How to Create Perpetually Pt. 1

In this series of articles, I will give insight into how to create sustainably whether you’re exploring a hobby or becoming an entrepreneur.

If you’re a typical American, odds are you’re not doing well financially. Please don’t attempt to dismiss this idea by saying “Oh but those kids in Africa…”. Why do people always go straight to Africa when dismissing American complaints of poverty, when frequently you can find 3rd world conditions within an hour's drive from their house? Being grateful is important, but it should not be used as a form of dismissal when facts present themselves.

A key part of sustainable creative success is realizing multiple things can hold true at once. Efforts to use dualistic thought to turn every grey into black and white limit your perspective and therefore, your creativity. Using our brains to make information “compete” is an inefficient use of our time and energy.

Our desire to use the relative understanding of comparisons, of winning and losing, of right and wrong, of good and bad, keeps us boxed in mentally and away from objectivity. We must open our minds to the possibilities beyond what our limited, and frequently, fear-laden viewpoint holds as true.

A Washington Post article reported, “According to Nielsen data, the American Payroll Association, CareerBuilder and the National Endowment for Financial Education, somewhere between 50 percent and 78 percent of employees earn just enough money to pay their bills each month.”(https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/17/breakdown-what-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-looks-like/).

Many Americans stress while living paycheck to paycheck. The knowledge you can’t afford to get sick, hurt, or fired, without ending up on the streets, weighs heavily on the mind and body. No one wants to be subject to the constant fear that accompanies a lack of financial freedom, so many Americans are turning to entrepreneurship for extra cash.

More people than ever are turning to “side hustles”. Aka, a second job, because the one at which they spend the majority of their time, has not increased wages enough to live comfortably in America. We exist in a nation where the costs of living have skyrocketed, but pay rates have stagnated.

The economy today has been rigged by corporations whose greed knows no bounds, and a government that aids and abets their ability to monopolize markets to the detriment of society. The only thing trickling down in our current economic model, one molded by the elite’s ability to buy politicians, is the extra work required from average Americans to keep their families afloat.

Many of us turn to creative pursuits to supplement our main income out of necessity. Don’t be confused by my interchanging use of entrepreneurship and creativity. Entrepreneurship is a creative pursuit, regardless of what area of business you choose.

Entrepreneurship, art, science, math, all of these different arenas are creative pursuits. The basis of these disciplines, problem-solving, is a creative pursuit. How can I bring my ideas to life? How can I communicate my ideas effectively? How can I provide a strong foundation on which to build my ideas? Finding creative solutions to these, and tons of other questions will give you a better chance at building something of worth, no matter the arena.

Questions are key to finding solutions. When presented with problems requiring more than a surface level of attention, you need to get creative with the questions you ask. The more in-depth your questions, the more robust your answers will be. Make sure to utilize specificity in your questions. Breaking things down makes them easier to digest.

Take time to approach your ideas from multiple angles, doing your best to create a comprehensive view of the issue. There’s no such thing as a dumb question, as long as it helps you build more knowledge. Some questions are asked without much forethought, but if they get the wheels turning, they were worth asking. The more questions you ask, the greater your understanding will become.

However, you have to ask the right questions. Do not beat yourself up with questions of “Why am I never good enough? Why am I destined to fail?”. If willing to answer those questions objectively, then they might be of use. But the majority of people ask those questions to double down on their innate sense of unworthiness. They perceive life as opening oyster after oyster with no pearls to be found.

News flash! Oysters are versatile, nutritious, and delicious! If you stop looking for pearls, aka a quick fix for all your issues, and start appreciating the oysters, aka situations that can be seen as lessons, not losses, then you will always be moving in the right direction. Many of us have “eureka” moments, only to fall back into the same negative cycles that keep us stuck.

Great ideas can seem like a life raft in the midst of the ocean, but frequently we jump on it and forget to paddle. You have to give the idea direction. Otherwise, you’ll remain in the same position, stuck in the middle of the ocean.

Except now, you’ll feel comfortable telling yourself you have a million-dollar idea to build on, you’re just waiting on a paddle to fall out of the sky. You’ll float along, still lost, while others say my hands are good enough paddles to start going somewhere. They feel no need to delude themselves into thinking progress needs a specific “tool” or environment before it begins. They take stock of their situation and understand progress can always be made in the here and now. They just need the willingness to make an effort and to keep an open mind.

We require the will to change. We need the desire to start understanding situations in a more beneficial manner. Without the hard work required to facilitate said change, we can never move forward in life. The foundation for sustainable success is consistent progress and growth based on hard work and an open mind. Not lightning bolts smacking us while we’re taking a poo. Even if we’ve been eating oysters.