HOW TO FIND YOUR HIDDEN CREATIVE GENIUS
I first heard the term ‘genius work’ when I lived in Taos. Coincidently by the same woman, an incredible writer, Diana Rico, who posted this article link on Facebook.
I was in awe…. What is genius work?
It is our True Purpose. Our Magic.
It’s the thing that makes your spirit shine & your soul smile.
And in doing it, you are able to share your light with others.
Sadly, we sometimes get so caught up in ‘life’ responsibilities our ‘genius work’ gets pushed aside. We need to remember that our ‘genius work’ is the thing that makes us special and it’s what we mustdo in order to live in our true joy and honor our soul.
Note I know a lot of people who’s genius work is things like science, business tasks, organization, stocks, working with numbers. It doesn’t have to be an ‘artistic’ endeavor. Being able to excel in those areas is also genius ;)
Sometimes people will tell you what your genius work is. This happened to me recently. They say ‘You should be doing this [fill in the blank] and not focused so much on [what you love to do]’. In my case the second blank was making music…. My soul cringed and my spirit froze. I like to think those moments as the most empowering. They remind us that we need to be following our Bliss! As sad as it was, this moment actually emboldened my determination ;)
Note to Self - Don’t let other people determine what Your true calling is! Follow your heart in these matters! AND This article gives great advice on how to do just that!
HOW TO FIND YOUR HIDDEN CREATIVE GENIUS
This article was written by James Clear (JamesClear.com) and published online at rebellesociety.com
ENJOY! And let me know what you think.
There is an interesting story about how Pablo Picasso, the famous Spanish artist, developed the ability to produce remarkable work in just minutes. As the story goes, Picasso was walking though the market one day when a woman spotted him. She stopped the artist, pulled out a piece of paper and said, “Mr. Picasso, I am a fan of your work. Please, could you do a little drawing for me?”
Picasso smiled and quickly drew a small, but beautiful piece of art on the paper. Then, he handed the paper back to her saying, “That will be one million dollars.”
“But Mr. Picasso,” the woman said. “It only took you 30 seconds to draw this little masterpiece.”
“My good woman,” Picasso said, “it took me 30 years to draw that masterpiece in 30 seconds.” [1]
Picasso isn’t the only brilliant creative who worked for decades to master his craft. His journey is typical of many creative geniuses. Even people of considerable talent rarely produce incredible work before decades of practice.
Let’s talk about why that is, and even more important, how you can reveal your own creative genius.
The Age of Most Nobel Prize Winners
A recent study tracked the ages of Nobel Prize winners, great inventors, and scientists. As you can see in the graph below, the researchers found that most groundbreaking work peaked during the late thirties — at least a full decade into any individual career.
Even in the fields of science and math, creative breakthroughs often require 10 years or more or work. [2]
These findings match the work done by previous researchers as well. For example, a study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University by cognitive psychology professor John Hayes found that out of 500 famous musical pieces, nearly all of them were created after year 10 of the composer’s career. In later studies, Hayes found similar patterns with poets and painters. He began referring to this period hard work and little recognition as the 10 years of silence. Whether you are a composer or a scientist, creativity is not a quality you are born with or without. It is something that is discovered, honed, and improved through real work.
Which brings us to an important question: How can you do your best work and discover your hidden creative genius?
Permission to Create Junk
In any creative endeavor you have to give yourself permission to create junk. There is no way around it. Sometimes you have to write four terrible pages just to discover that you wrote one good sentence in the second paragraph of the third page.
Creating something useful and compelling is like being a gold-miner. You have to sift through pounds of dirt and rock and silt just to find a speck of gold in the middle of it all. Bits and pieces of genius will find their way to you, if you give yourself permission to let the muse flow.
Create on a Schedule
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” ~ Chuck Close
Amateurs create when they feel inspired. Professionals create on a schedule.
No single act will uncover more creative genius than forcing yourself to create consistently. Practicing your craft over and over is the only way to become decent at it. The person who sits around theorizing about what a bestselling book looks like will never write it.
Meanwhile, the writer who shows up every day and puts their butt in the chair and their hands on the keyboard — they are learning how to do the work.
Ira Glass is the host of the popular radio show This American Life, which is broadcast to 1.7 million listeners each week. This is the advice Glass gives to anyone looking to interesting, creative work:
I was in awe…. What is genius work?
It is our True Purpose. Our Magic.
It’s the thing that makes your spirit shine & your soul smile.
And in doing it, you are able to share your light with others.
Sadly, we sometimes get so caught up in ‘life’ responsibilities our ‘genius work’ gets pushed aside. We need to remember that our ‘genius work’ is the thing that makes us special and it’s what we mustdo in order to live in our true joy and honor our soul.
Note I know a lot of people who’s genius work is things like science, business tasks, organization, stocks, working with numbers. It doesn’t have to be an ‘artistic’ endeavor. Being able to excel in those areas is also genius ;)
Sometimes people will tell you what your genius work is. This happened to me recently. They say ‘You should be doing this [fill in the blank] and not focused so much on [what you love to do]’. In my case the second blank was making music…. My soul cringed and my spirit froze. I like to think those moments as the most empowering. They remind us that we need to be following our Bliss! As sad as it was, this moment actually emboldened my determination ;)
Note to Self - Don’t let other people determine what Your true calling is! Follow your heart in these matters! AND This article gives great advice on how to do just that!
HOW TO FIND YOUR HIDDEN CREATIVE GENIUS
This article was written by James Clear (JamesClear.com) and published online at rebellesociety.com
ENJOY! And let me know what you think.
There is an interesting story about how Pablo Picasso, the famous Spanish artist, developed the ability to produce remarkable work in just minutes. As the story goes, Picasso was walking though the market one day when a woman spotted him. She stopped the artist, pulled out a piece of paper and said, “Mr. Picasso, I am a fan of your work. Please, could you do a little drawing for me?”
Picasso smiled and quickly drew a small, but beautiful piece of art on the paper. Then, he handed the paper back to her saying, “That will be one million dollars.”
“But Mr. Picasso,” the woman said. “It only took you 30 seconds to draw this little masterpiece.”
“My good woman,” Picasso said, “it took me 30 years to draw that masterpiece in 30 seconds.” [1]
Picasso isn’t the only brilliant creative who worked for decades to master his craft. His journey is typical of many creative geniuses. Even people of considerable talent rarely produce incredible work before decades of practice.
Let’s talk about why that is, and even more important, how you can reveal your own creative genius.
The Age of Most Nobel Prize Winners
A recent study tracked the ages of Nobel Prize winners, great inventors, and scientists. As you can see in the graph below, the researchers found that most groundbreaking work peaked during the late thirties — at least a full decade into any individual career.
Even in the fields of science and math, creative breakthroughs often require 10 years or more or work. [2]
These findings match the work done by previous researchers as well. For example, a study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University by cognitive psychology professor John Hayes found that out of 500 famous musical pieces, nearly all of them were created after year 10 of the composer’s career. In later studies, Hayes found similar patterns with poets and painters. He began referring to this period hard work and little recognition as the 10 years of silence. Whether you are a composer or a scientist, creativity is not a quality you are born with or without. It is something that is discovered, honed, and improved through real work.
Which brings us to an important question: How can you do your best work and discover your hidden creative genius?
Permission to Create Junk
In any creative endeavor you have to give yourself permission to create junk. There is no way around it. Sometimes you have to write four terrible pages just to discover that you wrote one good sentence in the second paragraph of the third page.
Creating something useful and compelling is like being a gold-miner. You have to sift through pounds of dirt and rock and silt just to find a speck of gold in the middle of it all. Bits and pieces of genius will find their way to you, if you give yourself permission to let the muse flow.
Create on a Schedule
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” ~ Chuck Close
Amateurs create when they feel inspired. Professionals create on a schedule.
No single act will uncover more creative genius than forcing yourself to create consistently. Practicing your craft over and over is the only way to become decent at it. The person who sits around theorizing about what a bestselling book looks like will never write it.
Meanwhile, the writer who shows up every day and puts their butt in the chair and their hands on the keyboard — they are learning how to do the work.
Ira Glass is the host of the popular radio show This American Life, which is broadcast to 1.7 million listeners each week. This is the advice Glass gives to anyone looking to interesting, creative work:
“The most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you’re going to finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that… the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.”
If you want to do your best creative work, then don’t leave it up to choice. Don’t wake up in the morning and think, “I hope I feel inspired to create something today.” You need to take the decision-making out of it. Set a schedule for your work. Genius arrives when you show up enough times to get the average ideas out of the way.
Finish Something
Steven Pressfield’s most famous work, The Legend of Bagger Vance, was a bestselling novel that became a major motion picture starring Matt Damon, Will Smith, and Charlize Theron. But if you ask Pressfield, he will say that his most important book is one that you never heard of: the first book he finished.
Here’s how Pressfield describes finishing his first novel…
“I never did find a buyer for the book. Or the next one, either. It was ten years before I got the first check for something I had written and ten more before a novel, The Legend of Bagger Vance, was actually published. But that moment when I first hit the keys to spell out THE END was so epochal.
I remember rolling the last page out and adding it to the stack that was the finished manuscript. Nobody knew I was done. Nobody cared. But I knew. I felt like a dragon I’d been fighting all my life had just dropped dead at my feet and gasped out its last sulfuric breath.” [3]
Finish something. Anything. Stop researching, planning, and preparing to do the work and just do the work. It doesn’t matter how good or how bad it is. You don’t need to set the world on fire with your first try. You just need to prove to yourself that you have what it takes to produce something.
There are no artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, or scientists who became great by half-finishing their work. Stop debating what you should make and just make something.
Practice Self-Compassion
“When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in my mouth.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut
Everyone struggles to create great art. Even great artists.
CONTINUE READING ARTICLE HERE… (it’s worth it!!!)
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Sources
1. [1] I couldn’t find the original source for this Picasso story and I’m not sure if it’s true. The point remains just as strong and compelling either way, but if you know the original source, please share.
2. [2] Working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, which can be read here.
3. [3] Quote from The War of Art. You’ll also notice that it took Pressfield nearly 20 years before he published The Legend of Bagger Vance. He put in his 10 years of silence, just like every other great artist.
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Sending you love, light and of course blessings that you may embrace your genius work!
Sending you love, light and of course blessings that you may embrace your genius work!
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