Focus.

Bringing forth the gifts of our creativity requires a strong helping of courage. In order to actually achieve some measure of fulfillment through our creativity, the most crucial and important prerequisite is, of course, that we love what we’re doing. We have to connect with our chosen task in a way that makes us truly feel alive.

This is nothing new. We all understand that when we enjoy what we do, we do it happier, and we do it better.

However, in the process of chasing this feeling of inspiration (whether or not we choose to follow it as a career path), life inevitably gets in the way. Soon that life-giving feeling of ‘aliveness’ has been buried under a seemingly endless supply of distractions and to-do items, not to mention, our own fear and ego.

This happened to me in my pursuit of a career as a professional tap dancer. Looking back over the last 10 years, when I think about how much time I actually spent connected to the blissful, soul-nourishing feeling that tap dance gives me—the same feeling that inspired me to seek a career in dance to begin with—I would estimate I spent less than 2% of my “career” in this state. The other 98% was spent on tasks; ‘busying’ tasks that seemed important at the time. Lesson learned.

The way we stay interested and engaged in something is by doing it. Regularly, and as often as possible. You must set aside time to spend alone with your creative gifts, whatever they may be. Focus. Notice and embrace when you are truly connected to your creativity and the fire within, and acknowledge its limitless value. Then, above everything else, strive to find your way back, over and over again.

It is these moments that truly fuel us. They provide the necessary foundations required to do anything of substance.

Life will get in the way.

We all at times become busy, stressed and exhausted. In these moments it will become tempting to gently push our creativity aside for another day (week, month or year), but we must find the courage to rank it at the top of our personal priority list, right where it belongs.

After all, in the end it’s a feeling that we’re all chasing, right?

Remember, no matter how far we drift from our creativity, it’s never too late to find it again.

Time for a tap dance.