The Only Way To Get Good at Creating Is To Create. So Stop Procrastinating

3 keys to becoming a productive creator

The Creator Economy is upon us, organic social media marketing is back with a vengeance, and it seems everyone wants to be a creator. But, damn: that empty document… That blinking cursor… Maybe it’s better to finish sharpening all your pencils first. Or do the laundry. You can always become a productive creator next month, right?

Perfectionism and imposter syndrome are the enemies of creativity. But also of productivity. Because most of your creation hours are spent on something other than creating. They’re wasted on wall-staring, mostly.

If you find yourself procrastinating, pencil-sharpening, or exhibiting other forms of non-creative behavior, remember these 3 key insights:

1. You’re creating A thing, not THE thing

Today’s post is not the be-all, end-all. It’s not your Master’s Thesis.

It’s just today’s post. It only has to be good enough to post today.

Emphasis on TODAY. If you finish today’s post tomorrow, another non-posting day has gone by, and your creative success has been postponed by another 24 hours. But hey, you got your laundry done!

2. There will always be a next time

And wanna know a secret? Tomorrow’s post might not be better than today’s, but next year’s most certainly will be.

Because it’s extremely hard to do something every single day and not get better at it.

And that brings us to number 3:

3. Next year will never happen if you don’t do this year

This is not Netflix. You can’t skip over the boring parts. For a creator, the daily grind is… it. There is nothing else. Create Every Day. Because you’ll never get good at creating things if you don’t create things.

Thinking about creating or, even worse, planning it is NOT CREATING. The only thing that will get you to the next stage is making and publishing things. Every. Single. Day.

You do your best work when you’re doing work.

So get at it.