Work-life balance is a huge advantage

The biggest advantage you can have as a creative person is simply enjoying your life. You can have it all if you create a life you enjoy every week. 

You probably have grand ambitions. Maybe you want to be a writer, like me. Maybe you want to be a movie director, a fashion photographer, a pop star, a painter, a famous actor. 

When I talk to people with grand ambitions, sometimes I ask them about Morgan Freeman, who has achieved a career any artist would be envious of. Huge blockbusters, critically acclaimed films, a loving fanbase—but he didn’t get there until his fifties. If it was guaranteed, would you take that deal? Would you work on your art every day for 25 years if success was guaranteed? Most of us would. 

Here’s what’s interesting: if you create art consistently for the next 25 years, you will achieve success. But most of us won’t do that. We won’t get there because we need to be successful too quickly. We get into debt, we make bad deals, we get discouraged, we quit. 

I get it. I wish I had a bestselling book and a viral Ted Talk before my hair started falling out. But now I’m 31, and here we are. I think when we look deeper, we discover that the real reasons we want to be successful so soon are just ego-driven. 

If we need to be successful by yesterday, we’re already behind. Every day we get further behind, so why not quit, right? But instead, if we create a sustainable life that we enjoy, we’ve got a longer timeline than the rest of the competition. Work-life balance isn’t just a health thing. It’s a strategy! If, every single week, we make the money we need to make, spend time with friends and family, and make progress on our creative projects? We’re unstoppable. Success becomes a “when” instead of an “if.” 

This is why a daily creative practice is so essential. This kind of sustained effort requires creative consistency. Once the ego is out of the equation, we can sink deeper into the art. We can create every day because we love the art. We chase success because it means more people will connect with the art. It’s all about the art! 

P.S. If you want to develop your own daily creative practice, join the waitlist for the next creative challenge here.