Being an entrepreneur means engaging in the creative process. From the smallest project to the largest initiative, from moments of focused leadership to small progress on newly emerging ideas, we’re in a near-constant state of creating outcomes – whether we realize it or not.
We often think about such leadership in terms of what we get done, what we can change, and the tangible results of our efforts… And while that’s plenty important to consider, we can overlook a more important question: HOW do we lead?
Or the broader view: how do we approach the creative process?
In the audio presentation below, I delve into the nitty-gritty of what it takes to not just be creative in your roles as a leader and entrepreneur, but to see your life as the creative act in process.
This approach to living life as a creator is about understanding what matters most to you, embracing that innate part of yourself that desires to create the future, and freeing yourself from the pitfalls of judgment and preconception that hold so many people back.
When we embark on a creative journey, there’s no way to know where it’s going to take us. We may have some ideas, but reality – the circumstances beyond our control – will take us in unexpected directions, and THAT is where the true mindset of a creator matters most.
The creative process starts with a desire, but action is what transforms that desire into an outcome. The more we act on something, the more we learn. The more we learn, the more focused our actions become…
But this doesn’t happen from the outset. Instead, we have to learn by doing – but that means getting past the judgments, the expectations, and the fear of failure that prevents us from moving into uncertainty with love and commitment to our vision.
Vision comes from being aware, and that means regulating the automatic mind to quiet the structures we’ve built up that say our creative acts have anything to do with who we are as people.
Creating without taking things personally, without putting our identity at stake, is the way to learn the path by walking it.
When learning anything, when creating anything, there’s a period of discomfort between where you are now and where you want to be – but in the creative process, the iterative nature of acting, refining, acting again, refining with new information (gained from objective, honest assessment of results – not judging yourself or tying an outcome to your identity) brings us closer and closer to the reality we desire.
You start where you are, fearlessly moving into the unknown with the knowledge that you’re creating from a place of love and purpose – nothing else.
The process takes many forms, but what matters is that you’re moving with love, honesty, and presence. You can pivot, make choices, try things out, make mistakes, recalibrate, be surprised, leave projects behind… But when you’re armed with openness and loving curiosity, you don’t fold when things get tough.
Even when things are uncertain, if you hold that space of honesty, the answers will emerge.
Instead of retreating, we need to develop this ability to hold tension, to iterate through uncertainty, and trust that action is the path to learning – thereby creating a new reality that becomes the foundation of your next creative pursuit.
Keep intentions clear, but let go of expectations – they’re only premeditated disappointments.
The more accurately you know where you are, and the more you lean into the iterative process of trusting your intentions and focusing on what matters most to you – free from judgment and disconnected from outcomes – the more powerful of a creator you will be.
Together, we’ll learn by doing.
