The Greatest Obstacle To Your Creative Endeavors Is...(PART I)

As I've gone through my creative journey, I've taken a lot of time to look within myself and observe my fellow creatives. While doing this, I started to see patterns related to the struggles we tend to have as creatives. One of these struggles was highlighted by an influential thought leader in a recent tweet he posted:

“The greatest skill one can develop is decreasing the time between idea and execution.”

After I reflected on his tweet, I was inspired to leave the following response:

"Yes, developing the ability to decrease the time between idea and execution is indeed one of the greatest skills we can cultivate. Yet there is an underlying skill that must be developed alongside it. This skill involves identifying and integrating the mechanisms (beliefs, thoughts, stories, energy) within us that prevent the flow of good ideas and makes it difficult for us to act upon them.”

After posting my response, I realized it would probably be a good idea to give more details in order for someone to truly benefit from this knowledge.

This realization is what inspired me to write the following memo.

YOUR HAPPINESS AND FULFILLMENT DEPENDS ON HOW WELL YOU KNOW YOURSELF

Without a solid understanding of ourselves, we risk chasing dreams that are not our own, and we become more susceptible to doing things that are driven by societal expectations or external pressures.

From my perspective, there's an epidemic of people who lack a deep understanding of themselves, which lays at the root of the current stress and mental health crisis we’re experiencing.

But why do so many individuals lack a deeper understanding of themselves?

One of the root causes is a fear of confronting one’s own inadequacies, failures, and weaknesses, which is closely tied to a subconscious survival instinct. There's a fear of being seen as inadequate, weak, or incapable, which is driven by the belief that being perceived in these ways could lead to exclusion from the individuals or communities we desire to be a part of so that we can feel safe and protected.

Another reason people lack a deeper understanding of themselves is because it’s a very painful process to confront your own inadequacies. Going into the dark crevices of ourselves and acknowledging the ways in which we lie, manipulate, cheat, aggress, betray, and control ourselves and others is a very challenging endeavor. Unfortunately, most are not currently equipped for such a journey.

“The most terrifying thing is to accept yourself fully” - Carl Jung

People also don’t know themselves because they’ve become too attached to who they think they are. As a result, they fail to observe their actual behavior in the world and make the necessary adjustments.

This type of individual is probably unwilling to let go of that part of themselves because they are driven by some fantasy that helps them maintain a positive, yet fragile, self image that provides temporary feelings of ease.

Instead of facing what they need to face, most prefer a lighter and easier solution.

They would rather just do yoga, meditate, workout, read self-help books, go to retreats in beautiful places, watch YouTube videos and read affirmations. But these are simply band-aids that provide temporary relief from the real problems at hand.

If you’re done being dissatisfied with your life and feel motivated to realize your potential, then you must develop your capacity to be self-aware and be willing to get really uncomfortable.

With self-awareness and a willingness to be uncomfortable, you can go deep within and identify what’s at the root of your problems to more intimately know yourself.

TO GET TO KNOW YOURSELF, FOLLOW THE STRESS.

The misalignment that occurs when our authentic desires take a backseat to doing life based on external influences often manifests as stress and uncomfortable feelings.

It's really important to recognize that external stressors are symptomatic of deeper internal conflicts—manifestations of subconscious beliefs and narratives that split you off from your Soul's calling and your ability to be connected to Universal Intelligence aka God, Spirit, Source, Allah, etc. Without this connection, you cannot effectively nurture your creative endeavors. Stress, in essence, serves as the check engine light of your being—an indicator that you are out of alignment.

So what do you gotta do to reconnect?

This highlights the importance of cultivating self-awareness, but not just any self-awareness.

It's about developing a specific self-awareness—an awareness that delves deep into the mechanisms (beliefs, thoughts, narratives, energy) within you, which shape your thinking and decision-making. Without this skill, if you haven't dedicated much time to refining it, you risk unknowingly embracing dreams that aren't truly your own. You also risk never truly understanding what makes you happy and brings you pleasure.

Consider a few scenarios many of us have encountered:

For those of us who were fortunate to attend school, did you go because you truly wanted to, or was it because you felt pressured by your parents, caretakers, or society to pursue it as a path because you were told this is how you become successful? Often, this path leads many into a lot of debt and dissatisfaction with unfulfilling jobs.

Or maybe you subscribed to the idea that financial freedom equates to happiness. Pursuing this belief may have driven you to work tirelessly toward a specific financial goal, only to find yourself constantly feeling exhausted and lacking in meaningful relationships, which results in often feeling a sense of loneliness.

If you've found yourself on either of these paths and experienced the disappointment and stress that comes with them, have you considered the underlying reasons that drove you in either of those directions?

Not taking the time to reflect on what influenced you to make your choices may cause you to have similar experiences until the lesson is learned.

On the flip side, those who cultivate the specific self-awareness I’m speaking of increase their chances of aligning with their true desires, which makes it easier to bring forth your creative endeavors and leads to a more satisfying and fulfilling life journey.

In part II of this memo, I’m going to break down what you’ll need to cultivate this specific self-awareness. I’m also going to share how the way you perceive stress is most likely making it difficult for you to pursue your creative endeavors.

But If you prefer to receive support right away to speed up the process of becoming more effective in bringing your creative endeavors to life, go ahead and submit an application to work with me. Simply click here.

Read Part II of this memo by clicking here.

See you on the rocket ship 🚀,

Jay