Once you start, you start
These are the wise words of my friend Wendy. She said this once years ago, and now we use it as a catch-all phrase. It can be used as an apology for continuing in a certain direction and not being able to stop (like when you’ve opened a slab of Cadbury’s milk chocolate and you might as well finish it off), or it can explain how momentum gathers once you’ve begun (like when you don’t know where to start painting a room, but if you just put some paint on a brush and swipe it on the wall, you’ve made a start, and the rest has to follow). Its open to interpretation, and everyone she says it I laugh, but I also understand. Perhaps its trying to get at the act of starting being the biggest hurdle.
As for this, The Creativity Project, I’ve attempted to make a start once before. I mean, I made a website and everything. I think I’d been inspired by Chris Guillebeau’s book ‘The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World’ in which he questions traditional routes of study (a masters’ degree, a university course, a formal certification) and instead proposes self-guided study made up of a curriculum that you devise. This sounded great, in theory, and at the time I read the book, I was fired up. What I didn’t account for was my undiagnosed ADHD, and my chronic history of starting a project with great gusto and then never finishing it.
Ah bless, my original ‘About’ section on the website that lasted about one week. Sigh.
A subtle foreshadowing
The subtle (or not so subtle) foreshadowing of that phase lasted approximately 8 days. I published my first blog post on the 20th of April 2020, and the last known post was written on the 28th of April (yes, 2020, eight days later!). And then, nothing. My Goodreads book lists, and podcast collection, and TED Talk resources, along with my intentions, came to a grinding halt. Turns out I need more structure than Chris. I need some kind of formal container to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Armed with this self-knowledge, a great deal of caution, and the realisation that I’m going to keep circling the topic of creativity probably for as long as I am alive, I finally signed up for a formal coaching certificate with Eric Maisel and Noble-Manhattan, and today, of course as I sit down to dig into the course material for the first time, the platform is offline for some kind of maintenance, so here I am, thinking about beginnings and wondering how I’ll account for my propensity to start and not finish things.
Here’s the (new) plan, more or less
It’s a 56 week course with weekly reflection submissions
There’s a ‘study buddy’ element to it which looks like signing up for group study and accountability, I’d like to make use of that, still figuring it out
There’s a course text: The Coach's Way: The Art and Practice of Powerful Coaching in Any Field, by Eric Maisel, which I need to get my hands on asap
Yes, its official, I’m enrolled!
That’s about as much as I know at the moment. Further than that I thought it might be useful to set up some kind of low-friction space for me to write down what I’m learning, share reflections and questions. I know I can overcomplicate things, and I have done so many times in the past by creating Instagram accounts and Facebook Pages, and Medium profiles that I inevitably spend ages designing and making pretty and then never use. Since I already have a space that’s truly mine here on the interwebs (and can’t be sold, or blocked, or removed), I thought I’d use this space as a kind of ‘work in progress’ zone.
Depending on how things go, I may even send out a now-and-again newsletter to share more, which you’re welcome to sign up for.
For now, I’m about to find my coursework book, and then off we go!
“Art creates empathy, empathy changes everything.”
This is a snap of an Janet Kingwill’s travel journal/sketchbook. This weekend Kenton and Bushmans hosted “The Barefoot Arts Meander” where resident artists opened up their homes, studios, and sketchbooks for visitors to have a look into their world. It was truly inspiring. I loved this quote she cut out and added to her notebook.
