You’re Brilliant!

You really are brilliant, you know.  Out of 6 billion of us on the planet there is no one like you.

That’s not some cruel joke.  There is meaning to your being.  But that meaning is wasted when you don’t do what you love for a living.

Your uniqueness is your greatest blessing.

Are you leveraging your uniqueness?

Are you expressing your authentic individuality by doing what you love?

If not what do you fear?

I know you’ve experienced flashes of your own brilliance.

I know you’ve felt authentic aliveness with the arrival of a bold new idea.

How many of those ideas have you had without even taking the next small step to acting on them?

How often do you set one half-completed project aside and jump to the momentary madness of yet another fresh idea that you’ll likely not complete?

What causes you to fear and not act?

What is it about the delicious inspiration in a brand new idea that causes you to momentarily lose your senses?

Is it because it carries with it an unconditioned and unspoiled promise?

Is it because you haven’t yet dishonored it by not acting?

Is it because it offers further relief from the discomfort of completing last week’s fresh idea?

I used to be affected by this kind of unproductive, uninspired behavior but since I have begun noticing how the energy of inspiration, I’ve been experiencing creation differently.

So I’m curious, what do you think is missing from your creative productivity process?

There’s really nothing wrong with your brilliant bad ass self.  You can do something brilliantly that is far more valuable than you ever contribute by copying the inspiration of another.

But if you can identify what’s missing – you can add it.

There’s a lot to be said for work habits and or inspiration that increase your speed to taking the first step.  Urgency bypasses the fear of our cognitive minds.  You can try this do what you love exercise and prove it to yourself.

What was missing for me was a real feeling of connection that inspires authentic aliveness.  I’m almost embarrassed to admit it but I think I’m one of those people who need to feel good about doing what I’m doing.

Some self-employed business owners develop the discipline to be productive regardless of their feelings.  But does creativity have to be a fight or can it be more of a flow?  It makes me wonder.

I wonder if for me and maybe others, a more effective approach is to generate good feelings about our ideas and projects so we are more authentically inspired to complete them.

Now generating good feelings of authentic aliveness is something that I know how to do.

It’s working so far.  Stay tuned for further developments.

In the meantime, lighten up and imagine how effective you might be if you regularly got unconditional supportive praise like the dude in my favorite commercial.

When you are ready to get really clear on what you want seize this opportunity.

Comments

  1. Love this post, Tom. Funny, I just hired a coach (she’s also a metaphysical teacher … perfect for me!) and yesterday we did a session on my “strengths” – my brilliance, as I like to call it! So then I just opened up your post and the words “You’re brilliant” stared me in the face. Gotta love the Universe!

    I think creativity is a mix of both discipline and inspiration – without both, nothing can come to fruition. It’s easy to float on the high of brilliant new ideas without ever implementing them. But it’s just as easy to get bogged down in iron-clad plans or “business as usual.”

    Blessings,
    Andrea
    .-= Andrea Hess|Empowered Soul´s last blog ..Money Myths: Working More =-.

  2. Thanks Tom. Great post. We all need to feel brilliant at least sometimes.
    .-= zoy´s last blog ..Depression Hurts But You Have Power to Beat It =-.

  3. Great point!…be yourself and be proud! So many people focus on everything they are doing wrong instead of what they are doing right!

    Figure out what you’re good at and what you’re not and then design your work to work hard at what you’re good at and outsource the rest.

    James Todd
    Publisher: BuildMySiteforFree.com

  4. Hi Tom,

    I am intrigued by your newfound creative process! Can’t wait to hear about it.

    Creative ideas are a dime a dozen. The biggest thing about the follow-through for the creative project for me is the power of the original idea. If the original idea is bold, or excites me to a very deep level, then it is easy to complete the project. The trouble comes when I have lots of little creative ideas, and while they might be fun or useful or whatever – they just don’t stir my soul. For me, it’s gotta have that last bit! So, I have to pick my creative projects by the level of inspiration.

    And we have to keep in mind that sometimes we need to let things simmer on the back-burner for a bit. Sometimes you have a great idea, but it’s still a bit nebulous and needs some time to mature. I think it’s important not to judge the creative merit of an idea by how fast we act on it. Inspiration often involves passion and a flurry of activity – but sometimes it doesn’t 😉

    Blessings,
    Keena
    .-= Keena´s last blog ..Believe it or not! =-.

  5. I think creativity (that is productive) is a combination of work and play – the work can be pleasurable too but it is more focused.

    When stuck it is often useful for me to go back to playing with the ‘stuff’ I am dealing with, paint, clay, words, concepts . . . whatever is the medium being used.

    One quibble (maybe just with your phrasing). I’m wary of ‘generate good feelings’: if they aren’t there and need to be generated this for me would be a warning sign. For me authentic aliveness feels good – deeply nourishing, more than a momentary high.

    Support is very helpful to me in my experience.

    Thanks for the post.
    .-= Evan´s last blog ..Responding to Suffering =-.

  6. Andrea – You are indeed brilliant! I’m more than happy to provide further confirmation of that fact. I get what you say about discipline. But I would prefer to replace that word with completion. Yes of course we must implement ideas or they never get completed. But must we actually discipline ourselves to follow-through when we could re-kindle that initial inspiration and use that instead? That’s what I’m playing with right now and it’s working! 🙂

    Zoy – Welcome. Why not feel brilliant all the time? If you’re not feeling brilliant what are you feeling and why would you want to feel anything less?

    James – Welcome. I agree. I’m a big believer in working from our strengths and delegating the remainder. But some thing s like product creation we must be the one doing the work. That work is infinitely easier when we are enthused and inspired.

  7. Evan – I love your point about playing when stuck. That’s excellent advice. I’ve gotten unstuck simply by going outside and bouncing a ball against a wall. Often to get unstuck we need to vary our activities. You’re right it probably is phrasing. Language is such a powerful adjustment to create what we want. When I said generate feelings of authentic aliveness I meant using things like song and EFT to re-connect with those already existing feelings that may have been dulled by distraction or fear.

    Keena – Well said. The best ideas often come back around until we act on them. That’s the essence of true calling recognition. Most folks have tried to ignore their calling more than invite it. I see absolutely no reason why anyone ought to create a product that is not a vital part of their true calling. That way the inspiration is built-in and naturally sustainable.

  8. Chris Edgar says

    Hi Tom — thanks for this — this is a good reminder that I want to put into action an idea I’ve been brushing off for a while. It doesn’t really have to do with my existing work — it’s about making some very silly videos — but for whatever reason I’m excited about it. It’s time to go with the impulse.

  9. This is so true, this is what drives me to be a freelance web developer.
    .-= Sean´s last blog ..For the Jets, There’s Always Next Year =-.

  10. thanks for the inspiring article, very nice way of thinking 🙂

  11. I remember reading somewhere that the world isn’t so much missing either ambition or brilliance. The “problem” with most people is that they are lazy and don’t want to put in the effort to do things and that’s why they fall short.
    I find creativity comes when you work hard. I mean really, I’m not a fan of all the excuses that people make up to avoid work.
    Although occasionally I like to sit in my basement and brainstorm with myself (am I being a hypocrite 😉 )
    .-= Yst´s last blog ..Are You Sales Or Marketing Oriented? =-.

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