Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Deadlines and Creativity

I just read a little book called The Spark about Cirque du Soleil and igniting the creative fire within. It was a very good read and I really appreciate the wonder and magic the people at Cirque du Soleil create.

One thing stood out for me that I want to share in this blog. I actually shared it in a celebration of life service I presided at yesterday for a young man who died in Thailand on his way home after being in Australia for a year. He was one of those guys who goes out and does it all. Really engaged in life. The reason The Spark idea came up as I was writing the service was that this young man had really made the most of his short life. The idea from the book was about deadlines and how important they are in the creative process.

There is often  a tendency to dislike deadlines and feel nothing but pressure and stress when trying meet them. The truth is however that without deadlines of some sort we often get very little done. I can use my efforts at writing a book as a prime example. I wanted a draft ready for when I did a workshop in Calgary a few months ago. It spurred me to sit down and do what I had to do to achieve that. Then the part about editing and more editing came up afterward and guess what? The book is still in editing! I do a little on it here and there but I haven't imposed another deadline on it so there it is languishing on the island in the kitchen waiting for my attention.

We actually all do have a 'deadline' (I've got a whole new appreciation for that word from the book and the service). We act as though we've got all the time in the world but do we? What if we actually really got that we don't have all that time, we only have now and what are we doing with that? Life is a process and the question is are we enjoying the process and doing what is important in the moment or are we waiting for something to happen in order to get moving?

As I play with the deadline and creativity idea I am much more energized even though I'm a bit under the weather these days. That being said, this is the perfect time for me to impose a new deadline on that little book of mine. So here it is. I will have the current edits done this week. It is an e-book that is being self-published so I'll have it off to the publishing site by the end of next week.

It is now written, it is so. I am back in the creative process and that's what counts.

Namaste

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