Professionals vs dreamers

Saying “I don’t feel like creating today” is one thing. Allowing those feelings to dictate whether or not you do create today is what separates dreamers from their dreams. 

Anyone who consistently does anything, at some point in time, forces themself to do it when they don’t feel like it. If you do creative work long enough, eventually, there will come a day when you don’t want to do it. This is the inflection point. 

Seth Godin consistently rants about this idea: we’re lucky that doctors and pilots don’t allow their feelings to dictate their service. When you need a surgery or a flight to New York, doctors and pilots show up to do the work regardless of how they feel. 

Creatives, on the other hand, are an emotionally tuned-in bunch. We feel things deeper than most, and are able to express those feelings better than others. That’s our superpower. But so often, these feelings express themselves by telling us not to create when we don’t feel like it. Justification and excuse-making become our creative act that day, as we convince ourselves “it’s not a big deal,” and we’ll “make it up tomorrow.” 

It’s okay to not feel like creating today. It’s okay to say it out loud. We should recognize those feelings. We should hear them out. But whether or not we allow them dictate our actions may be the only difference between becoming a professional or staying a dreamer.