believe that it isn't worth a broken dime. Resistance feeds on our self-doubt and fear and jumps to action. Finds thousand of other things that we could do.
Its not that we are bored of lack strong will. It's the resistance and fear that hold us back. It's our way of protecting ourselves from self-evaluation or criticism from others. After all, if we don't do anything, there's nothing to criticize.
Steven Pressfield's book The War of Art is not brilliant, but the author himself admits that he creates for himself and doesn't care about criticism. In any case, he presents and interesting theory about resistance and how we're afraid to do anything and finish in particular. As a former Marine, Pressfield qualifies 'resistance' as the enemy number one. Its aim is to kill ... our initiative. The only way around the enemy is by recognizing it and beginning to work systematically. Resistance can't be entirely eliminated, the thing is, that it is part of us.
For introverts it is a little bit easier. Studies have shown that for introverts postponing gratification comes easier that to extroverts, e.g. going for a coffee break. We don't get discouraged easily, we remain focused for longer. Our way is simple, but effective. Do you want to write something? Sit down and start typing. Do you want to paint something? Pull out the brushes and paint. Do you want to finish reading a book? You know how it goes.
Going back to the sculpture. I'm glad my brother did not give up. Every day he comes face to face with it and makes an improvement. One day he'll finish it.
I promised myself I will finish this post today. And it feels great.
Try finishing your 'sculpture'.
More about the book The War of Art - click here
I recommend an interesting blog about artistic creativity - click here
Looking forward to reading and replying to your comments.
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