Question for musicians: beyond deadlines and any external incentives, what powers your creative work? And if it’s a resource we can increase, how do we do this?
Here’s Mark McGuinness on what powers your creative labor. He’s a UK-based poet and creative coach who works with artists of all disciplines. Mark’s new book, 21 Insights for 21st Century Creatives, is a short and inspiring read—and below is one of my favorite passages:
“Everything is powered by love
If you don’t love your work, you can forget it as a creative. Psychologists talk about intrinsic motivation and tell us it is ‘proven to be highly correlated with creativity’. But let’s call a spade a spade: it’s love.
You can probably remember the day you fell in love with your creative work; the butterflies in your stomach, your heart leaping, the sense of a whole new world opening up before you.
Maybe you saw another artist, creator or performer doing something extraordinary, and found yourself asking: ‘Could I do that?’
And like all love affairs, it’s probably been a rocky road, with plenty of friction and suffering along the way.
Maybe even a breakup or a trial separation. But you always come back, because this is the love of your working life.
It’s easy to neglect this love, with all the other pressures and demands on your attention. Especially if you work in a non-commercial art, where the rewards are not as obvious as the risks.
But if you neglect your true love, it will poison everything else in your life.
So whether or not it earns you money, whether or not it will make you famous, whether or not it will ever bring you worldly success, you need to find time and space for your art in your life. And when you do that, magical things start to happen…
And it’s not just about the work. In the course of your career you will connect with many people – teachers, peers, partners, clients, customers and others. If there is no love in these relationships, if they are driven by fear, competitiveness and bitterness, is that really how you want to spend your days? And is that really how you will produce your best work?
So make sure you work with people you can respect and admire – and yes, even love.
Wake up every day doing work you love, with people you love. What more could you ask of your work?”
Thank you, Mark, for reminding all of us what really matters.
When you’re taking on challenging projects and feeling intimidated or discouraged, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and uncertain about whether we can accomplish what we’ve signed up for.
So let’s all remember to feed what powers our work, because what we cultivate will grow.
I’m so grateful to be working with amazing clients who inspire me daily — yes, I LOVE THEM!
And if you’d like to have an introductory coaching session to see how together we might help you get your career in to full forward motion, book a time with me HERE.
Let’s get you on the road to your better future,
Dream Big, Plan Smart, Live Well
