Your Grit Runs on Creativity

The 2nd Law of my book, EntreThrive: EntreCreate

When I was a kid, nobody pegged me as the creative one. I colored outside the lines. My drawings needed a translator.

It took me years to realize those messy coloring books weren't a lack of talent. They were an early sign of who I was. Coloring outside the lines is just another phrase for innovation. And it's exactly where entrepreneurs do their best work.

Here's what I've learned since, the hard way: when an entrepreneur stops creating, something else quietly leaves with it. Their grit.

The Day-to-Day Will Eat Your Creativity Alive

Think back to why you started. You saw a better way and a bigger world. You had an idea nobody else could see yet, and you couldn't stop thinking about it.

Now look at your calendar this week. How much of it is creating? And how much is putting out fires?

For most entrepreneurs I coach, the honest answer stings. Somewhere between payroll, problems, and other people's priorities, the creative work got pushed to "someday." The cost goes well beyond a few lost ideas. Well-being suffers. Work and home problems start bleeding together. The energy and confidence that used to come so naturally dries up.

The late psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called that creative zone flow: the state where you're stretched just past your skill level, fully absorbed, losing track of time. His research found that the happiest, most productive people enter flow regularly. When I'm in it, I walk around with a perma-grin the rest of the day.

Flow that taps into your creativity, is fuel for your staying power, your grit.

Creativity Is Where Grit Begins

Most people think grit is about clenching your jaw and outlasting everyone. I see it differently. Grit grows through five levels: curiosity, interest, practice, passion, and calling. Each level depends on the one before it, and the very first one, curiosity, is the spark of creativity.

No spark, no fire. No fire, no staying power.

My sister-in-law, Julia Marcum, is a perfect example. In 2009 she was a stay-at-home mom looking for a creative outlet. Curious about the new world of DIY design blogs, she started her own, Chrislovesjulia.com. Her readers were mostly family and friends. No deadlines. No big names watching. Making a living from content barely existed.

She posted anyway. Every single day.

Curiosity became interest. Interest became practice. Practice became passion. Eventually my brother Chris left his role as my Director of Marketing to run the business side so Julia could keep creating. Today they run one of the most successful DIY home design sites in the world, with product lines alongside some of the most well-known brands in the world.

Julia's advice to other creators? Create what you love, not what you think people will love. Passion is rarely discovered. It's pursued, one curious step at a time.

What Got Me Through Mile 150

I learned the grit side of this on a bike.

In 2016 I wanted to get healthy again. Running wasn't my thing, so I ordered my first road bike and signed up for LoToJa, a 200-mile race. I'd never ridden a road bike. I'd never clipped into pedals. I crashed more than once in those first few months.

Honestly? I registered out of pure curiosity. That's it.

But curiosity led to interest, and interest got me training. My first 50-mile ride wiped me out. Practice taught me what this was doing for my health, and that fed a real passion. Then I rode 100 miles.

On race day, around mile 150, pain was searing through me from head to toe. I wanted to quit. What carried me through those last 50 miles wasn't willpower. It was everything I'd built along the way: the months of training, the sacrifices, my buddies Matt and Brett riding beside me, and my family praying I'd finish.

We crossed the line together. The thrill didn't come from the finish line. It came from knowing what it took to get there.

That's the connection. The grit I had at mile 150 was built on a creative spark I'd acted on months earlier. As Angela Duckworth puts it, "Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare." Endurance is what happens when you keep feeding the spark until it becomes a calling.

Protect Your Creative Time Like Your Business Depends on It

Because it does. Here's what I practice:

• Guard your mornings. Tuesday through Friday, I rarely take an appointment before noon. Mornings are for creating. Uncertainties get moved to the afternoon.

• Start with a Deep Thrive Session. When I return from my morning exercise, I often meditate, pray for inspiration, and set one or two creative outcomes. Big problems I want to solve, creative projects to complete, like this newsletter, that require flow. This time is for creation only.

• Drop the guilt. Too many entrepreneurs feel guilty creating because it isn't "urgent." Guilt is one of the biggest obstacles to your greatest outcomes. Plan for it, and give yourself permission.

• Find your space. For me, it's getting outside into nature or in the winter (I live in Idaho), I ensure my space is void of distractions. I have a space where I get the administrative work done, my desk, and a few spaces I go for creative work.
  

Your Next Step

Write down one to three ideas you've been curious about but never acted on. Pick one. Then ask yourself honestly: what level is it at? Curiosity? Interest? Practice? Passion?

Block time on your calendar this week to move it one level forward.

You didn't become an entrepreneur to manage chaos. You became one to create. Protect your creativity, and your grit will follow.

Enjoying this? Every week I share practical, research-backed ideas to help entrepreneurs build a thriving business and a life they love. Subscribe to the newsletter so you never miss an issue.

P.S. Curiosity and creativity are two of the 24 character strengths identified by positive psychology. Want to know your top five? Take the free assessment at entrethrive.pro.viasurvey.org. Your signature strengths are often the fastest path back into flow.