Be vulnerable. Embrace the frontier. Create a space for magic.

As I set out on the adventure of publishing the second illustrated novel in the Bitroux series, I wanted to share what I believe are the three essential components of getting a new creative project out into the world.

Learning how to be vulnerable

Creative work is often highly personal. It contains narratives about our relationship with life and the universe, and everything that entails.

And when it comes to telling our story, or sharing any other piece of creative expression that contains a fragment of ourselves in it, we all feel vulnerable. Our stories are often the key to others knowing us — and when we are unlocked we often perceive that we have been weakened. Our cards are on the table and others can do with that information what they will.

Brene Brown’s TED talk on the power of vulnerability is particularly relevant for creative types who agonise over how and when and even if they should put their story out into the world. In fact, Brown explains that the original definition of the word courage, from the Latin word cor, meaning heart — was to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.

We all should feel that we can tell our story. Storytelling is a creative contributor to the ecosystem of consciousness, and so I say: let the stories roll in.

Embracing the Frontier

The creative process is an exploratory one. It’s about heading out to the frontier and coming back with something new. Of course we don’t know what the frontier really looks like till we get there, so it’s entirely possible that we will come back with something that is different to what we had originally planned. Sometimes people call that failure.

No matter what the label, learning how to fail in the context of creative expression is actually one of the most productive things we can do in life. Despite the potential of both looking and feeling like an idiot, many good things come from simply having a crack at something.

1. You figure out what’s important. As soon as you ask yourself the question ‘What is the worst that can possibly happen?’, you’re able really define the kind of life you want and the kind of person you wish to be. Also, it’s comforting to know that the worst seldom happens, and anything up the scale is actually awesome, so what is there to lose?

2. You realise that failing can be fun. And it doesn’t have to be hard. If you want to read about that time I decided to learn the saxaphone, go ahead. Have a giggle. Why not? It was, and still is, funny.

3. You realise that its impossible to keep failing forever. When we actively fail at something it’s a sure sign that we’re stepping outside of our comfort zones and growing as individuals. And the best bit is that at some point, we’re actually going to figure it out — which also means that we may contribute something pretty amazing to our community, our family, our profession or even our evolution as a species.

Making a space for magic

Magic is a slow thing, not a fast thing. Creative endeavours are best realised when time is marked out, claimed, and dedicated to the adventure. Beautifully complete creative projects are always the result of effort over time.

You may find that you need to sacrifice something else to give your project the best chance possible of finding it’s way into the world. Go ahead. Carve out time. Give something else up.

Giving yourself more time allows you to slow down. It sounds so simple, something that not even worth mentioning, but slowness is where magic happens.

Going slow allows for insights to surface — and for you to both observe and digest them. It allows you appreciate small things that you just don’t notice when you’re flying through the day, madly pedaling from one hectic junction to the next with your eyes on five screens and your ears in three different conversations. You notice the sun. You notice a feeling, or a mood, out on the street. You hear birds. You have time to put on some music.

Idling is both a luxury and a discipline. It’s one of the hardest things to do in a world where you can never get enough done. But idling — the art of doing not much at all, can actually take you into a deep, restful state of concentration

Descending into slowness is, in my opinion, the best way to thrive as a creative. It’s where magic happens.

Magical moments of creativity are moments of collaboration with the universe. They are the points in time where things begin to work. Ideas clarify themselves, beauty and meaning becomes apparent, the energy of the work flow with you and out of you, directly into your medium. Universal energy comes your way and contributes power to your output, your story, your project. What was once only in your head finds it’s way to being in the world, one way or another. All creative projects have these moments, whether small or large, a tiny spark or a massive bang. These moments are paid for in blood, sweat and tears, but they are the moments of sustenance and joy, when something comes into being that simply wasn’t there before. They are the moments to keep in mind when starting a new endeavour.

So, there they are — my three most important things to think about when starting a new creative endeavour. If you want to find out more about my new project ‘168 Days of Magic’ go here.