3 Motivators to Stop Waiting for Inspiration to Act!

Why I’m Becoming a Creator for 2018

Published in

HackerNoon.com

4 min readJan 24, 2018

My YouTube channel — maybe throw a sub my way?

For 2018 I’ve decided to become a Creator. Video, photos, podcasts, blogs — you name it and I aim to create it this year. I’ve been fascinated and addicted to all this content for years and have amassed a bunch of ideas to play around with each. But although I wanted to do it, I kept waiting for a stroke of inspiration or something to push me. Thing is, if you wait your life for something to push you, you’re going to be waiting for a long time. So I decided to just act.

It wasn’t easy getting my mind around it no w— else I would have started years ago. After all; I have a job I like, I haven’t been formally trained in any of the above art forms, and there’s no one forcing me; so why would I commit myself to a bunch of new work? What pushed me forward was that instead of resisting, I decided to lean into my feelings of Love, Desire, and some Frustration.

1. Love … For ‘Creating’

I love the idea of creating. I’m drawn to the idea of making things that did not exist before. In a previous life as a consultant, one of the biggest issues I had with the job was that you go in to solve other people’s problems, but seldom stick around to see the results. Ultimately, you can almost never look back and say “I made that — that exists because of me.” It’s hard to assess what impact or mark you made on the world when you have nothing to show for the result apart from advancing your career. By creating something you pass on some of yourself and legacy to it, as you would to any piece of art (or content) you make. Creating something can bring joy to the world and make an impression on others while leaving your mark on the world.

2. Desire …To Learn and To Share

I’ve been fascinated by my favorite creators and artists and have had so many questions over the years. How do you plan what to make? What do you need to focus on to succeed? Do people stare when you talk to a camera in public? Basic questions that lead to bigger holes in knowledge that make me want to know more. With every step my desire to know what exactly it takes to become someone whose content is watched millions and millions of times.

But just to gather that knowledge for myself isn’t really what I’m after. One of my goals for this year is to share my experiences with those around me. I know a number of people who would love to jump into creating music, videos, or other content but need some help figuring out the same things I’ve been exploring: what do you need and how do you start?

3. Frustration … With Thinking without Acting

I like planning. I like lists, post-its and thinking through situations to answer ‘what if?’ But you will never really know how anything plays out until you try it for real. Eventually I got frustrated that I had a growing list of ideas and concepts but hadn’t acted on any of them. I’d fallen into the rut we all fall into when life is comfortable enough not to change but still leaving you wanting something better. I feared breaking routine, embarrassing myself and being wrong. Not only was it not productive but it was actively harmful by preventing me from taking risks and being more creative. That set of realizations was one of the final pushes to start acting. Don’t get me wrong — I still fear all those things — but I no longer let that dictate my actions, and act to overcome my frustration with inaction.

So that’s why I’m here! I’m starting with weekly posts to my YouTube channel, a podcast and continuing my blog, while trying out other creative projects as time goes on. If you have something in mind you want to try out; let me know and let’s make it happen!