Stepping your game up isn’t about being mean to yourself, suffering through deprivation, or slogging through tediously hard work.
It’s about the courage to explore something different, commit to a higher standard, and choose joy in your daily life.
Stepping your game up is about transcending your limits. It’s about fire and high-octane fuel and brilliance.
Pouring your energy into the things that matter most to you and making the art that feels good to make.
Daring yourself to the edge, cutting through the excuses, and being honest with yourself.
Saying no to the wrong things so you can say yes to the right things.
Stepping your game up is about adventure: exploring the unknown and teasing out the goodness in every moment. Playing in your power and asking more of yourself in all you do.
It’s about digging for your great work and polishing your dreams into diamonds and pearls that enrich the world around you and make you a brighter person.
Stepping your game up is largely an internal process.
It’s an overhaul of your beliefs, your mind-set, your spiritual practice, and the motivations behind your actions.
You deepen into a truer expression of yourself when you peel away the layers obscuring your brilliance and inch closer to becoming a rock star creative grounded in a higher calling.
When you up your game as a creative, you discover a ripple effect in your productivity and wellbeing.
It may not look exactly like you expect it to, but it will be real and vibrant and beautiful. It’ll be a reflection of the spark within you, the vision that quickens you into greatness through the use of your gifts.
When I say greatness, I don’t mean the trappings of fame, fortune, and an array of awards.
I’m talking about the growth of your spirit, your relationship with God, and being an agent of positive, powerful change that uplifts, encourages, and inspires the people you reach.
I’m talking about teaching people what you know to raise their vibration and beautify their lives.
What you turn to for fuel determines the timbre of your expression and your ideas.
When I gave my life back to Christ, I experienced a shift in what I focused on and how I wanted to show up in the world.
The more I read the Bible and reflected on what it meant to be a born-again Christian, the more I desperately wanted to use my gifts to serve God and uplift my fellow man.
I wanted to be a conduit for His love, joy, and peace, and I wanted to write incandescent words that bloomed like gardens, tasted like honey, and soothed the soul.
While I’m still processing the changes in my mind and my spirit, I’m keenly aware that none of the things I desire can come true if I don’t show up and step up my game.
All the good intentions in the world won’t make a bit of difference without solid, sustained effort to translate them into reality.
I can pray to be used by God and desire to be of service, but if I don’t act on the answers to my prayers, there won’t be any fruits to harvest or any results to point to, and that’s not why I’m here.
Stepping your game up is a transformation because you have to leave behind old ways of doing things and the limiting beliefs keeping you stuck in fear and smallness.
We all have a story to tell, and in order to tell that story, make that leap, give your all, you must conquer the fears crippling your vision and surge forth with fire rippling in your belly.
You must sacrifice your comfort and stasis for the dynamic reality of showing up, committing to truth, and nurturing your spirit so you can make the vibrant, uplifting contributions you’re here to make.
You must put in the time to hone your skills and practise your craft to master your message and your delivery.
Consummate communicators draw on a wealth of sources to amplify and polish their ideas.
As a creative, you’re a communicator, so you need to pay attention to what you read, watch, and listen to.
The things you feed your spirit directly impact your creativity; if you’re struggling with blocks, zero clarity, and the dregs of inspiration, that’s the time to load up on powerful stories of transformation, growth, vision, and success.
Study the words of men and women who’ve been on heroic journeys and triumphed over seemingly insurmountable odds, the actions and beliefs that spurred their success, and draw on their experiences to create your own narrative of clarity, dynamic creativity, and personal transformation.
When you spend time exploring real-life stories that build up your confidence and drive, you become eager to experience what’s possible for you when you apply the lessons to your circumstances.
You’re encouraged to invest your energy in something that matters to you and moves you, that sparks your evolution and nurtures your wellbeing.
Living as a Christian encourages me to sow my seeds in preparation for harvest, which translates to building a better work ethic and dedicating my time to the things that prepare me for the work I’m here to do.
And because of that, I’m paying more attention to how I spend my time in every other area of my life and how it’s helping or hurting me.
It’s becoming easier to switch out negative or unnecessary habits because they’re identifiable, not hidden in the minutiae of my daily life or the corners of my mind.
You can’t change what you can’t see, and you can’t achieve what you can’t imagine, so dream a vibrant dream and put in the time to make it happen.
Step your game up to raise the bar on your creativity, joy, productivity, and wellbeing.