no plans in the creative wild
when you’re on a pathless creative journey, dare to give up the paper map — and instead, embrace the wild uncertainty. travel with your senses.
this year I’m beginning a new way of life — living nomadically in different cities. and when you change your environment in this way, everything else changes: the way you eat, sleep, buy food, have relationships, and of course, do your work. my biggest change in the way I work now (which spilled out into other areas of life) is this: I make no plans.
what do I mean by no plans?
well, I will tell you what I used to do. since I started focusing on my art and business full time last year, I used to stay holed up in my apartment in Queens, making elaborate to-do lists and weekly goals, constantly analyzing and plotting the best next step to take. I had one day plans, one week plans, one month plans, one quarter plans, one year plans. I was constantly evaluating myself. constantly my own greatest critic and drill sergeant, telling myself I wasn’t doing enough, I wasn’t enough.
it was like I was on a journey in the wild unknown — with my face glued to a paper map. a map that was incomplete and based purely on assumptions and preconceptions. I was addicted to planning — addicted to this paper map, because it gave me an illusory sense of control. it was a temporary bandaid for my anxiety in dealing with uncertainty.
the problem? when you’re on a pathless journey — the journey of an artist, creator, builder, entrepreneur — there is no ONE way. there is no clearly marked trail. it’s just you and your senses — maybe a knapsack of emotional tools — climbing this wild mountain. and when your face is glued to a paper map, obsessed with finding “benchmarks” or “metrics of success,” you’re not seeing what’s immediately in front of you. what wants to be born in the present moment.
the present moment is full of clues
if you are keenly sensitive to your innermost being, your intuition will always guide you on the next best action to take.
the hardest part is trusting in it. but you can make it a habit, by simply asking yourself: what wants to be born today? how do I feel? what’s inside of me? what wants to happen today? and not forcing it, not judging yourself, but allowing yourself to just be. to flow.
also, I want to clarify. no plans does not mean no intentions.
I see intentions as the internal compass guiding your center. those are your core beliefs, values, and vision you will manifest in the world. no plans simply means — no fixed itinerary or program, no fixed “how” for accomplishing your intentions, the “what.” the “why” is your deeper core, and that does not change, because it is connected with who you are.
this year, I’ve set my intentions clearly. to nurture my deepest art and writing, to build a business helping creative souls manifest their vision. to devote to myself and my personal growth, all while living and dancing in different cities, embracing different ways of being.
trust in the process. the path is the way
and how does it actually work, you ask?
instead of plans, I build solid routines. for personal wellbeing, for making art, and for business.
then, I sense into my deeper self. what wants to emerge from me? I let the present moment give me clues as to what I want to do within that time frame.
I practice trusting myself, and letting go. I let things happen — on the path of least resistance.
and usually, that’s when creative magic happens.
it took me years to get to this place of peace and surrender — and most of the growth (and suffering) happened last year, which I documented in this post: 2019 in growth.
wherever you are on this journey, my friend, I’m wishing you to trust in the deeper part of you which always knows the way.