How to stay creative when it’s going nowhere

"It'll turn into WHAT we do, instead of what we WANT to do." So much good advice in here! I sincerely appreciate you sharing.

Oh man, how true is this? Some of my builds can be months long, and the ugly phase threatens not only the build but everything! Learning to accept it as part of the process. But I'm still learning to remind myself of that 😜

your insights are always so valuable 🖤 also, i love to see you sculpt!

We all suffer from the ugly phase I think. Once I started to recognise it though I started to appreciate it as I know what's waiting on the other side.

Thanks for being authentic and encouraging! I needed to hear this today!

I know about the ugly phase of a single piece. I've never heard about the ugly phase of a project before. It makes so much sense. There's a point in everything I do when I learn the basics, find a process, do the thing, get really confident, and eventually hit a point where I need to tear apart some or all of the system that I've built in order to grow further. Not a bad thing. Just beginner habits or patched together solutions that were a good idea at the time but now I know better. This is usually when I stop doing something forever. Something that I used to be simple that I enjoyed doing is in pieces. I can see the end goal that I'm aiming for. But right now everything is an ugly pile of parts and the work to rebuild it better, faster, stronger is new, complicated, or has nothing to do with the original activity. In art, that might be learning new supplies or equipment instead fighting my old stuff, or adjusting to a completely different workflow that's more creative, trusting my instincts and experience, and less mechanical. At work, that might be building a team to take on some of my work, giving up some things I like doing (and some things I hate), coming up with new processes and tools, and approaching my job in a new way. At some point everything that was familiar is completely dismantled and it can never come back, but the only path forward is carrying my ugly pile of crap into the fog and trusting that I can build something better on the other side. I haven't figured out how to do that yet.

I just wanna say thanks. I've been working on a paper for weeks now and this is what helped motivate me to get it done. Thank you maker monster. THANK YOU

Thank you, my ugly phases are so disheartening. It's always worth pushing through though!!!

You have no idea how timely and helpful this is for me. Thank you!

So good to remember. I love Austin Kleons books and I tell every about them. I like to call myself a “Creative weirdo” everyone seems to know exactly what it means.

Good advice! I have a couple of projects that's been put on pause during the ugly phase, and instead of returning to them I've started (and finished) other ones. But as long as the unfinished projects sits there in limbo, they keep eating headspace. I really have to wrap them up or throw them out...

Dropping knowledge today, I love it! For me, many times it's the fear of taking the unknown step. If the next step in the project is a new skill, or something I'm not sure about how it might go, I psych myself out about doing it. I finally have to make myself jump in and just do it. I have to tell myself that if it doesn't go the "right" way, then I'll figure it out and it will be fine. Maybe it's not perfect, maybe it goes completely wrong, but at least I took the step and moved forward. Thanks for sharing!

needed these tips, thank you!

This really hit me hard. Me and my SO have been working on a card game for almost five years now. The first two years we worked on it any moment we could, during breaks, at work when, and when we were at home. Then it got to refining it drawing the art solidating rules and trying to play test that we began to feel helpless. Everything around us was so stressful and there was so much pressure to make money off it that we lost a lot of our hope and interest into finishing the game. Now its been on the back burner for almost two years. I want so badly to finish it and prove ourselves wrong but every time we backtrack to an old project we find excuses to start new ones. Pushing us further from the original plan. I know some day it will be finished because I refuse to give up I just don't know when.Thank you for the insight and sparking some hope that I can still accomplish my goals! It will probable just be delayed and a bit different then it was at the start.

I feel into this exact same situation and it took a year to get out of that for this particular project. (The one you saw on Instagram). I often hit this phase when I feel like I don't have the skill sets to pull it off, and it takes some time to get out of it. One thing that helps me, is not to put a time limit on a project I finish it when I finish it. As always relatable content that you provide.

Love what you do and i find that i dont get burned out and can keep painting and painting and painting

Great advice, thanks for sharing!

Not even sure how I found this video, but it is exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you so much

"Gross don't call yourself a creative". My favorite line LOL BTW great ending to feed into more content. Super informative thought provoking video :)

It's a good feeling to know were not alone in these struggles. You nailed it for me with your inertia comment. It is definitely part of my creative process. Thanks for making and posting this video. GO watch Groundhog Day! So good