Consistency

It's a theme for me at the moment and I’m pleased at how far I have come.

“Professionals are consistent. Professionals simply show up. Especially when they don’t feel like it.”
Inspired by Seths blog: https://seths.blog/2024/09/professionals-are-consistent/

In my life, consistency is about applying myself. It’s the routine that pays off over a long time. It’s getting things done. I leave behind instant gratification and simplicity and put time and effort in to be creative even when I don’t feel like it. Doing the work.  Doing something!

Realising that anything is better than nothing has moved me forward. It's amazing how much I produce when I am consistent. How many details come when I am allow them to flow. How much depth in my work that is achieved through applying myself. It could be a sketch or a draft idea. Something that perhaps no one wants to see. Even this post.  Good! It’s not about approval. It’s the act of exercising the muscle, the muscle of creation. And through dedication raking up small wins.

The small wins are not dependent or a judgment on quality. The work is also not about being seen. I can decide whether to share the work later. In this safe space of mine, it’s ok to just play. To create whatever I want. It’s a change in mindset from where I have been.

Whether someone like’s my work or not here is unimportant. This place of creation is not about seeking approval. That is an insecure obsession that I always covertly let myself be defined by. And in doing so, trying through others, to fulfil my need for that dopamine hit of being seen.  Here, it’s about doing it for me for myself. I enjoy the satisfaction I experience, when I have applied myself. And share with others when I am happy with what I have done.

I find myself getting there lately. I improved my consistency with doing the things I love to do. There was resistance around this for a long time due to the fear. Resistance to start. Avoidance of being judged, reluctance to be vulnerable, perfectionism holding me back. Waiting for a push, waiting for things to line up, only if the “right” opportunity was there, then I would move. Procrastination pure.

Now I am just go. Not waiting for others, or myself to be in the “perfect” place. Now it’s about setting a timer and writing about themes I am working on or getting out a piece of music that inspires me and dreaming up ideas. It’s moving, physically moving, feeling the emotion of the idea. In my mind I am able to fail and in doing so give myself the chance to succeed. But success I now define as simply applying myself, so all I have to do is show up! Turn on the camera and improvise. Find a theme, analyse the music and set a combination. Any combination. Get something out there. Amazing, once it’s started, my mind won’t let it go.My analytical brain is so strong, reorganising or rearranging just comes naturally. It works on ideas even while I am asleep.

In being consistent I have added to my experience. The chance to form my own path of how I do things and what works for me. Through experimentation and repetition I have built up great structures that I am testing and developing further.

A choreographer has to choreograph!  A dancer has to dance! A teacher has to teach!
What’s holding you back?