It's Worse in the Middle

Making change in your life or your business might seem like a good idea, but as soon as you begin, you'll regret that you didn't just leave it alone.

Imagine that you decide to redecorate your living room.

What's first? It would be great if you could snap your fingers and everything would be done for you. Maybe woodland creatures could lend a paw, like in Disney's Snow White. Maybe your Fairy Godmother could wave a wand.

Well, you can sit there and wish as much as you like. Ultimately, you've either got to pay someone else to do it, or you've got to roll up your sleeves and get the paintbrush out.

What's first? Move the furniture. No, choose a colour. Maybe clean up first. There's a lot of dust hiding behind the sofa. Start peeling off wallpaper? Maybe you're one of those people who makes a start so that you have an extra incentive to finish. Buy some test pots and paint a corner? Now you've got no choice but to carry on.

Your room probably looks fine the way that it is. And when you're finished, it will be a room worthy of emperors and dignitaries. But as soon as you start, it looks worse than if you had left it alone. At various points through the project, you will wish you'd never started. And when you're half way through, everyone's an expert.

"What are you doing here?!" exclaim your friends, "Wrecking the place?"

"Oh I wouldn't have torn off the wallpaper like that"

"You know what you should do? I'll tell you..."

Any creative act is disruptive. Creativity changes the status quo. All of the great revolutions in art have caused upheaval, turmoil. Many great artists weren't understood or appreciated during their lives, their work only made sense in the context of history.

The creative process is one of discovery and experimentation. A half finished painting, or a half finished poem, or a half finished piece of music, or a half finished book can be confusing. Many people who enjoy creative hobbies never show their work to friends until it's 'finished'. Unfortunately, many people never reach that point, through fear of the judgement that accompanies public exhibition.

Have you got half a book, sitting on your computer, waiting for you to find the time to complete it? Maybe you've got some abandoned hobbies? Maybe you started making changes in your life but never got round to finishing them?

Jigsaw puzzles might be challenging, but they are easy to finish. When all the pieces are in place, you've reached the end. When someone else dictates what 'complete' looks like, it's easy. When will your next book or blog post be finished? When someone else says so?

I remember having to write essays at school. 300 words on why Brutus killed Caesar, for example. I could write complete nonsense, but as long as it was 300 words of nonsense, my work was done. When you're creating your own future, no-one can tell you how it should look, or how it should feel, or how you'll know when it's ready for public exhibition.

Whenever we set out to change anything, there is a period of disruption. We must break the old to make space for the new. The caterpillar must be lost for the butterfly to take its place.

Whether you're changing an organisational culture, or redecorating your room, or making changes in your career, life, business, relationships... there will be a period of time when things look a lot worse, or at least, to an outsider who doesn't understand your creative process, things don't look the way they expect, things don't look the way they're used to.

Wait until you're finished, then, maybe, then listen to what other people think.

Until then, you are the creator, you are the butterfly, you are becoming.

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Peter Freeth is an author, coach, creator and disruptor.

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