Creative worthiness is something you are born with and doesn’t need to look a certain way to be appreciated or valuable. But what happens when your creative expression is part of how you make a living? It can be a slippery slope of following your inspiration and balancing it with practical business goals.
This reality puts your creative worthiness under a bit of a microscope, right? The extra pressure and expectations that rise up when a creative project isn’t just “for your eyes only” can bring up different, harsher judgments. It can also fire up a touch of perfectionism.
To refocus your attention when things get fuzzy, ask yourself this:
What will make me feel successful and reflect the sense of creative worthiness I know is within me, without searching for outside validation to tell me how to feel about my own creativity?
What are the Real Measurements of Creative Worthiness Anyway?
Creative expression can make you happy, excited, curious, playful, light, silly, introspective and countless other things, but is there a way to truly measure these factors in terms of creative worthiness? Is there a simple process to add these concepts into a spreadsheet to prove to yourself that you are making progress in a measurable way?
Not exactly. So instead, I tune into how a particular creative expression makes me feel.
- Does it make me smile when I read or look at it?
- Is there a sense of peace and calm or excitement I when I connect with it?
- Can I imagine not writing, creating, crafting, cooking or making X?
An evaluation doesn’t need to be more complicated, but, because my creative writing gift is one of the main skills I use to operate my business – things can sometimes get a bit cloudy between my mind and heart.
For example, when there are blog posts that don’t make much traction or pages of my website that don’t get the conversions I expect, sometimes I can start turning it into a judgement about my creative worthiness.
As a professional writer for over 14 years, I know the quality of my personal writing is not solely determined by how many people read or respond to it. That doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes over-think the value of what I’ve created when my expectations aren’t met. The path to online success also requires a whole different layer of creative prowess, practice and patience.
The Truth is in your Mood, Not the Numbers
When these random “worthiness” moods surface every now and then, the only thing I can really do is remind myself I’m always learning, growing and adding to my writing capabilities and other creative talents through experience. It simply doesn’t make sense to measure the impact and value of my creative worthiness in numbers, spreadsheets or analytics.
As the definition of success becomes increasingly influenced by technology, it’s more important than ever check back in with how a specific creative expression feels right now – not once someone has commented or taken action on it. Your sense of fulfillment and happiness is the only true measurement for how your creative worthiness and real success are defined.
Need a little help shifting your mindset around creative worthiness or how to mix your creative gifts into your business? Let’s chat.
Photo credit: Anna Strumillo, Leo Reynolds