The Procrastinator and the Victim - Two Biggest Enemies Of Creativity
Human being is a fountain of creativity and creative energy, yet why do we have so few highly talented writers, bloggers, artists, etc? Each one of us has tremendous potential to do great things, if you think about it. In many trades (especially ones like freelancing), 90% of success is simply showing up!
And yet, even showing up to work at our desk is so difficult sometimes, isn't it? Most freelancing gigs aren't that challenging, the clients never insist on hiring freelancers for doing rocket science stuff (and nor should you take it!). And yet, even these simple tasks seem so challenging sometimes when we work on our own. At day jobs, we are assigned project managers or delivery heads who work with us to ensure that we end up doing these tasks. Most of the time, these two inner enemies are responsible for the delay and unless they are forced away or negotiated with, they won't let us have our creativity back!
1. The Procrastinator: This is a very sly, crafty and deceitful enemy. He tries to convince you that you simply can't afford to do this creative task (coding, writing, etc.) as you have got far more urgent and important tasks which are still pending. "Oh, how can you do that, you still haven't paid your power bill", "Well, go and get your laundry first, you won't have anything decent to wear otherwise", "Let's watch that important video on Youtube, we can't afford to miss that, can we?" he argues thus.
The trick here is not to curse yourself and create even more negativity. The right way is to listen to the procrastinator and list down all his arguments. Many a times, the arguments are genuine ones, he isn't always wrong. The way to defeat him is to put your own justification below each and explain how time could still be managed for the creative task. Try this endeavor some day, it might give you great amount of confidence!
But that's only half the task done. The procrastinator will truly be defeated only when you actually sit down and start doing the creative task! Once you do that, the procrastinator will lose the battle then and there, he'll simply go away and hide his face!
2. The Victim: Each one of us has suffered some bad or embarrassing events in the past which hurt us till this day, and this hurt gives energy to that something inside us called The Victim. He tries to make us cautious at every step, he wants us to fear the task we are at, he wants us to acknowledge that failure could be a glaring and realistic possibility.
Again, don't fight with this guy but simply acknowledge what he has to say. Most importantly, its OK to be afraid and cautious, its OK to be a victim sometimes but what's not OK is for this guy to hold you back from doing anything at all! Talk to this guy and explain him that every endeavour doesn't have to end up in a failure. Not just that, but failure also doesn't mean end of everything, its just a ladder to success. Thomas Edison didn't fail 99 times but it was a part of the process which ultimately lead to success. How could you simply quit after a few failures, tell him that.
If you can somehow convince these two master enemies and take care of them, then nothing can stop you from unleashing your creativity and delivering your best in freelancing. And if you can deliver your personal best, then trust me, you are already in the top 5% of all successful freelancers!
And yet, even showing up to work at our desk is so difficult sometimes, isn't it? Most freelancing gigs aren't that challenging, the clients never insist on hiring freelancers for doing rocket science stuff (and nor should you take it!). And yet, even these simple tasks seem so challenging sometimes when we work on our own. At day jobs, we are assigned project managers or delivery heads who work with us to ensure that we end up doing these tasks. Most of the time, these two inner enemies are responsible for the delay and unless they are forced away or negotiated with, they won't let us have our creativity back!
1. The Procrastinator: This is a very sly, crafty and deceitful enemy. He tries to convince you that you simply can't afford to do this creative task (coding, writing, etc.) as you have got far more urgent and important tasks which are still pending. "Oh, how can you do that, you still haven't paid your power bill", "Well, go and get your laundry first, you won't have anything decent to wear otherwise", "Let's watch that important video on Youtube, we can't afford to miss that, can we?" he argues thus.
The trick here is not to curse yourself and create even more negativity. The right way is to listen to the procrastinator and list down all his arguments. Many a times, the arguments are genuine ones, he isn't always wrong. The way to defeat him is to put your own justification below each and explain how time could still be managed for the creative task. Try this endeavor some day, it might give you great amount of confidence!
But that's only half the task done. The procrastinator will truly be defeated only when you actually sit down and start doing the creative task! Once you do that, the procrastinator will lose the battle then and there, he'll simply go away and hide his face!
2. The Victim: Each one of us has suffered some bad or embarrassing events in the past which hurt us till this day, and this hurt gives energy to that something inside us called The Victim. He tries to make us cautious at every step, he wants us to fear the task we are at, he wants us to acknowledge that failure could be a glaring and realistic possibility.
Again, don't fight with this guy but simply acknowledge what he has to say. Most importantly, its OK to be afraid and cautious, its OK to be a victim sometimes but what's not OK is for this guy to hold you back from doing anything at all! Talk to this guy and explain him that every endeavour doesn't have to end up in a failure. Not just that, but failure also doesn't mean end of everything, its just a ladder to success. Thomas Edison didn't fail 99 times but it was a part of the process which ultimately lead to success. How could you simply quit after a few failures, tell him that.
If you can somehow convince these two master enemies and take care of them, then nothing can stop you from unleashing your creativity and delivering your best in freelancing. And if you can deliver your personal best, then trust me, you are already in the top 5% of all successful freelancers!
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