Today I went to work in my “work” clothes to help our maintenance crew get organized and do general clean up. Since it is their work area, I decided to leave the organizing to them and I tackled cleaning up. We had just disposed of some of our “junk” equipment that had been sitting around for years. After we got rid of it, there was an area of ground cluttered with old cinder blocks, tires, wood and general trash. In typical Gary fashion I started to plan and plan and plan some more. Did I have all the tools, should I use my truck or a wheelbarrow, where was I going to take the tires and on and on. About 20 minutes later, my lead guy, Stevie, said half-joking , “I thought you were gonna help clean up.” I replied, “I’m trying to figure out how to go about.” He said, “Aren’t you the one who always says, “When in doubt, throw it out?”  “Yep”, I said. “Well, go about it that way”. Fair enough.

   So I started. And as I got going, the plan started to make itself. I started to think about my tendency to not start something because I do not have a plan. I do it with my writing, my homework and everything I want to accomplish. But isn’t that just a clever disguise for procrastination? It is really just a justification for taking myself out of action and instead just putter and dabble, going from one thing to the next but not really producing anything of real value.

  This is also what I do when I’m just not feeling inspired. I tell myself “I’ll start when the inspiration strikes me.” But eventually I remember how it really works. How it really works is this: inspiration does not lead to action, action leads to inspiration. I rarely get inspired by sitting around thinking about what I am going to do. If I really want to accomplish anything, I need to light the spark of inspiration by starting to do the work. Once I am in action, I get inspired. Then actions and inspiration feed on one another and truly creative works starts. And this is the best inspiration possible because it comes directly from MY actions and MY creativity. And that means it is authentic inspiration.

   Our mind plays all kinds of games that keep us out of action. In “The War of Art”, Steven Pressfield introduces the reader to the concept of Resistance. He believes there is an actual energy force that keeps us out of action. Resistance comes into play when we attempt to move, shift, grow or expand into a higher plain, a higher level of consciousness. So anytime we are putting off starting (or continuing) a creative project, seeking spiritual evolution, resolving an inner conflict, creating or building a relationship, learning or generally getting out of our comfort zone, there is a force that keeps us from proceeding. Now, whether we want to believe it is an actual force or not, I do not think there is any doubt that Resistance does exist. And it wears many disguises: fear, feelings of inadequacy, over-planning, doing too much research and wondering what other people will think. But once we just start, those feelings and concerns melt away. Once we start to create, the mind stops running the show, ego thoughts go away and we work from the soul, or our authentic selves, which is where our genius resides.

   Another form of Resistance is not thinking our work will be good enough. You can read a wonderful post about that here:  http://madebydenise.net/watching-your-ideas-evolve/

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