Creative Director: Consistency

I Create: Creative Director of my Life.

We’ve recognized that we want to improve our life and have a say in the way it unfolds. We realize that getting to any destination successfully and efficiently means it’s best to have a map. We pinpointed what our destination point is, whether this is a True North or a vision board of requests – and that 80% of improvement or advancement on our map is internal work. Then we’ve set an intention, or a few, about what we can commit to, no matter what.

So these action steps, our internal work, our no matter what, could take some time. It could take years. If it took years and years, would that sway you? Would that deter you?

We, people in general, have a way of getting discouraged by time. We want something to appear in our life quickly. We typically don’t want to wait 10 years for something, we want to see the results, and live the reward of the results, right now. But time goes by anyway and it goes by quickly. If you take no action, or get discouraged by the length of time, then you could soon find yourself 10 years later, having taken no steps on your map, and you are no closer – and perhaps have become even farther, from the destination.

I’ve read a book for the last two summers now, called Baby Steps Millionaires. Dave Ramsey’s sure methods for becoming a millionaire take the average person (according to him and his findings) 17 years to become a millionaire (defined by having a net worth of a million dollars). When you first read that, I’m sure everyone thinks something along the lines of ‘oh brother, well forget it then.’ But if 10 years go by and you’ve done nothing to make changes, then you might wish you’d started 10 years ago and then you’d be more than halfway, if that was your goal. You’d only have 7 years left. The time is going by anyway. It’s the same for self improvement. Do you want to be stuck in old habits?

As the quote above states, it does not matter how slowly you go. You just can’t stop. My own example is my Instagram account. I had no current portfolio when I started this. My art school days had been 15 years prior. All I knew is that one of my goals was to illustrate Children’s books. I had nothing current or relevant to show. So I started creating and posting something new every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since that beginning in March of 2018. And I just haven’t stopped. I enjoy it, but I also didn’t want to let myself down if I missed a day. Like I wasn’t honoring my own commitment if I skipped one. I’ve found that not only has my skill increased, the variety of paintings and all the practice has helped me. So this consistency with my practice has advanced my ability. It’s been gradual. None of it happened over night. But once I had started, I would look back over a years worth of paintings and then two years worth of paintings and then three…. and it was such a tangible reminder that even though you don’t feel the passage of time, look at what you can build up to show for it!

And then something happened that wasn’t something I would have entertained before. The realization with such a portfolio, I could have prints made of some pieces, or cards. I could sell and bring in some income from pieces that were just stored in my closet. This could benefit my family.

With consistency comes opportunities that you may not have thought of before. Opportunities that weren’t necessarily on your radar, you now find them in front of you because of the work you’ve put in.

Because of consistency, something that I hadn’t set out to do and wouldn’t have been ready to do years ago, now feels like the right time and right next step with my work.

The evolution of this blog also, is a result of consistency. It has been unfolding exactly as it’s meant to, since I started publishing, Tuesday evenings, since March of 2018. And now this summer, 6 years after the start of all of this, I finished the illustrations last month for the Children’s book I have been working on for the last two years, since discussion and planning with the writers. With consistency, things start falling into place.

Webshop is now live, as of September 7th, on my website. I’d love it if you check it out! Thank you. 🙏🏻

Until next week,

Devon