Being Future-Minded Hinders Your Creativity
Yesterday, I wrote about how breaking your habits forces you into the present, as habits can automate much of our life if we're not careful.
I also mentioned that present-minded people are the best creators, namely writers. I say this as a future-minded person, as someone who spends much of her mental energy thinking ahead and attempting to plan her way out of anxiety.
However, I've learned that living in the future neutralizes your creativity. It zaps your "now," which makes up so much of what naturally inspires and intrigues you, what feeds your writing.
Virginia Woolf once said, "Every secret of a writer's soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works.”
How do you write about your life experiences if you're not present to experience them? The sensations and lessons of your everyday life—yes, even your failures, mistakes, and stressors—fuel your writing.
They make up the passion and knowledge and authority (your niche, as they say) from which you write and teach others.
If you're struggling to establish your niche or feel confident in your creativity, here are a few things that may be working against your ability to live in the moment:
Worrying about the future
Focusing on the what if's instead of what is
Waiting for perfect timing
I struggle with all three — especially the last. I tend to dwell in the future, planning for the perfect moment when I'll magically feel inspired or prepared to act. In doing so, however, I don't absorb the present. I miss what the moment is teaching me.
And, for writers, the present is a gift.
This post was written as a part of Ship 30 for 30. Read the original essay on my Twitter.
