How to develop your unique process as a creative
A golden nugget from writing 60 articles on Medium
This is my 60th article on Medium in the space of three years. It has taught me so many lessons.
I was initially tempted to name this article ‘6 Things I learned from publishing 60 Medium articles.’
‘Instead, let me focus on one of the best growth lessons I have learned so far.
It’s about developing your own unique process. Especially as a creative.
You need a unique method for any skill or habit you want to excel at. Something that works perfectly for you.
When trying to build a better habit or start a new project, we often study exactly how ‘successful’ people did it in the past.
Have you ever read a book on time management for instance, and then proceeded to copy every single piece of advice the author dished out? This sounds like a great way to improve on something. Sadly, it won’t always work for long.
In early 2019, I stumbled on an article that said all successful people wake up by 4am. Their formula: Success = Waking up at 4am. To a lazy 21-year-old, this was torture.
I tried this for one week (I did 5am because 4am just couldn’t work), and I woke up with a headache every day.
Today, I know better. I’m not meant to be an early riser, and I’m more productive from 6pm -12am.
Using the same intuition, I also had to figure out my best method for saving monthly, my morning routine, how to create a to-do list that works for me, and how I exercise.
Your Life, Your Process, Your Rules
Having your unique process should apply to everything, from how you learn new skills, gather knowledge, manage stress, and even make decisions.
Yes, other people have been in that situation, and their advice may be valid, but you are not them. At first, you may have to purely imitate someone else’s process, just to understand it well.
If you notice it’s not working at first, keep trying.
But don’t stop until you can pinpoint the reason it’s not working for you, and you have a more suitable (and productive) way of doing it.
If you’re too quick to dismiss a new habit/task/method because it doesn’t suit your style, without knowing why (and how to correct it), it easily leads to procrastination. Simply on the basis that it’s ‘hard’.
The above piece is an extract from my eBook titled ‘6 Hard Truths About Growth’.
It’s a collection of the best lessons I have learned from trying so many new things (including writing), failing fast, and switching gears to get better.
You can download the free eBook here: http://bitly.ws/KPap
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section ♥️
