“Don’t be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid.”
– John Keats .
Is there a creative project that’s been on your mind for awhile? But you wonder if it’s worth taking time out of your busy life to even begin.
You think of all the unknowns. You don’t know if you will succeed. You wonder if you are good enough or up to the task. You wonder if you will have to sacrifice too much.
Will it will be worth the effort? And if you make the effort will anybody really care?
At the beginning of every creative journey, it is natural and almost inevitable that you pause before committing. After all, it does involve a big engagement of your time and resources.
Here are some other questions to ask to help clarify things. What will be lost if you don’t do anything about this project? Is it something you feel you “should” do, or is it something that you are being called to do at a profound level?
Is it the time now to begin? Or are there some other things you just have to get through, before you can truly engage? And if you decide to go ahead, how can you best set up things for success?
And here’s a big one to ponder. How would you feel at if at the end of your life if you still hadn’t done it?
Would you regret that you hadn’t summoned up the courage to face possible failure? Would you regret that you never got to know whether that idea could have really shone in the world? Would you regret that your life got too caught up in insignificant busyness?
The most successful creative people have been the ones who have been prepared to fail the most. They’ve been the ones prepared to sacrifice “the comfortable life,” motivated by their visions of infinite possibility.
So summon up your strength and courage. If it’s a project which you are longing to do, make a resolution to go ahead. For only by braving the challenges and fears, can you reap the treasures of a realized creative life.
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