The Other Creative Curse: Lack of Focus

Yesterday, I wrote about one type of Creative Curse: the belief that the genius of creativity is not a good thing to have. Today, I'm writing about an entirely different perspective that can also be called a Creative Curse: Lack of Focus!

Yesterday I was on a call as a member of the advisory board for SmartWomensCoaching.com, a site dedicated to helping women who are in transition in life. We were talking about the new technologies that are available and what I would be sharing on tomorrow's webinar: The ABCs of Social Media: How to Make Writing Online Easy, Fun, and Phenomenally Effective. Some of the coaches on the call were very excited about the prospect of using video, audio, blogging, and social networking to promote their businesses, while others expressed their feeling of overwhelm in all of the possible mediums available to use. The question came up, "What works best for you, and how do you do it all?"

That question comes up all the time in my work with writing clients. Whether you are creating your strategy, writing an article, or painting a picture, it's easy to go off in several directions. How DO you choose what will work best? That's the curse of creativity. There are so many possibilities, so little time. And yet, there's often excitement about the prospect of every one of those possibilities.

What do you do? You have to focus your intention and attention on one at a time – the one that fits your brand if you are developing your strategy, or the one theme if you are writing an article, or one subject if you are painting a picture. Creatives tend to want to go down one path, then veer off on another tangent, then they see another possibility that looks even more exciting. Ultimately, they don't get anything done because they are trying out all of the different things, spreading themselves too thin, and therefore, never completing a task.

The best thing to do is to always ask if what you are doing in this moment will lead you to your destination the most direct and simple way? If not, then set it aside for now and look at the next choice. Ask again. If it doesn't fit with your current objective, DON'T DO IT. If it fits, but is not your passion, build a team so you have the time to do what you truly love. No matter how enticing or how much adrenaline you get from the idea, learn to refocus your attention on what's most important in that moment to reach your vision.

One of the hardest parts of being a creative is to learn how to delegate. But once you have the support you need, you will accomplish so much more. You'll be doing what you love, and the energy you will start to have as a result will allow you to create works of art by following the passion of your heart.