Patience In The Creative Process

Over many years I continue to learn the value of Patience in the Creative Process. When you are building something, you need absolute focus. You need to focus intensively on exactly what you are trying to create, the greater vision, while at the same time giving that intensity to the details too. Not losing sight of either.

There are so many details that must be taken care of in the creation of anything and, in the end, it is patience that allows you to move through these details. The ability to find engagement in each one, because a part of you knows that it has to get done, even while the majority of you might want to move on to the next thing.

It is a fine balance. A necessary one, but it can be precarious. (It is ironic that even within “intense focus” there remains a great deal of juggling to do even just one step removed. Therefore the intensive focus comes in the task itself.)

Lessons From Writing (and Learning)

Even right now, I have so much else that I need to do and get done — a fact that I am critically aware of — and yet I also know that I need to record this idea as cleanly and fully as possible in the moment, before getting back to work.

When you are writing — an essay, article, paper, chapter, book — it takes time for the great idea to form. It also takes time for the written words to catch up to what is in your imagination, time to take shape in the way that you wanted them to.

The creative process takes patience, pure and simple. This is one of the Pillars of Creativity, and an important one, because it is something that we have control over. We can control Focus, Patience, Discipline, Practice, Skills, Knowledge and Work Ethic. Those are up to us.

We cannot control natural-born Talent, Insight, Physical Characteristics, IQ, or Inspiration. Yet by controlling what we can develop, and offset the things not in our control. More specific to creativity, Patience is an element we can control. We can choose to develop the ability to sit with a project for hours, day after day, working towards completion.

When you are taking notes, doing research, and writing, this is what is required. Keeping an eye on the big picture of what you are creating, while you work to accumulate and refine your ideas and knowledge into the form that you intended.