This article might piss you off, but you need to hear it.
Are you one of those guys who spends most of your free time doing nothing?
Do you get home after work and spend the rest of the evening watching sports on TV?
Or playing video games all night?
Or flipping through channels?
This is time you could be spending doing things that are actually important!
I’m not saying that you can’t take some time to relax after work. That’s totally fine and reasonable. Sit down and relax. Watch some YouTube videos. Play a video game for a while. Play with your kids. Whatever helps you decompress, go for it, especially if you’ve had a tough day at work. Take a little extra time if necessary. Although if every day is a tough day at work, there may be other issues at play and that’s a subject for another article.
Once you are relaxed and out of work mode, it is time to do something productive. It’s time to work on your project. It could be spent writing or improving a craft. You could work on your new blacksmithing hobby, practice drawing or hone your other skills. The important thing is to work on something that can potentially have an impact on the world.
The common thread here is you need to be CREATING SOMETHING!
Don’t Just Consume, Create!
It is too easy to sit around and only CONSUME. Consuming Internet videos or TV or video games. Even reading books can be taken too far. And while I strongly advocate reading a lot of books, its usefulness has limits. Reading books can help you learn, they can even be inspirational.
But you must CREATE. Men are creators. Well, not exactly. Great men are creators! Average men are not. They are merely consumers.
The act of creation is not always clear. For example, if you are practicing a skill such as skateboarding then that is good, but does it have the potential to impact the world at all? Maybe. It depends on your purpose. If you only do it for exercise and fun then this does not count as a creative act. But this is still better than spending all your time consuming because you are actively working at something.
But if you make videos about your skateboarding and share them online, now you are creating. You are making an impact. Even if you don’t have a big audience who watches your videos, and you won’t at first; if you are passionate and put in the work to create something, you are on the right track.
You have to be honest with yourself here. Are you really creating something that can have an impact or not? You’ll know whether or not what you’re doing is just a hobby or if it has the potential to help or entertain others eventually.
Take Criticism in Stride
Understand that being creative won’t necessarily be easy, especially if you are new at it. It will be like a weak muscle that has been neglected. But I promise it will feel good to create. It is an amazing feeling to see your work go into the world.
At first, it can be nerve-wracking. You might think your work isn’t good enough. Don’t be disheartened. You will get past that feeling in time. I never said it would be easy. Easy is for consumers. There are people out there who might trash your work. You can smile inside knowing that you are man enough to withstand verbal jabs from haters. Those haters are probably too scared to create on their own so they resort to hating on other people’s work. Don’t let it slow you down or discourage you. Keep at it and keep creating.
