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Hi, darlings!
This week we’re looking at creativity and entrepreneurship and a little concept I like to call the Rebellious Muse.
Now, for those of you don’t know your classical mythology and the muses were the inspirational goddesses of Greek myth. They presided over literature, science, and the arts, and were highly esteemed as a source of all the knowledge held in the poetry, songs, and myths of the ancient Greeks and a lot of the cultures and societies that came before them.
Now by some accounts they were the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods of Olympia, by other accounts they were the daughters of Gaia, the great earth mother. Either way that’s some fairly astonishing parentage, and they were very important in the Greek Pantheon even though they weren’t individually recognised as major daisies.
I should probably explain why I’m talking about Greek myth. I spent quite a lot of time talking about mythology and the psychology that kind of goes with mythology. Anyone familiar with my Divine Blogging Design, which is my signature method of blogging, knows that it’s based on archetypes, and the notion that, psychologically, all humans conform to one of about twelve archetypes. If you can identify your audience and narrow it down to a specific archetype, and write specifically for that particular archetype, you will totally nail your copy.
That’s the Divine Blogging Design in a nutshell.
The Rebellious Muse…
The Rebellious Muse is a concept I came up with while I was thinking about the particular kind of creative flair entrepreneurs have and how it differs from other forms of creativity. There are a lot of incredibly creative, incredibly intelligent people in the world, and not all of them are entrepreneurs. But what I’ve noticed from spending a lot of time with other entrepreneurs is that there’s a particular type of creative thought that tends to come with being an entrepreneur.
I think this is one of the reasons a lot of people become entrepreneurs, because they have this whimsical creative flair in them, and it doesn’t really fit into normal jobs and career tracks. It’s the thing that makes us not really like the nine to five grind, working in an office, not being your own boss, and not really getting to channel those passionate creative energies we have, and don’t really know what to do with otherwise. I know a lot of women, especially, start businesses because they had that in them and they have no outlet for it at all.
[Tweet theme=”tweet-box-shadow”]Your #business becomes the outlet for that #CreativeSpark inside you.[/Tweet]
Everybody has creativity. It’s not a trait that’s exclusive to entrepreneurs. But there are very different kinds of creativity, there are certain personality types that are more creative than others, and entrepreneurs tend to be the creative bunch. I think it actually works the opposite way around. The creativity turns us into entrepreneurs, due to the inability to find an outlet for that creative energy anywhere else. This inspires us to create our own businesses.
But it’s a double-edged blade, because for all the times you have that insane creative insight, when you have loads of energy, know exactly what you’re doing, can see each aspect of everything you want to do, and you’re just working and working…for every day like that, you have days when you just can’t get it at.
Your Light…
There’s a light in your head. Some days it’s on, some days it’s off.
When it’s on, it’s great.
When it’s off, you’re screwed.
The trouble with that creative spark is it’s really rebellious by nature. In a sense that’s a good thing, because that rebellion made you say, “Nope, no normal job for me. I’m going to start a business!”
On the other hand, however, it’s a total bitch, because there are days that light is not on and you can’t do anything. You sit and stare at your computer screen, nothing happens. You try to do all the things on your To Do list, and it takes you all day to just get one thing done. Either that, or nothing you try works and everything goes wrong.
Those days are really frustrating.
The thing you have to remember about the Rebellious Muse is that you owe her a lot. If it wasn’t for that creative spark, that creative flair, you wouldn’t have your business. You wouldn’t be the wondrous thing you are. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, or how you’re doing it, the way you are doing it is a way that nobody else could, and that’s because of your personal crazy ass creative spark.
It’s yours. It’s unique.
It’s the thing that makes you so much better at what you do than everybody else.
But the thing with gifts like that, is at some point, you have to pay the piper.
So, what are we actually meant to do about this? Just, not work on days when the lights off? That’s not going to help your business.
The way I look at it is that there are days when I can work on creative things, things that require that particular light, and there are days when, for whatever reason, I have to accept that light isn’t there.
It will come back at some point, but today it’s not there.
And while it’s gone, there is no point trying to do the things I can only do when I have that light.
For example, in my case, writing is where my creative energy is. If my creative energy is absent, for whatever reason, trying to write anything…anything at all…is just a No Go!
I just don’t do it.
There are three reasons for this…
Creative Talent…
You have talent. If you’re not really careful with it, you will burn it out completely. If you push it on days it doesn’t want to work, it’s saying, “Nope, it’s not happening today!” it will burn out.
And it will take you forever to get it back again.
On those days you just have to say, “Right, I just need a break.”
Take a step back and do something else. Otherwise you’ll lose your spark for a lot longer.
Quality Killer…
The quality of what you do on days when you’re trying to force it is not going to be good. It’s just not. In particular, if you’re doing something for a client and the work is for somebody else you are doing them a severe injustice.
You’re not going to give them your best, you’re not going to give them what they paid you for.
They paid you for your talent, and your talent is absent.
So Much Stress…
You are just going to stress yourself out so much. I’ve had days when my To Do list is a mile long, I have stacks of things I have to get done, and there’s just no way I can take the day off. I absolutely must get those things finished, I have to write.
I’ll sit there and force myself to write. And I will get words written, but I will know that they’re bad. It will take me so long, and I will have this anxiety in me that just builds and builds.
The more I try to force myself do it, the more I understand that what I’m doing isn’t even worth writing.
It’s substandard.
It’s crap.
So all I’m doing is stressing myself out, to the point that it’s even harder for me to write well, for the sake of producing something that isn’t good enough to use anyway.
And Finally…
Don’t resent the rebellion. Don’t resent the fact there are days when you can’t find your creative juices, because the days when you can make up for it tenfold. The fact you have that talent is a gift.
It is a huge gift.
And there’s this old saying about gift horses, and mouths, and not looking at them…
Don’t hate the Rebellious Muse, embrace her.
That rebellion, that difference, that creative spark which nobody else has is the thing that’s going to make your business soar. It’s going to make you successful, it’s going to make you happy, it’s going to give you a sense of fulfilment, it’s going to do all the things that you know a normal nine to five job can’t do.
Some days it’s not there.
That’s just the way it is.
Find something else to do on those days. Make sure you know what tasks you can do on days when your creativity is absent, when the lights not there. There has to be something else you can do. It might be doing cash flows, your budget, invoices, it might be a million different admin jobs, or it could be something totally different.
How about spending the time networking?
Or learning.
If you’ve got courses you’ve bought and never got around to doing.
On days when your own #mojo is gone, learn from somebody else’s!
Do you have a rebellious muse?
Or does yours actually do what you want her to, and turn up when you want her to? I’d love to know! Comment below, like, and share the video, and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already!
What an absolutely fantastic article has totally hit the nail on the head for me, love it!!!
Thank you, Jacqui, really glad you enjoyed it! H xx