I recall the urgency I had back in the day, when the letters at the end of my name were CEO, and the voice inside my head kept prodding me to “keep my eye on the prize.” I still feel it today; the rush to complete, the race to finish, the itch to make a buck, the determination to extract that great idea out of my head—before I lose it. To finally arrive at “a fait accompli” so I can get on to the next big project.
That urgency is NOT the stressful kind, nor the nerve-racking kind. Rather it’s the kind of urgency that keeps us awake at night—with excitement and anticipation, as opposed to worry and fear. It’s the kind of urgency that comes with knowing we’re on the right road, even though the final destination is unclear. It’s the kind of creative urgency that tugs at us from deep inside, and beckons us to search further, search deeper, for the answers, for the truth—in our art, in our work, and in our lives.
Important because it’s crucial that we continue to strengthen our ability to recognize the difference between the positive, stimulating urgency that pulls us forward and the negative, stressful, urgency that holds us back, and causes us to vacillate.