The 4 P's Of Creativity

I’ve been writing music and composing musicals for more than 30 years (yeah, I'm that old). That’s more than quarter of a century — and in anyone’s terms, it’s a long time. From my first song called Remember Life, to my first musical called BackStreets, to my most recent musicals Electric Dreams and Erratically Epic, I’ve managed to keep a fire burning for the creative form through my teens, young adult years, and now into my (cough!) more (splutter!) mature (ha!) years.

Quick aside: let's be honest here, the last two years have sucked pretty badly. Twice I've tried to get Erratically Epic up and running and both times have been shut down by COVID. I'm not the only one in this situation: many many creatives have had to deal with the same thing. It's beyond frustrating. It's enough to make anyone throw in the towel - me included. Further, we have no idea what the future holds. Sometimes it seems like we're Sisyphus, the god who was doomed to forever push a rock up a hill, only for it to roll back down again. Still, we endure, dust ourselves off, and have at it again.

However, I digress.

So what is it that can kept me going for that long? How have I maintained the determination and tenacity (and sometimes sheer stupidity) to never stop trying?

When it all comes down to it, I guess there’s 4 P’s that feed into and compliment each other. They’re often intangible and unmeasurable in any traditional sense, but vital to the creative energy and life.

1. Passion

I believe that one of the reasons we do what we do (in any field) is because we are passionate about it. Yeah, we love it. It's a great affair that never wanes.

Passion is the thing that drives us forward, propels us into situations that would normally frighten us, and makes us braver than we ever thought we could be. Passion wakes us up at 2am with an idea and we simply have to get out of bed and create what's dropped into our inspiration. Passion helps us to be eloquent when we need to be, silent when required, awake when we’re normally exhausted, and stronger beyond our casual ability. Passion makes us run towards a goal, never worrying about the problems or pitfalls or blockages or every single step of the path.

We don’t care about the path.

We care about the end result. There's a mountain to be climbed, and goddammit, we're going to reach the summit!

We’re running. Fast. Powerfully. Passionately. And nothing will stand in our way.

2. Persistence

However, there is a time when passion fades. Because it does, and because it will.

It might be because we get tired, disheartened, roadblocked, or just lose our way. We turn around and discover that — somehow — we’re not quite where we’d thought we be. It’s not like we’re entirely stranded or lost - we know where we are and how we've got here - but we’re treading water; not moving forward, not gaining any ground, but perhaps even drifting backwards, slowly and surely.

Passion has got us this far, but now something else has to kick in.

That’s where passion has to shift into persistence. And it’s not an easy gear change. It’s like dragging an old car from first into third without using the clutch. It’s a grind; a body shuddering thunk that seems to make our whole creative life jerk forward. Yet as hard as the shift from passion to persistence is, it’s the key to making us move forward again.

When we persist, we realise that this “creative thing” we do is actually a bit of hard work. It’s the sweat and tears, the aches and pains, the internal struggle that other people may not ever see. It's all that ice underneath the tip of the iceberg. It’s not the glamorous life we always imagined. It’s the work. And damn, it can be freaking hard work.

But, you know what? It’s the work that makes the outcome worth it. When you have to work for something, you value it so much more. You see that it wasn't just a trick of the light, a fluke: it was actually you embedding yourself into what you do.

3. Patience

And in the middle of it all is one more key element — patience.

Patience is something that I reckon we’re not very good at. Personally, as a creative type, I want to break through whatever is stopping me and just arrive at my destination. It’s wanting to beam Star Trek-like from “Go” to “Woah”, without having to wait or participate in the journey. That’s what I want.

Unfortunately, we can’t. Between the passion and the persistence, we have to have patience. There are times we are going to have to wait: wait for inspiration, wait for an artist, wait for a venue, wait for a contract, wait for a signature, wait for a moment, wait for the right people to come along. Yes, it's sounds like The Waiting Place in Dr Seuss' amazing book "Oh The Places You'll Go". But it's not as dour as that. The patience and the waiting is where we refine.

Creatively, we might not want to wait. We’d rather just make it happen. But we can’t. Not always. And often, the best material doesn’t come about when we just barrel through the creative divide.

It comes when we refine. So, in the middle of that patience and waiting, you're not doing nothing. You're are definitely doing something. You're making what you have better, tighter, more cohesive, and ready for when that organise light turns to green.

That where we have to be patient; be ready, have plans in place, have other aspects of what we’re doing prepared, and just be patient in the knowledge that through passion and persistence, our patience will pay off.

4. Purpose

And in the midst of the passion, the perseverance, and the patience, we discover that we are actively engaged in our purpose. I love the song from Avenue Q (appropriately titled ‘Purpose’) when it says:

Purpose — It’s that little flame

That lights a fire under your ass

Purpose — It keeps you going strong

Like a car with a full tank of gas

There’s a million (I might be exaggerating) websites and self-help books that are written to help you find your purpose. We all want to know that our “reason for being here” is — what we’re meant to do with our lives.

But, I get the feeling that when you’re involved in creating something new, you are hitting on your purpose; no matter what the creating is. Creation is all around us, it’s happening every day. The universe itself is constantly expanding — creating — and we are a part of that. When we speak, we create. When we dream, we create. When we write, we create. It doesn’t have to be “artistic” — a law maker can create a stellar piece of legislation, a teacher can create a wonderful lesson, a doctor creates hope and life, and so on.

We are all creative - no matter who or where you are.

I might be totally on the wrong track here, but I feel like being creative is a pretty good purpose to have.

But can our purpose shift?

Sure can. Passions change. Persistence fails. Patience runs out.

And sometimes, we just decide we want something different.

But remember this: Changing your purpose is not failure. I repeat. That’s NOT failure.

Sometimes, things don’t go according to plan. That’s life. We have to accept the ups with the downs and the successes with the failures. You cannot have the highs without the lows, and you cannot appreciate the light if you haven’t experienced the dark.

And also, circumstances change. Life decides it has other plans for you. You decide you have other plans for yourself. We meet people who spark something new and exciting inside of us. We experience something that we haven’t felt before and we get the racing heartbeat and adrenaline rush that tells us that this new discovery is excellent.

And suddenly, we’re passionate about something new.

So many bases to cover, but I guess the crux of it all is this:

Go with your passion.

Persevere.

Be patient.

And there, you might just find your purpose.

Until next time,

Drew