Reinvention or ADD?
The Creative Rebellion • Dispatch #009 • 6 min read
I've got creative ADD.
Its symptoms are similar to how most people would describe classic ADD but on a longer timeframe.
I don't have trouble focusing on a single task, organizing, planning, or even executing on projects and tasks. But I do get bored after awhile. And I'm back and forth on whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.
See, all the hustle bros and solopreneurs will tell you that the key to being successful online is to choose a niche (and choose it wisely!). Narrow your focus and go deep. Become the expert in your niche. Oh, and choose something you love and could talk about for 30+ minutes without notice. Because you'll be talking about it a lot as you build your platform/audience/community.
Niche, niche, niche.
I've either got too many niches or too broad a niche. Creativity is not a niche. But I love a million things about it and under its umbrella.
Paintings, movies, design, books, music, problem-solving, poetry, theatre, screenwriting, illustrations, video games, etc.
So I either have to go "too broad" or I have to reinvent myself when I get board of my current niche.
When the going gets boring, the bored get going
Surely I'm not the only creative out there who feels a constant pull towards a new adventure.
I started as many kids do, with crayons, a pencil, LEGO bricks...
I stuck with the pencil and drawing became my hobby. I got pretty good at it.
Over the years I've picked up musical instruments from the recorder (Hot Cross Buns, anyone?) to the guitar, dabbled with the drums and keyboard. I even bought a violin off of eBay once! The only one I could pick up and not embarrass myself with today is the acoustic guitar. Most songs only need 3 or 4 chords anyway. ;)
I've painted, used chalks, stippled with pens and markers, and jumped at the chance to draw with a Wacom tablet in Photoshop when they came out, and then the Apple Pencil on an iPad Pro. I've participated in Inktober and various other illustration challenges.
I have photos of me as a kid holding old 35mm film cameras of my dad's. I saw him taking photos so I wanted to take photos, too. I bought a digital Sony in the early 2000's and started wedding photography as a side hustle. Then I bought a mid-range Nikon DSLR, then a semi-pro Nikon. Weddings and engagements, senior portraits, and family photos kept my wife and me busy for a few years.
Before I could drive, I started interning at a small radio station that I got to tour on a field trip. I ended up working there for years! It was my first real job and further kindled my love for music. (They still call me Intern Boy).
That led to me ditching my plan of getting a degree in graphic design. Instead, I moved to Florida to attend Full Sail University for Audio Engineering. (I never got great at playing any instruments, but I was really good at making musicians and singers sound their best). That led to interning at a recording studio in Nashville right after I graduated, and a lot of mixing for live bands over the years.
I've worked a lot of non-creative day jobs over the years, but always kept some kind of creative hustle on the side. Sometimes for money, sometimes for enjoyment.
After moving to Memphis in 2014, I ended up working in the Creative Department for a large church. I did everything from communications, design, social media, planning services, mixing sound, editing video, to leading the whole team as the Creative Director. After many years, that was my first full-time creative job. While I was there, I wrote video scripts, devotions, book content, social posts, and more and it rekindled a love for the written word. (I'd also been working on a few story ideas, blogs, etc. over the years).
Jump from working for the church to working in marketing as a content marketer. Now I do a lot of writing.
And I'm still hustling on the side. From writing a book to writing this newsletter. From graphic design to creating images with AI in Midjourney. Sometimes I get too many irons in the fire and have to press pause on one or two projects, but it's hard to pick just one thing!
And once I've set something down for awhile, I get the itch to pick it back up. Don't tell my wife, but I might have been researching the latest mirrorless digital cameras...
The point is, creativity is a journey.
Maybe it's a straight path for some of you. You have a great talent, a passion and drive for it, and it is your singular focus. You go from point A to point B. A simple journey.
For others, maybe you're like me, and you've been all over the place, dabbling in different creative fields. You go from point A to point B to point E, back to point D, jump to point M, and who knows where else.
I say, keep dabbling. Get your hands dirty. Try something new. Push yourself to learn, to grow.
Make the journey interesting.
Because here's the amazing thing that happens when you combine the various creative disciplines you've played with:
They start to influence and build off each other.
My interest in music influences my writing and drawing. My drawing and love for illustration influences my design style. Photography influences illustration and design and vice versa.
If nothing else, when you find something that's hard to master, it gives you an appreciation for those who have devoted their time and effort to mastering it.
We are all given creative gifts. Things that come easier to us than others. We get a head start on the road to mastery, but it still takes practice (lots of practice) to get really good. But I firmly believe that we all have the potential to get good at something, and often times more than one thing.
If you've tried something "creative" and declared that you are, in fact, not a creative... try again. Try something else. Give it some time. All that really matters is whether or not you enjoy it.
There are enough different creative pursuits to fill a lifetime and then some. The ones you don't enjoy? Marie Kondo those suckers and try something else.
What's your creative journey look like?
Stuck with one thing
Tried it all and I'm back for more
I'm not creative (you need to start something today)
Reply and let me know what your creative interests are, or why you gave up on them.
Until next Saturday...
Stay rebellious,
Travis
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