Are you a creative person, struggling with the dilemma of mastering the self study-creation balance?

Are your thoughts regularly retracing the problem of “when am I supposed to be working on me, when am I to be working on my art…what’s the balance, how do I make it flow?”

If so, this may very well be the blog post for you.

I consider myself a creative person, and this struggle has been in the forefront of my life as of late.

I’ve come up with a strategy that helps me sort things out in no time flat.

So, besides being in possession of a strategy, here’s bit more of what qualifies me to give this advice: I have a terrible inferiority complex, yet I’m incredibly creative. The combination leads to me to want to, in advance, know that I will be accepted before I release anything for public consumption.

So I did what us creative nerds do: I studied the steps it takes to create the kind of work one needs to create in order to become accepted.

I found that there is a near flawless correlation between the clarity of my life and the quality of my work.

So in that, I learned to live the kind of life that inspires the kind of work that excites me—to live the life of a professional artist.

I am lucky enough to have several amazing artists in my life that allowed me a window into their existence long enough to see how they work. From them I learned that working on myself is a necessary part of working on my art. I continually work to refine my self-knowledge, my self-confidence and to hone my skills and abilities to execute.

I work on my capacity to see things more clearly. I strive to hear things more exactly and remember to think things through thoroughly before acting.

I try to be clever. I drive with my attention on the energy of the road and actions of the other drivers as well as the changes in the weather.

So, while refining my ability to see, I am refining my ability to create art.

But, that’s not why I wrote this… You’ve been doing work with yourself for years and know yourself and you want to know how to share what you’ve learned.

I’m sure you are dying to know—what’s the formula to know when to create?

I create when I know it’s time, not when I think it’s time. I create when the people around me are asking me to share what’s inside. I create when I can’t hold it in any longer. When I can’t do anything any stronger.

I create when I know it’s gonna be fresh because I can be aware of my struggles and my innocence. I create when I feel in harmony with the pulse of the street.

I create when I feel my emotions come through clean.

And most importantly, I create when I can’t not. I just keep learning till I pop.

Relephant Read: 

10 Unexpected Ways to Find Your Inner Creative.

Author: Jordan Epstein

Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Flickr