The trend from your feedback was that you have no shortage on creative ideas, but the discipline and follow through needed to complete those ideas were always missing.

I’m a recovering procrastinator, and I needed to practice hard hitting, practical steps to finish my creative endeavors.

So here are 7 “In Your Face” tips I recommend:

1. Shut Up (yeah, I said it.): Stop talking about “I’m planning to…” or ” Here’s my vision…” or ” I’m thinking about launching…”. Don’t start talking until you can tell someone  how cool the last project you just wrapped up is.

2. Start Small: Don’t try to launch the book or graphic novel until you launch the short story. God teaches us that when we are faithful over the seemingly small things, He’ll set us over more. (Matthew 25:21)

3. Quit Being a Perfectionist: Launch now with what you have. Just like Hollywood, you can get better during the sequel…get the first movie going NOW!

4. Write It Down and Date It: This allows you to see what you’ve written once you get down the road and to see if you completed it. The date emphasizes if you’re wasting your time away, or better yet, if you are progressively accomplishing goals.

5. Know When You’re Most Productive…and when you’re not: If you know there’s a time when you’ll get most distracted and interrupted, find a better time.

6. Stop Working Alone: Accountability:Once you start involving others such as fellow artists, sponsors, clients, etc, it becomes bigger than you. You have others that are counting on your follow through.

7. Acknowledge Your Age: Once I began to realize that God placed me on assignment, I also realized that I had a finite amount of time to complete the mission. I’m getting too old to always be in the same place I was 6 months or a year ago with no growth to show for the time.

TAKE THE ORIGINAL POLL:

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WHY? Because your creative mind can get stuck from either having an idea without knowing its full potential or from having TOO MANY ideas and not acting on either of them…

SO, AFTER YOU’VE DONE A MIND MAP…

The next thing to do is to take the creative ideas you’ve uncovered from the mind map exercise and truly determine which ones make a viable business concept.

SHIFT INTO NEUTRAL: Before I go on, you MUST get to a place within yourself where you can be open to parting with an idea.

This mindset allows you to be in a place of neutrality: a place where your emotional ties to a concept will not smother sound advice and judgment that may or may not agree with your concept. A place where you can hear and obey God’s will especially when it differs from your will.

Here are 3 important questions you need to ask yourself about the ideas you circled in the Mind Mapping exercise:

1. Is there a demand for this concept? Your idea is either a product or service for or to someone other than yourself. And those people must have a need or want what you provide. Just because you like it, doesn’t mean the public likes it. If there is no expressed need, scratch that idea (Ouch! That’s why I said you gotta be neutral!)

2. Who is mostly likely to need what this idea or concept provides? If the answer to #1 is “Yes” , then it should be easy to identify the answer to #2, by the way, the answer is not “everybody”! It may be “women ages 35-55 that live in” your area, or “men 18-24 and 35-45 that collect comics”, etc.

3. Where do they get there information? Whether it be Facebook, local television and radio, Twitter, a specific magazine…wherever they get their information is the place you where you want to meet them. That is where you connect and share your idea or concept.

What did I miss? What would YOU advise? Share your voice below…

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Being an artist, writer or any other type of creative person is a blessing, but when it comes to taking action on the right ideas, it can be a real challenge.

Your creative mind can get STUCK from one of two causes: Either you have an idea, yet you don’t know it’s full potential…or you have TOO MANY ideas and you don’t act on either of them!

Got 10 minutes?

PART ONE:

Here is a simple but effective method of mapping out your creative potential:

(We first launched this video sometime ago, but it seems even more relevant today!)

PART TWO will tell what to next AFTER mapping out the potential of your concepts or ideas.

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The temperature is 40 degrees…indoors…and all year round.

He’s suited up in what looks like rain gear from head to toe.

Rubber gloves that barely allow his fingers to do his job of operating the steel machine within this meat processing factory cover the hands that everyone once said could draw anything.

Now those hands only draw nicknames for his coworkers on the backs of their rain suits…because “that guy can draw!” even when the medium left to him is only a Sharpie.

The skin on his hands peel a little now, because the steam along with the gloves that he thought would only cover his hands for 6 months or so now have been on his hands for two years.

But today is different.

Today the gloves came off to shake the hands of his fellow factory workers.

Because earlier, those same hands opened an envelope; an envelope from the University…“Congratulations, you’ve been accepted…”

Thus my journey began nearly twenty-five years ago…

…realizing God had always had a calling on my life that involved the talent He placed within me.

And this why I do what I do, be it here online, or in the community with ART SLAM LIVE™. Anything to help creative people discover their purpose just as I did.

-Tony Snipes,
Factory worker turned-Art/Design Student,
Publisher, Founder
ArtLessonsFromGod.com

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At the time of writing this, 33% of you said your biggest barrier to fulfilling your creative purpose is actually knowing what God’s plan is for your talent in the first place.

Event Sponsor Devin Smith (on right) Congratulates Winner Patro Ulmer

You’ve watched the following artist grow right here in our ALFG group, in his career and even with the projects he’s launched. Like many of us, Devin Smith knows that God wants him to do something with his talent. But unlike many, how did he go from talk to action?

I asked him and here’s what he had to say:

1. Devin, do you believe that these steps you’ve recently taken were part of your “Creative Purpose”? How
did you go about seeking God?

Absolutely. I think that all of the things I have moved on (the comic book, the new job, and a special project I can’t talk too much about right now), are part of my creative purpose. As a matter of fact, it was in my decision to get back on the horse with doing what God called me to do with the comic book that I was blessed with the opportunity to take my design career to the next level.

2. Does hearing God come easy or did you have to make any adjustments?

I had to make adjustments for sure, but hearing from Him was not difficult. It was paying attention enough to realize where He was speaking. I had people from all directions telling me that I needed to do a 180 and start the comic book again. After a good friend grabbed me by the ear and made me pay attention, I had to go on a fast in order to stop and hear God. What happened after hearing God and deciding to obey was an opportunity to show my comic to a larger audience.

The following day I got a call from an old work acquaintance wanting me to join him at another company where I would be doing more creative work and making a lot more money. I have been in that position for about two and half weeks now, and love it. And this was after God had already moved me from one job earlier this year and had already increased my income.

3. What would you tell other creative people that are struggling to know what God’s plan is for them from your experience?

Don’t look for a burning bush, it is most likely not coming. Look for God in the Godly people He has placed in your life that care about your success. Look for Him in His Word. Listen to your heart. My feelings clouded me, but when I stopped the presses and really listened to my own heart, I knew that I had to go face what I had run away from. Some of you just need to start.

DON’T WORRY ABOUT WHETHER YOU ARE DOING IT EXACTLY THE WAY GOD WANTS YOU TO JUST YET. If you follow your heart, not just your head, you will likely be close. He can redirect you when you are moving pretty easily, but it is up to you to move. Don’t get caught up in, “I am just waiting on God.” Most of the time He is waiting on you. He will let you know when you need to stop.

What questions do you have for Devin or what can you share with others who are still seeking direction from God concerning their talent? Post it in the comments below:

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