Could, Not Should

There are no shortage of articles about someone’s process. How hard they worked. The steps they took. Their passion and unending dedication to the thing they wanted to create. These can be intimidating to say the least. Worse, they can cause us to shut down and never attempt the thing inside our head. (For example, reading that Daniel Day Lewis spends years working on a character and then stays “in character” for the entire film shoot might make you never want to attempt acting. Or quit if you are an actor.)

One reason these articles block us is that perhaps when we read them, we might think, “I should do that.” We don’t fully trust our own process and priorities. Because someone we admire or deem a success does things a certain way, we might feel compelled to emulate them exactly. Especially when we aren’t where we want to be. Inevitably when we realize we can’t live up to those ideals, we despair.

A mindset and syntax shift might help…

Instead of being intimidated, what if we let those articles inspire and inform us? Help us see what’s possible as well as all the different ways to do a certain thing.

Not, “I should do this.” Rather, “I could do this.”