When someone comes to me to get ‘unstuck’, I invite them to identify their Creative Edge. This gives us a way to consciously develop our craft and advance our work, on our terms.
If you’re like me, you tend to be ‘all over the place’ with your ideas and possibilities. The Creative Edge gives us a broad yet specific focus. It makes it easy to choose projects that give us a sense of momentum and progress.
A creative edge is specific and actionable. It’s that place in your writing, art or professional work where you:
- need to improve skills
- feel uncomfortable and out of your depth
- are hyper-engaged
- learn the most
- grow rapidly.
Benefits of a Creative Edge
Your Creative Edge allows you to make progress in art and life. If you delved into this one area, you would advance overall.
The Creative Edge is both structured and liberating. It’s just focused enough so that you can be responsive to unexpected things that show up and still be on track.
It’s often the place we avoid. The Creative Edge is a threshold that demands we shed our excuses and step forward. We are required to move from indecision and insecurity to action.
In the end, your Creative Edge should excite you. I personally like a challenge, so my Creative Edge is often equally exciting and scary. I am careful to balance it so it’s not something I dread and thus avoid.
Choose your Creative Edge
Brainstorm possibilities. Jot down ideas that came up as you read this. Don’t overthink or make this difficult. Look for aliveness and excitement.
What do you want to learn? What skill could you take on as your Creative Edge?
Some of your creative blocks might point you toward your Creative Edge. Tick off any of these that apply. You:
- Get bored with your projects and don’t finish them.
- Don’t know how to improve the quality of your work.
- Are afraid to seek constructive feedback.
- Get stuck in confusion and indecision.
Your Creative Edge could be:
- Learning how to edit and revise your own work so you can…
- finish things.
- Find reliable, helpful feedback from people you trust.
- Focusing, following through and finishing projects you care deeply about.
I like to have a Creative Edge for the year. Perhaps you prefer a shorter window of focus. What is your Creative Edge for the first quarter of the year?
It takes courage and commitment to be at the creative edge. But it’s where we find our originality and where we grow as artists and people.
What’s your Creative Edge for this year? Share it below.
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