The creative work we do is a journey. It’s hard to get started and even more difficult to maintain. And we are often working for that time when it can all be easier. We tend to forget that only happens when we are done, retirement or otherwise. In such an iterative trade, it is a lot better to consider ourselves as always beginning.
I mean, we don’t have to look at each day as a fresh start. My glasses are not nearly so rose tinted as that. But it is certainly a lot better to always be looking for you next step rather than just assuming it’s going to be there. When our days get easier is when we should be wondering what we are doing wrong.
Thinking of ourselves as always beginning also mentally prepares us for the learning and reflection that comes about when you are trying to figure things out. There is power in that growth. The intrinsic motivation alone to evolve and change that inspires new perspectives and processes. I don’t want to lose that by assuming that I have it all under control.
Even if it’s a similar project to one I have done before, I want to approach it like I am just getting started. Yes, I will absolutely bring the experience I have, but I don’t want to be closed minded to learning even more from the process. If I show up, already an expert, then I am there to dictate and not to learn.
Better to live as a learner, open to change, and striving to evolve.
