[box options]This is a guest post from Jared Latigo. Jared is a writer, husband, father and stellar designer. After reading his post, head on over to his site www.JaredLatigo.com and follow him on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did.[/box]
When we think of the creative process, we tend to lean toward a list of things we need to do in order to refine that process. But we leave out an important part. That important part is the core of building who we are as a creative, or any professional for that matter.
The thing we tend to leave out is training. We must learn to be a life learner to train for the day when we do have power and ability to influence others through our work and passions. This cannot be changed.
When I was obsessed with design (though I still love it), I went all out on that. I read everything I could. I soaked up all the knowledge my brain would allow in a day. I followed the best of the best, and still do. I aspired to be as awesome as they are and have the platform they have for their ideas.
And Now…
Writing is a passion. I’m doing all I can and will have no regrets regardless of what happens. Sure, I’d love to catch a huge break and land a book deal and have 300,000 followers the next day…but that’s not realistic…nor would it build the muscle I’d need to sustain myself at that level.
We have to do the training and put in the time before we’re able to be the leaders we’re called to be. That’s why many people that win the lottery are worse off in a year or two than before they won. They didn’t have the structure to handle the weight that millions of dollars brings with it. It will destroy them and their lives.
The same is true for us. Whether it’s design, writing, speaking, playing music or playing badminton, we have to train first.
[box options]”Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” – John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton[/box]
The context was a bit different from him, but the premise stands. I don’t think all powerful people are corrupt by any means. But I do believe you can always tell the ones that got there too fast.
All to Say
We need to pay attention to another aspect of the creative process. Yes brainstorming, sketching and the like are all important. But, we need to remember that training, learning, reading, learning and growth have to happen constantly and be at the forefront of anything we do. We can’t forget to add that into our creative process or we’re doomed to be a dismal failure.
Question: Have you forgotten about the training part? Or do you fall in the category where you feel you’ve put plenty of training in?
