The Emotional Journey of Creating Anything Great

This is the best idea ever!! & This will be fun.

Everything starts off great, right? Maybe there’s a few exceptions but when you’re thinking of a new idea, creating a product, creating a company, or doing almost anything new, you almost always do so with the mindset that life will better afterwards than it was before. That is how our minds function in a healthy environment. We naturally seek to make things better than how they are currently to mainly serve our limbic system. You may have even gotten a little jittery and told some friends & family about your new idea. Your mind is bursting with new add-on ideas to your original idea or product. Pure excitement. That’s what this first two check points on this graphic represent in any new journey. 

This is harder than I thought.

Next is the first slight bump in the road. You think “Huh. I did not account for this or that. Maybe this won’t as amazing as I had thought.” The first time I was making a physical product I came across this issue when I was tasked with making the specs of the product for the manufacture. I had thought it may be an issue and took on the challenge. Many have had similar experiences with starting a new product, but; the challenge only starts there. 

This is going to be a lot of work.

The fourth check point is the moment when you get a general magnitude of how much work this new “thing” is really going to be. Problems have arisen. You’ve started watching motivational videos. Things have definitely started to go wrong. but you think you still have it under control. You’ve wondered if the amount of hours you’ve put into something will be worth it and your faith is being tested. 

The bridge of belief/persistence + family/friends.

Next is the great bridge made up of belief, persistence, family/friends, and humor if you have any of these left at this stage. If you do have any of these left, congratulations! This bridge is a nice mental and emotional lift that can carry you to the upswing side of journey. In order to keep with this “analogy”, I’ll mention that if you don’t ensure this things are kept tight to you, you could fall to the section below, which is next. 

This sucks, I have no idea what I am doing.

The “This sucks, I have no idea what I am doing” dot represents the first sign of the swamp of despair. Things are coming unglued. You are now aware of how unaware you were in the beginning of all the challenges that you face. Plus, you are entering the swamp of despair. 🙂

The swap of despair.

$#!%!!…….Those who make it out of this section are worthy of the potential success ahead of them. For those who may not know, at this point, everything is falling apart. Crumbling. Problem after problem has arisen and its your job to put out every single fire. You have probably lost money, people/relationships, belief, passion, and overall sense that this thing can pull out okay. Every minute you are awake you are stressing about what is going wrong and how to fix it. You are holding on for dear life and are breaking if you haven’t already. Depending on the size of the project, depression may arise here. It is important not to give up during this time and use great self awareness to realize wether this is a sinking ship that needs patching and/or re-routing, or merely just a ‘season’ of the idea/business/product. I could say a lot more about the difficulties of this area but I think you get the idea. The good news is that if you have made it past this part, the rest should slowly get easier.

Okay, but it still sucks.

Maybe you’ve gotten a big order, your first order, an investment, or an increase in resources. At this point, even if you don’t realize it, you’ve managed to climb out of the swamp of despair. Things are getting better though and you will slowly start to appreciate all the good things that come with the new journey. 

Quick lets call it a day and say we learned something.

This point on the map mainly signify’s that your are emotionally feeling neutral, or if not, then you are very close. This may go on for anywhere from a couple days, a couple weeks, or a couple months depending on the project. The goal of this point on the map is to incrementally move forward. Little wins every day are what will keep you moving forward. You can also say with certain levels of passion, interest, and truth, that you are learning new things.

Hmm…

The interest you have for the project outweighs the feeling that it is work. Maybe you’ve been going 8-10 hrs without stopping until you’ve realized how long you’ve been working on it. Not only is your interest in the journey going up, but little by little the financial and spiritual investments in it are increasing as well. 

Hey! & Wow.

This is one of the things I am most proud of.

Other lessons.

Another thing that should be mentioned here is that not everyone see’s this process from the outside which makes everything a little harder. Most people just see what the want to see, which is all the “good stuff”. They don’t see the 3-4 am night & mornings. They don’t see when you are all alone grinding away at your craft. Your can try to document the process as much as possible but no one is exactly in your position, so no one knows the exact struggle you’ve had to go through. This is why some individuals give up in the end. Some people aren’t really passionate about the project or idea, just the money, recognition, and “fame”. Anyone can hustle in front of friends, parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, and more. The question is are you passionate enough and can you hustle when you are all alone grinding in the dark. Elon Musk said starting a company is like “Eating glass and staring into the abyss”. Some kind of motivation. The rewards are there for those who can come through the thick of it, the question is will you?