Monday, February 15, 2010

Start in the Middle...

The biggest challenge in making something - anything - is getting started. It’s typically not that we’re lazy. Rather, it’s that the funnel is so wide open that there are too many options before us. There are too many places we could go. We’re afraid of messing up. We’re editing before we have any content.

It’s easier to sit, and think, and organize, and wait for inspiration to strike. But that’s a loser’s game. If you ask prolific creatives, they will tell you that the reason they create so many things is that they aren’t afraid to start in the middle.

Start in the middle?

Yes. It doesn’t matter if it’s the right way to start or if it feels like a fragment. Just move. Start working on any part of the project. Make it from the inside out. Get some traction. You can always re-direct as you go.

As you create, you can easily morph the parts you’ve already created and sequence and align them properly, but you can’t tweak something that doesn’t exist.

We can’t allow the fear of getting it wrong to keep us from getting it at all. The role of any creative, meaning anyone who solves problems and makes things, is to do the work. No one cares how you start the work, and very few people will care about your process as long as you deliver a good product in the end.

Get moving. Start in the middle if necessary. Do the work.

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