Under the banner of creativity there are a huge number of different disciplines and media that can be considered as creative, and expressions of our creativity.

There are those best known professions, creating the “Classic Arts” such as Novelist, Painter, Musician, Film Maker, Photographer and so on, as well as a large and diverse number of other equally valuable and important highly creative professions from architect to basket weaver, video game designer to choreographer, and stand up comedian to biochemist.

What all of these professions, and all of these varied types of creativity have in common is that they all create. Each of them have, within their field, various creative projects they take on, and these can be diverse in size, breadth, ambition, intention and scope.

So, we can see that whatever we create, and whatever our own personal favoured forms of creativity, our creative careers – professional or otherwise – are made up of a series of creative projects.

Some run one after the other, some overlap, some merge together, others spilt into sub-projects or morph into something very different from where they started.

Sometimes we’ll be intensely focusing our creativity on one single project for an sustained period of time, other times we’ll have a number of projects on the go and move between them, a juggler keeping several balls in the air at any one time.

Something else common to all of us who create is that every creative project has to start somewhere. Once it has been conceived, and that initial seed of an idea begins to germinate, there soon comes a time where we have to begin work, to put pen to paper, thread on fabric, brush to canvas, sound on record, image on film.

So where’s the best place to begin?

What comes first, do we plan and plot the outline of the project first or dive right in and start creating? Do we consider the project in the context of the other work we’ve recently done, and will do in the future, or just let it evolve naturally and be whatever it needs to be?

If we start in the middle will it be easier to create outwards from this rather then begin at the beginning? Or should we imagine where we want the project to end up and work back from there?

All these questions and many others can besiege us when we consider where to begin on our new creative project, and the sheer number of different possible decisions and options we’re faced with can halt us in our tracks. This kind of overwhelm has been the undoing of many a potentially great creative work.

If only we knew the best place to start, we could get on with the creating and putting all our energy and effort into the project itself!

So where IS the best place to begin? What’s the secret of those who create rewarding, stimulating, meaningful projects time after time?

The truth is simply this:

The best place to begin is the place where you begin.

Read that again and let it sink in:

The best place to begin is the place where you begin.

Whatever the creative project, whoever you are, and whatever your previous experience, the only way to create the project is to start it, right here and right now.

It doesn’t matter if later on you review your work so far and feel you need to plot or plan a little more. It doesn’t matter of you return and edit or recreate these early steps. It doesn’t matter of you later fill it out a little, add more before or after this point where you start.

What DOES matter, and what is one of the most fundamental laws of creativity, is you’ll never create anything if you don’t commit to starting, wherever that starting point is.

Think about a project you’ve been contemplating and deliberating where to start. Make the commitment right now, to the project and to yourself, to simply start creating and see where it takes you. If you don’t, you may never know what it could have become.

Once again remember the simple truth: The best place to begin is the place you begin.

Dan Goodwin
http://www.CoachCreative.com