The Scarecrow Had a Brain All Along — The Beauty of Your Dream is the Journey
We’re All Scarecrows
If I only had a brain…timeless lyrics from a classic movie filmed nearly one hundred years ago. The Scarecrow is a brainless friend of Dorothy and embarks upon her quest to find the Wizard of Oz. He travels with Dorothy for a time, meets new people, faces new fears, escapes conflict and danger only to arrive at the moment he’d been waiting for and not get what he was chasing. Instead, he is given a diploma, a certificate that does absolutely nothing to change who he is or improve his ability for thinking.
What’s the point, right?
Well, I get the feeling that many creatives follow the same yellow brick road that the Scarecrow followed with Dorothy and her motley gang of friends. They constantly look to the future, that realization of their hopes and dreams with the expectation that it will be a glorious moment of overwhelming joy as they cross over from “creative” to “success.” I want us to learn our lesson from the Scarecrow.
The reality of creative pursuit is that the journey is actually the dream. It is easy to think of wealth, success, and notoriety as the destination. However, this thinking is flawed and leads to more issues than you might realize. When you are constantly comparing yourself to your final destination, you immediately disregard the progress you’ve already made. This isn’t to say that you should spend your life looking backwards, just that you need to adjust the way you view your progress.
When you take a moment to think about what you are passionate about, what comes to mind? For most creatives, the desire is to have the freedom to pursue your art. You don’t want to wake up someday and never create anything again. You would like to create the way you want, how you want, as much as you want. My question is, what’s stopping you? Granted, jobs can get in the way of some things, but the point is that the only thing stopping you from creating is yourself.
Story Time!
I watched a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson where he tells a story about having a drink with an incredible pianist after seeing their band play in a local pub. In passing, Ken mentioned to the pianist that he, “would love to be able to play like that.” The pianist immediately responded in an aggressive manner that caught Ken off-guard. He said, “No, you don’t!” This sparked a bit of a debate that resulted in some increased frustration on both sides of the argument. Eventually, the musician made his point and explained his attitude, “If you would truly love to play like me, if you REALLY wanted it, nothing would keep you from accomplishing it.” His point was that Ken might really like be able to play the piano like that, but he can’t say that he would LOVE to be able to play piano. When you love something, nothing keeps you from accomplishing it.
When you love something, like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz loved life and deep thinking, the journey is actually the dream. Sure, you might eventually be paid enormous sums of money to do what it is you love. I sincerely want that for you, but between now and then you need to shift your paradigm and realize that you get to do what you want RIGHT NOW! The fulfillment you keep putting off for “that day” is available now. Fulfillment comes from the creative process and the sharing of your work. Regardless of the additional benefits that can come from your dreams coming true, you have the opportunity to taste of the best of them today! Give yourself permission to enjoy the process. Claim ownership of the title you are working toward, revel in the creativity you use on a daily basis.
Work On It Daily
Only think about the future in your brainstorms. Don’t live there. Instead, focus on building your creative expression, living the dream, one day at a time. Work diligently and consistently. Make each day count, and be excited about what you accomplish because no matter how small your progress, it is still progress!
Give Yourself Permission
Time and again I’ve caught myself engaged in all sorts of weird masochism. I feel like I can’t enjoy something creative because I’m not a Jon Acuff, Gary Vee, or Jeremy Cowart. It’s like I can’t be what I want to be because I’m not the best at it yet. That’s a ridiculous way to approach life! Enjoy what you create! Get excited about that new skill you’ve developed! It’s okay to enjoy the process while you are in the middle of it. Do so, it will make the journey so much more exciting!
Lean Into It
Deeply engage with your creative expression in whatever form it occurs, be consistent, pour your love for it into the process, and one of these days you’ll wake up and realize you’ve been living the dream for years.
Call to Action
I wrote an eBook about how to overcome the obstacles standing in the way of your success. Everyone has creativity deep inside and dreams to match. If you want to start or reinvigorate your Creative Journey, check out my free eBook: The Creative Journey — A Starter’s Guide.
Click here to get it for free!
One last thing…
If you liked this article, click the👏 below so other people can read and enjoy it here on Medium.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 275,554+ people.
Subscribe to receive our top stories here.
