The Power of Creativity \(Book 1\): Learning How to Build Lasting Habits, Face Your Fears and Change Your Life pdfdrive com

Creative Takeaways
Instead of letting life sweep you along, cast an oar into the river and
guide yourself in the right direction.
Do you have trouble making big decisions? Then, refer to your
mission statement when you must make a decision as small as
whether to practice when you don't feel like it or whether to invest in
additional training.

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4
LEARN WHAT YOUR CRAFT (AND YOUR AUDIENCE)
DEMAND
“Begin challenging your assumptions. Your assumptions are the windows on the
world. Scrub them off every once in awhile or the light won’t come in.”
– Alan Alda
I’
M
SITTING
at a large wooden table with my notepad and pen in front of me, a
steaming  cup  of  coffee  beside  me.  I’m  inside  a  warm,  heated  log  cabin  miles
from the nearest village. I have food, heating, a laptop, a stack of unread books
and a bold idea.
It’s almost 09:00 a.m., but I don’t have to get up from my desk, walk out into
the cold, strap myself in my car and sit in traffic for an hour before I reach work.
In  the  cabin,  there’s  a  comfortable  bed,  a  stocked  fridge,  a  large  wooden
table and pictures of Thomas Edison and the choreographer Twyla Tharp on the
wall to inspire me.
I’m miles from the nearest shop. When I open my laptop, it doesn’t ding or
chime to notify me about emails, missed appointments and the demands of other
people.
The  mail  carrier  never  calls.  The  phone  doesn’t  ring.  Here,  alone  in  the
woods, there is no one to keep happy, please or reassure.
I’m only interrupted when someone gently knocks on the door and leaves a

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breakfast of fresh fruit and strong coffee or a dinner of beef and Guinness stew
sitting on the doorstep. I don’t have to talk to anyone, thank anyone or apologise
for what I’m doing.
Alone in the woods, I am finally free to work on my idea for hours at a time.
I don’t have to worry about what others think about me or my ideas.
And the problem with what I’m describing?
It’s a fantasy.
Even if I could somehow find the time and resources to hole myself away in
a creative retreat, there’s little chance I’d finish something people would want to
read in self-imposed solitude.
Would you?
Let me explain.
The  idea  of  the  lone  artist  toiling  away  in  solitude,  working  on  an  idea  for
months or years at a time and then releasing a finished version of their work that
succeeds is a falsehood.
I’m  all  for  harnessing  the  power  of  solitude  when  you’re  at  the  start  of  a
project,  when  you’ve  no  good  ideas,  when  you  want  to  practise  your  craft
deliberately or become more comfortable with your work.
But, once you’ve given your idea form and substance you must expose it to
the  harsh  light  of  critical,  real-world  feedback.  You  must  test  your  underlying
assumptions; see if your audience wants what you created. You must come out of
the woods.
It’s the only way to learn what your craft and your audience demand.