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Creativity and Persistence: A Primer - Part 2
by: LeonardoTrait
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Word Count: 540
I mentioned knowing what you don't want as I closed the first section of this series.
More on Knowing What You Don't Want
I think this is perhaps the most important thing in the whole process of getting what you want.
At that state agency where I had a dingy office and an awful job, I also had coworkers, many of whom hated their jobs but didn't know what they wanted to do instead.
They thought they knew what they didn't want: "this."
But they never got more specific with it than that.
They never investigated what they did want.
They never decided, "I don't want to work for someone who double-checks everything I do because he's sure I made a mistake."
Instead, they just didn't want to work for "him."
They didn't decide, "I want to work where I have more creative freedom."
Instead, they just didn't want to be a "drone."
I think knowing exactly what it is you don't want is so important, I urge you to get a piece of paper, write down everything you don't like and don't want to continue about your current situation, and then write down what you do want instead.
This is really just a preliminary exercise on the way to getting what you want, but how are you going to get there if you don't know what "there" is?
A couple of years ago I ran into someone from that agency. Eight years after I left, she was still in the same job she'd been in, still saying, "It must be nice" about my flight to something better, but still not doing anything about getting herself a better job.
It is nice to know what you want and go get it. And most of the time it's possible, at least in part, if you're willing to do it.
**Persistent Planning**
Once you know what you absolutely don't want, you've got a pretty good idea of what you do want. Now it's time to make a plan.
This plan should include a timeline, but you should realize things may not happen exactly on time. It took me ten years to write that important book. In the meantime I had to do a lot of things I didn't enjoy doing.
But the difference from the old job was that I was choosing to do things I didn't enjoy, in order to pay bills and keep my family fed, but I was also choosing the things I was going to do, even if I didn't enjoy them.
And I had a plan. I knew what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, and where I wanted to go with it when I started.
It took time. I was sidelined by a serious illness for quite a while. I had a few missteps while I did things I thought were what I wanted to do, that weren't.
But every step I took was a step Forward. I had a plan, I knew where There was, and I kept moving toward it.
[End of Part 2]
About the Author
Angie Dixon is a creativity expert and author of The Leonardo Trait: Living the Multipassionate Life. Get a free creativity kit at http://www.LeonardoTrait.com. Contact Angie at mailto:angie@LeonardoTrait.com
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